SPRING 2011 OMICRON THE CHAPTER OF PHI GAMMA DELTA - UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA WWW.UVAFIJILORG GREETINGS FROM THE TEMPLE by Rick Forshaw ('12) - Chapter President Spring 2011 was an- other successful semester for Omicron. The IFC's rush period marked the y beginning of this eventful 7 semester. The chapter had been aggressively engaged in informal recruiting since May 2010, and the brother- hood successfully continued its enthusiasm for rush into January and February. At the conclusion of rush in early February, we welcomed twenty-three first years and three second years into our ranks as pledges. Our ex- traordinary results are a direct reflection on the strength of our brotherhood and dem- onstrate the strong potential of a house that can rally behind an important goal. Speaking to the strength of our Broth- ethood, the pledge class retained all twenty-six pledges. The chapter's pledge educator, Clark O’Bannon, °13 conducted an excellent haze-free pledge education program at a time when other fraternities continue to struggle with hazing and other incidents. At the end of April, the IFC host- ed an awards ceremony in the Dome Room of the Rotunda. Omicron won. Outstanding Philanthropy and Our standing Chapter President Ross Ja- cobson (11). Additionally, many Phi Gams fared well in university-wide elections: Third Year President Charlie Miller (13); Second Year VP Bran- don Moores (14); Honor Representa- tive Jack Valentine (12); Commerce Council VP Rick Forshaw ('12); Commerce Council Treasurer Dom Rinaldi (’12). Omicron brothers con- tinue to set the bar for extra-curricular formal involvement, as Phi Gam is home to many Madison house program direc- tors, CIO executive board members, and numerous other extra-curricular leaders. Omicron continued its annual Lax and Links graduate event in early April. Although undergraduates enjoyed the company of all who could attend, the event has not hit our attendance goals for the past few years. As a result, plans are in progress to host a larger graduate event the night before Foxfield Races, to take advantage of the large number of graduates already in town. The undergraduates look for this event to become a staple in Omicron’s graduate relations pro- gram. In addition to the chapter’s plans for a new approach to gradu- ate relations in the spring of 2012, we are planning to improve and expand our chapter's Pig Dinner for fall 2011. The event will be held on Homecoming Weekend, on the evening of Friday, October 14". In celebration of the 10" anniversary of Omicron’s re-colonization, the undergraduates are organizing both a catered dinner and a band at the Temple. We envision a coat-and-tie evening of dinner and dancing at the Temple, to be followed the next day by tailgating for the Homecoming football game. We hope you will mark your calendars now and encourage your pledge brothers to return for this exciting weekend. If any graduates have an interest in helping with planning or have any advice to share, please feel free to reach out to me at fdfSp@virginia.edu. We look forward to seeing you at the Temple soon, El ending \r\nGRADUATE NEWS David Wakelee (’51), Corky Shackelford (’51), and other mem- bers of the ’51 class returned for their 60" reunion this year and challenge the classes of ’52 and °53 to match them in 100% partici- pation in graduate giving to Omicron. Rick Cusack (68) writes, “Our pledge class (mostly ’68) was very close and many of us are still in contact with each other af- ter all these years. Prior reunions were primarily held out west - Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas - because of the mild weather. When I moved from Chicago to Sarasota two years ago, I thought that an event on the east coast would be different and might even at- tract more attendees because of the location and the generally good weather. This year we had 20 attendees and a small handful of ac- companying wives. The outing was over three days with golf on all three days and group dinners every night. As we've gotten older the group isn’t quite as rambunctious as it used to be.” In attendance this year were: Rick Cusack (’68), Ray Cusack (67), Charlie Fox (’66), Jack Burkart (’74), Jack Wilson (’69), Mike Craig (’68), Hener Seaks (’68), Bill Smith (’68), Wayne Lee (68), John Moritz (68), Butch Cramer (’69), Rick Coupe (’69), Jeff Anderson (’69), Rick Swift (’74), Dave Harrison (’67), Mike Sorensen (’69), Fred Brady (’69), Rex Lamb (69) and Steve Nauss (69). Kyle Sturgeon’s (’04) daughter Fiona just finished kindergarten and theit Newfoundland puppy, Rufus, is already up to 120 Ibs at 9 months old. Nick Feakins (05) and wife Allie (Darden ’10) celebrated the blooming of their Purple Clematis this spring (below). It’s the first plant Nick has been able to keep alive. They also got to celebrate Memorial Weekend with Bill Harrison (’75) in Virginia Beach. After 10 summers at YMCA Camp Thunderbird in Richmond, VA, Patrick Edmunds (05) quit his job as Camp Director to move to Norfolk, VA in January 2011 to begin a Master of Public Admin- istration program, with concentration in nonprofit management, at Old Dominion University. Recent trips with fellow ’crons include Cancun, Miami, and New Orleans. Jon Ziefle ('05) recently started a PhD program in Mechanical Engineering at NC State University, He hopes to finish by 2015 (we'll see). He’s also training for a marathon this fall. Nick Kristoff (’06) and his wife, Austin (Chi Omega ’07), are living in Hilton Head Island, SC. Nick is working as a mortgage lender for Mortgage Network, Inc. Austin is an English teacher at the Hilton Head Christian Academy. Nick is active with the lo- cal University of Virginia alumni club and he is the president of the Hilton Head Area graduate chapter of Phi Gamma Delta. He'd welcome the opportunity to catch up with any beans planning a trip to the beaches of South Carolina. John J. Yandziak III ('06) is moving to Brazil in Summer 2011 to work for Google in their Sao Paulo office. Any beanful visitors are invited! Dan Laufer (06) and wife Molly (07) are leaving San Diego in June, putting their stuff in storage, and traveling for a couple of months (Turkey, Croatia, Hungary and Romania). In the fall they're moving up to Palo Alto where Dan will start business school at Stanford. After 4 years of service, Molly’s getting out of the Navy and is looking for a job in the Bay Area. Joel Swider (08) got married on Jan. 1, 2011 in Washington, DC to Victoria DeVaux (08). Also present were Big Bro Hilliard (07) (pieing), B. Cline (08), Lubin (08), Carlisle(08), Anderson (05), Headley (08), Rowen (’09), and Harris McGehee (08). SUBMIT GRADUATE NEws! Send us your updates & photos: hettp://www.uvafiji.org/alumni/newsletters.php CONTACT US PT mee ely aa Chapter President \r\nNEW TEMPLE MURAL EXPANSION IN VIRGINIA Phi Gamma Delta is excited about expansion plans for Virginia Commonwealth University. Their IFC, which encompasses 11 fraternities, selected Phi Gam- ma Delta to initiate their expansion efforts in the fall of 2012. Many of the same fraternities found at UVA have chapters at VCU. In fact, Sigma Phi Epsilon (SPE) has its headquarters and alpha (University of Richmond) and beta (VCU) chapters in Richmond. Any brothers who are interested in serving on a Board of Chapter Advisors or in any other role can contact Wes Mason, Director of Expansion. According to Wes, most of the activity for VCU will pick up the spring of next year. ‘The only other school Phi Gamma Delta is currently pursuing in Virginia is ODU for a recolonization, but they aren’t currently open for expansion. Contact: Wes Martin 859-255-1848 x129 | wmartin@phigam.org SAVE THE DATE! ANNUAL PIG DINNER FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14", 2011 Formal invitations will be mailed out shortly, but the Omicron Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta would like to cor- dially invite all graduate brothers to our annual Pig Dinner on Friday, October 14", 2011, as part of U.Va.’s Homecom- ings Weekend! Started in 1893 at the University of Califor- nia, Berkley, Phi Gamma Delta’s Frank Norris Pig Dinner is the longest continually running, chapter-based, annual graduate event in the Greek world. This year, the Chapter will tent the front yard and host Pig Dinner at the House in order to make attending as convenient as possible for our graduates. The Chapter is also working on live entertainment for the evening. In addition to dinner (and the traditional kissing of the pig of course), the Chapter will also be an- nouncing the recipients of the Omicron Chapter Awards, including Outstanding Graduate Brother. Please join us for this memorable event and reconnect with your fellow Phi Gams on Homecomings Weekend! - Tommy Hayne ('09) - Purple Legionnaire \r\nA TRADITION OF PIE by Andrew Garrahan ('05) While it is a predictable event at most Omicron weddings, the groom, caught up in the celebrations of the day, will so often for- get the reward he has coming to him from his brothers. With the bride and family hopefully well out of range, the groom is hit by his brothers with one or more pies. ‘The tradition of pieings at Omicron weddings dates back to at least the mid-1970s. Nationally, Phi Gamma Delta has the tradition of saving the “Delta” of the pie for the