Indiana State University sororities recognized for leadership

For the third consecutive year, Indiana State University’s Panhellenic Association has been selected to receive the College Panhellenic Excellence Award from the National Panhellenic Conference.

The conference is one of the largest women’s advocacy organizations and the umbrella group for 26 national and international sororities. To receive the award, Indiana State was evaluated on how the sororities function and the impact they have on the campus community. Achievements in recruitment, communication, council structure, judicial procedures, programming, academics and relations are reviewed.

There are more than 3,100 National Panhellenic Conference sororities on over 672 university and college campuses. Of those campuses, Indiana State was recognized as among the top 3 percent to receive this award and the only school in Indiana to be honored in each of the last three years.

“I think it’s a representation of our entire Panhellenic community’s hard work and the support we have from the rest of Greek life,” said Jordan Gillenwater, a senior pre-medicine student majoring in language studies from Bloomfield. As the president of Panhellenic, Gillenwater, the executive council, and the rest of the Sycamore Panhellenic community has reaped the benefits of that hard work though increasing membership and recognition.

”Panhellenic provides great programming and resources for the community because they want the best possible experience for their members,” says Tracy Machtan, associate director of fraternity and sorority life.

Bo Mantooth, director of fraternity and sorority life said, “the past year wasn't really about doing things differently within Panhellenic, it was about doing the things we do well, even better.”

Gillenwater agreed saying, ”I don’t think that we would have received it again if we had just stayed stagnant where we had been, I think it’s all about increasing our growth and bettering ourselves as a community.”

Indiana State’s sororities have almost doubled in membership in the past three years and have adjusted programs and recruitment due to their growing size.

These changes also focused a push towards a more values-based recruiting style for membership selection. Meaning, the aim of sorority recruitment is concentrating on the alignment of a woman’s personal values with those of the sororities. Each sorority has its own set of values and standards set forth by national organizations and women going through recruitment are encouraged to strongly consider these during the formal recruitment process in the fall.

“It is easy to see how great this community is and how amazing the women are that make up the community,” says Mantooth.

Photo: https://isuphoto.smugmug.com/Events/Events-by-Year/2014/Fraternity-Sorority-Life-Acade/i-72RBgVv/0/L/October%2023%2C%202014%20Fraternity%20%26%20Sorority%20Academic%20recognition%20Dinner6260-L.jpg – Indiana State’s 2014 Panhellenic Association executive board accepting last year’s Excellence Award at the Fraternity and Sorority Life Academic Recognition dinner. (ISU Photo Services)

Photo: https://isuphoto.smugmug.com/Events/Spring-Week/Spring-Week-2015/Donaghy-Day/i-75Qfsr5/0/L/April%2010%2C%202015%20Donaghy%20Day%204965-L.jpg - A member of the Panhellenic community does service during spring Donaghy Day. (ISU Photo Services)

Contact: Tracy Machtan, associate director of fraternity and sorority life, Indiana State University, 812-237-3835 or Tracy.Machtan@indstate.edu

Writer: Haley Sluboski, media relations assistant, Indiana State University, Office of Communications and Marketing, 812-237-3773 or hsluboski@sycamores.indstate.edu