Sigma Nu's 2018-2019
Sigma Nu Epsilon Eta Chapter
The University of Tennessee
Knoxville
Epsilon Eta Brother wins National Award
This summer Luke McConnell was notified that he was one of ten Sigma Nu seniors nationwide to receive the Alpha Alumni Chapter Affiliate Award. His letter stated “Your commitment to the Mission of Sigma Nu, as evidenced by your great body of work, is one of distinguished proportion. We are grateful for your dedication to honor and excellence. Your name will be added to the Alpha scrolls alongside Founders Hopkins, Quarles, and Riley.” This is the highest honor that an undergraduate receives from headquarters.
Luke served the chapter as Commander and Lt. Commander and was named IFC President of the Year. Outside of the chapter Luke served as Vice President of Membership for SAA. As a member of Haslam College of Business, Luke participated in two internships while an undergraduate and made the Dean’s list in seven of eight semesters at UT. In the Fall, Luke will be enrolled in the Master’s in Sciences in Business Analytics at UT.
Recruitment 2018 - 19
This year the University changed the fraternity recruitment process to begin before classes started with Bid Day being the evening of the first day of classes. The Epsilon Eta chapter initiated 44 new brothers during the 2018 – 19 academic year. The fall semester candidate class initiated 36 new brothers and the spring candidate initiated 8 new brothers. The highest badge number is 1833. Fall semester saw the recruitment process ending with the annual Riverboat event for over 230 brothers and their dates. Dr. Jack Lacey (EH #754) hosted the chapter at his house for the annual recruitment pool party again this year. The event celebrated the new candidates and another very successful fall rush.
Spring Formal 2019
This April, the men of the Epsilon Eta chapter packed up and made the journey to New Orleans once more for their spring formal. The chapter reserved hotel rooms near the French quarter and luckily for them, but not their wallets, very close to Bourbon Street. For two days and three nights, the men experienced the culture of New Orleans in true fraternity fashion, visiting the local bars, attending ghost tours, and recovering in the mornings with the best gumbo the nation has to offer.
Intramural Sports
The brothers had a very active year with intramurals. The chapter participated in indoor and outdoor soccer, softball, two football teams and played kickball with Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. In the fraternity division the chapter was runner up in basketball and finished in the final eight in softball. The chapter turn out in large numbers to support brothers in all intramural events.
Brother wins SGA Election
Brother Emerson Burd (EH #1704) was elected the SGA’s Director of Student Services. The Director of Student Services is the #3 person in SGA. Emerson is the first Epsilon Eta elected to an SGA campus wide executive position since brother Ed Ingle (EH #1024) served as SGA President in 1981-82.
Chapter finishes second in Carnicus
The chapter joined Phi Mu for Carnicus 2019. After winning Carnicus for two consecutive years, the chapter finished second this year. Under the direction of Matthew Peterson, the groups spent many hours working together in February in preparation for the performance.
Snake Daze Returns
In October, the chapter hosted the return of Snake Daze. Eight different sororities participated in events over three days. The initial events consisted of a “football pong” tournament where sorority girls competed by attempting to throw footballs into preset targets and painting banners representing the theme of the philanthropy event. The final evening the chapter hosted a Power Puff football tournaments for the sororities members with brothers serving as coaches. The chapter raised $2,500 for Camp Koinonia from the event.
Chapter Officers win awards
Sigma Nu wins Big Orange Give – Greek Challenge
In early November, the UT Foundation conducted Big Orange Give. UT raised $2.14 million during the Big Orange Give in 2018. As part of the Big Orange Give campaign, the University conducted the Greek Challenge. The Greek Challenge was sponsored by Ron and Don Frieson (Kappa Alpha Psi). Greek organizations from IFC, NPC, NPHC, and MGC competed against each other in two categories: Large Chapter (more than 100 members) and Small chapter (100 members or less). The organization with the most donors (not the most money raised) won $5,000. The minimum donation amount was $10. As a part of the Greek Challenge, UT created the Sigma Nu Enrichment Fund. The chapter will have the fund in the future for fundraising efforts.
Sigma Nu finished first with 199 donations. Sigma Nu would like to thank the many alumni and chapter family members who helped us the $5,000 first prize. Save the date for Big Orange Give 2019 - November 13, 2019!
Alumni Scholarships Awarded
Epsilon Eta chapter alumni have awarded $30,000 in scholarship to 10 chapter members over the past three years. The chapter is very appreciative of the efforts of John Shoemaker (EH #706) and Don Fancher (EH #708) to raise the scholarship funds in honor of two brothers who passed away. Thanks to their continued dedication The Dan Tindall (EH#1525)/Steve Curtis (EH#727) Alumni Scholarship has been a success for the past three years. This year’s winners were ---
Michael Brown is a junior in Business Analytics from Timonium, Maryland. He is currently the chapter’s Candidate Marshall.
James Eun graduated this spring as a statistics major from Knoxville, Tennessee. James served as IFC President during 2019 and was the chapter Candidate Marshall during 2017. This fall James will be in the MSBA program at the University of Southern California.
Allen Pack is a junior in supply chain management from Alpharetta, Georgia. Allen has served the chapter as Academic chair and currently is the IFC Vice President for Administration. This fall Allen working an internship at Clayton Homes in Maryville, TN.
Garrett Russell graduated this spring as a nuclear engineering major from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Garrett served as the Candidate Marshall for spring and fall 2018. Garrett is working as a Test Engineer with Huntington Ingalls in Newport News, VA.
Homecoming 2018
Last fall, the chapter participated in Homecoming with Zeta Tau Alpha. They entered the large float competition, large banner competition, tower of cans, anything goes, chalk drawing and the Smokey’s Howl competition.