last bite, and any brother who eats the Delta before then forfeits the rest of his pie to his brothers. Omicron began its long association with pies in the 1960s during the Openings and Easters weekends, when brothers purchased de- fective pies from the Colonel Morton Pie Factory in Crozet for use in the legendary Pie Fights. Jack Burkart (’73) recalls purchasing over 100 pies for such events and recalls a pie thrown in 1966, the earliest documented Omicron pie cheap. At some point, this tra- dition carried through to the pieing of the groom and continues today, with the groom pied by the most recently married brother in attendance - or by any bean with a pie - often William Olinger (793). Kit Henningsen (’74) recalls the difficult conversation with his future mother-in-law that so many Omi- crons have faced: that a pie will be thrown, and it probably cannot be stopped, although he made the wise choice of having a backup jacket so he didn’t leave his wedding smelling like Easters. Omicron wives have been good sports throughout, at very least understand- ing, and often wholeheartedly supporting the pie throwing, Chris Anderson's (’05) wife, Jaqueline, went so far as to make sure the pie was included in the caterer’s contract. Other memorable pieings: Jack Robinson (’74) pied in the limo on the way to his honeymoon; Peter Dunne (80) served by two pumpkin pies at the hands of Mark Wolfe (80) and Eric Kisa (’80); Robert Subasavage (’02) pieing his brother John Subasavage (’00) and Justin Bonner (’04) pieing his brother Aaron Bonner (’00); Cameron Payne (’92) and Andrew Garrahan (’05) both pied dur- ing blizzards. After the house recolonized in 2002, the tradition continued, with Kyle Sturgeon (04) pied at his 2004 wedding. Brother Stur- geon bridged the gap from post- to pre-recolonization when he de- livered the pie to John Matthews (’99) at his 2003 wedding to wife Paige. Steve Driskill (06) was paid back many times over at his wedding in 2010 for the number of pies he personally delivered dur- ing the avalanche of Omicron weddings that occurred in that time frame. The tradition has even spanned generations, as Bruce Hague (61) pied his own son-in-law Curtis Gifford (’92) at his 1997 wed- ding to his daughter Jill Hague Gifford (’92). Pat Hanrahan (92) picked up the remainders of said pie and dutifully pied the proud father of the bride himself. The tradition continues most recently with Michael Chester (06) pied this April and Amir Shahien (’07) last month. Many thanks to all of the brothers who contributed to this article. For a more com- plete list of brothers who have been pied, or to contribute more “explanation” to this tradi- tion, please visit: uvafijiorg/alumni. \r\nCONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2011! The Omicron Chapter congratulates the graduating class of 2011 and wishes them well in their future endeavors! The Chapter will miss their presence around the House but hopes to see them all at Pig Dinner in October or sooner. Remember, Phi Gamma Delta is not for college days alone! Below are just a few blurbs about some of the members of the graduating class and their post-college plans. Matt Aronson Matt will be interning with ExxonMobil in Clinton, New Jersey this summer. Next fall, Matt will be attending the University of Cali- fornia, Santa Barbara where he will be pursuing a PhD in chemical engineering. Cam Coleman Cam will be taking a gap-year before medical school and will be working at Inova Hospital in Fairfax, VA. Cam will be living with fel- low Phi Gam Michael Incerto (’11). Both are excited to join all the Phi Gams in the D.C. area for an exciting year. Greg Ellwood Greg will be living in Northern Virginia where he will be working at Urban Engineering, a civil engineering firm in Chantilly. Jack Farhi Jack will be scribing and assisting the Tappahannock Emergency Room with medical records. Jack will also be applying for medical schools for the following year. Shane Gallagher Shane will be in Charlottesville next year where he'll be studying finance at the McIntire School of Commerce. Shane hopes to stay in- volved with the House as a graduate brother. Brad Howlett Brad will be moving up to Northern Virginia this summer to begin working for Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP as a consultant. Michael Incerto Michael will be heading to Arlington, VA to work for Deloitte Consulting. He will be living in Clarendon with fellow Phi Gam Cam Coleman (11). Ross Jacobson Ross will be moving to New York City this June. He will be work- ing as an analyst in the power & utilities group at UBS. Josh Jolissaint Josh will be working at the Emergency