From Undergraduate To Alumnus

Brief Introduction

When a senior graduates from your chapter and enters the alumni ranks, he does not automatically become a good Phi Tau alumnus. Unless he is reminded of all the good times and important lessons he learned through his association with the Fraternity, his involvement may end when he picks up his diploma.

Phi Kappa Tau is a lifetime commitment and experience. It is not for the four or five years of college alone. The continued strength of your chapter and the Fraternity depend on an active, concerned, and involved group of alumni who realize this lifelong commitment, and work in their alumni years to insure that each succeeding generation of Phi Taus can experience this brotherhood. This type of alumnus just doesn’t just pop into existence. They are developed.

To commemorate his transition from the resident council to the graduate council, a brother should be inducted as a graduate council member. This ceremony can be found in the Ritual of Phi Kappa Tau.

Phi Kappa Tau: A Lifetime Commitment

Phi Kappa Tau as a lifelong commitment must be stressed from the first day of associate membership to the day of graduation and beyond. If your members take part in an active alumni relations program and see that alumni are treated cordially as honored guests when they return to the chapter house, they in turn will want to return when they are alumni. If your chapter advisor, board of governors, house corporation members, and other alumni take an active role in the affairs and welfare of the chapter, they will provide a role model that can be followed when your undergraduate brothers become alumni. From membership orientation onward, the chapter should stress the opportunities for alumni involvement in Phi Kappa Tau, including service on the local chapter level as an advisor, sending in recruitment recommendations, and supporting the alumni programs of the chapter and the Fraternity. On the national level, he might serve as a Domain Director or even have the opportunity to serve as a member of the National Council.

From Undergraduate to Alumnus

Many chapters, to thank seniors for their contributions to the Fraternity as undergraduates and remind them of the opportunity and responsibility of alumnus status, have a Senior Dinner or Senior Send-Off. This is best done by holding a special coat and tie dinner just before graduation. This dinner would be held to honor those seniors about to graduate with the chapter President presiding. After dinner and an introduction by the President, each graduating senior would be asked to stand and say a few parting words to the chapter about what Phi Tau has meant to him during his college career.

Many times seniors will become emotional when talking about the Fraternity and its effect on their lives. This serves as an inspiration to all the underclassmen in attendance. This is also an appropriate time to present awards to the members of the senior class and the chapter for high scholastic achievement and contribution to the chapter. It is also very appropriate and recommended that the chapter present each graduating senior with a gift to serve as a memento of their undergraduate years. Some examples of an appropriate gift might be a Coat of Arms lapel pin, an 8 x 10 framed color picture of your chapter house, or some other memento of your chapter. Another idea might be a Phi Tau tie or a copy of "From Old Main to a New Century", the Fraternity’s official history. Books are available from the Executive Offices.

We suggest closing this event with the Graduate Council Initiation ceremony, which reminds our brothers of the commitment we have made as members of Phi Kappa Tau, and formally inducts them as alumni of the Fraternity.

Did you find this information useful? Do you feel you can improve upon it? Are you an expert in another area? Join the site and edit or create new resources for Phi Kappa Tau.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License

SSL configuration warning

This site has been configured to use only SSL (HTTPS) secure connection. SSL is available only for Pro+ premium accounts.

If you are the master administrator of this site, please either upgrade your account to enable secure access. You can also disable SSL access in the Site Manager for this site.