Department at Sentara Hospital in Williamsburg, VA as he applies to medical school. Josh will also be accompanying the UVA Health System to Wise, VA in July (along with fellow Phi Gam Cam Coleman (’11)) to provide free healthcare to underserved residents in Southwest Virginia as part of the Remote Area Medical (RAM) Clinic. Brian Kinslow Brian will be moving to Fort Myers, Florida over the summer where he'll be working in the sales department at Gartner, a leading IT consulting and advisory company. Mike Perry Mike graduated from the Architecture School and will be working in New York City for Prophet as a marketing and brand design intern. Evan Rust Evan will be staying at U.Va. pursuing a Masters’ Degree in Sys- tems Engineering. His research will be focused on determining an op- timal model for the allocation of liver transplants to patients suffering from Hepatocellular Carcinoma, the most common type of liver can- cer. He also plans to continue working on a collection of short stories. Noah Scherz Next year, Noah will be heading to New York City to work for Rothschild. Noah plans to keep Fiji close to his heart by living with two of his pledge brothers, Ross Jacobson (’11) and Joe Stoots (’11). Joe Stoots Joe will be moving to New York City where he'll be working for Citigroup as a sales and trading analyst. Jared Ward Next year, Jared will be studying at U.Va. for a masters in public health. Jared was recently published for his contributions to the Foltz Research Lab and plans to continue to volunteer there while continu- ing his education next year. \r\nRICHMOND, VA B. Benjamin Baker, III (Richmond ’57) Bhbaker3@verizon.net Cell: 804-221-9104 PHI GAMMA DELTA IS NOT FOR COLLEGE DAYS ALONE! Over the past year, there has been a real resurgence in local graduate chapters. These chapters are open to any Brother living in the area. Both the Richmond, VA and National Capital Fijis (VA/ DC area) have facebook pages for those interested in joining or just learning about upcoming events. Brothers Baker and Nank are excited to add some more ’Crons. NATIONAL CAPITAL FIJIS (Washington, DC area) Timothy D. Nank (Columbia ’93) tdnank@att.net Cell: (202) 230-2846 - GRADUATE ANNUAL GIVING Brothers, One of the things your graduate donations make possible is this newsletter. We have worked hard over the past few years to improve the quality and the consistency of our graduate communications. We hope you have enjoyed hearing of the Chapter’s many successes and feel that we are doing a good job of communicating upcoming graduate events. These newsletters are only possible because of donations from graduates like you. If you are one of the 100 grads who donated in 2010, thank you very much. We hope you will continue to see the value in giving and encourage your fellow pledge brothers to do the same. If you haven’t given in a while, we hope you will reconsider. Our newsletters and the numerous graduate events we put on each year are the result of a strong relationship between the undergraduate Chapter, our Board of Chapter Advisors, and our House Corporation. We are always looking, how- ever, for feedback and suggestions on things we could do better. Please feel free to give us feedback anytime by going to uvafiji.org/alumni And while you are there, submit a personal update that we can include in the next newsletter! PERGE, Nick Feakins (05) President, Omicron Chapter House Society GRADUATE DONORS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011 TO DATE (JAN. 1 - JUNE 6, 2011) Special thanks to the following graduates for their gifts to the Omicron Chapter’ annual fund this year. We hope you will continue to support FIJI and encourage your fellow Brothers to join in the effort! $1,000 + $128 + William $. Armistead 75 $28 + Jack W. Burkare 73 A. Colquite Shackelford, Jr. °51 George E. Holland 76 Greg A. Dolinsky 04 James G, Hunter, Jr. °55 Erik H. Kisa, M.D. "80 Marthew J. Allman 08 $500 + James F. McCabe, Jr. °55 Eric S. Stange "80 ‘Joel D. Swider 09 Charles H. Rohrer "55 Peter M. Pasley °84 John Q, Schisler IIT 09 Robert K. Krout °30 William C. Childress °58 Barry W. Bruckman "88 Jared A. Ward ae Edward T. Bedford 64 Con Way Ling 92 Evan P. Rust a $250 + Richard E. Evans 64 Jeremy D. Hogg 03" David Livingston 65 Michael C. Outten 05" Eugene P. Kennedy "90 Herbert P. Soles "68 Nicholas P. Feakins 05 stil David S. Simon °91 Carl Helmetag IIT °70 Christopher W. Anderson 05" Indicates a Club 128 Kevin L. Beicke 01 R. Michael Sorensen "70 Kevin S. Dowlen ‘10° member (ongoing monthly George E. Cramer "71 Ross A. Jacobson 11 donor) If we have mistakenly forgotten your name, please contact us at: giving @uvafiji.org.