From the Supreme Council

Building On Our Strengths

by Supreme Council President Patrick A. Talley (Armstrong Atlantic State, Eta Mu ’74)

It’s hard to believe that several months have now passed since our convention in Memphis. Seems like just yesterday when I stood before you and accepted the great honor of being your international president for the next two years.

Since that time, we have left the heat of Memphis behind and the cool days of fall are upon us. For our chapters, this means that they are back in action on college campuses throughout the United States and Canada. Back in action means fall rush, pledge programming and initiations, intramural sports, getting committees organized and running, attending Pike University Leadership Summits, and much more.

Although each of our chapters is different and diverse, one thing that we all have in common is a focus on excellence. This was the theme of my remarks when I spoke to the Convention during our last evening. I talked about excellence, about how we have achieved excellence in virtually every aspect of our Fraternity, and about continuing the momentum in the years to come. We have certainly experienced unparalleled success over the last few decades, and as a result we are recognized as North America’s preeminent fraternal organization. Yet now is not the time to rest on such lofty accomplishments. There are only two options, continue on a path of excellence, or decline in mediocrity.

My vision as your International President is to continue on this path of excellence. Excellence begins with quality chapters, and so in the “Quality” component of our Strategic Plan, we focus on “building quality chapters”. This primarily involves three things. First, promoting and growing our existing “Excellent Chapters” (chapters that have achieved the Raymond L. Orians Chapter Excellence Award), and increasing the number of Excellent Chapters. Parenthetically, what a great honor it would be for Ray Orians, in his last year as our long-time executive vice president and the person largely responsible for our Fraternity’s excellence today, if every chapter were to receive the excellence award named in his honor this year.

Second, chapter excellence and building quality chapters involves “growth”. We want all of our chapters to grow – to grow larger and stronger, and to grow with quality. One thing we particularly focus on at this time of year is fall rush. Early reports indicate that our chapters have done very well, and are on the way to meeting growth goals in both pledgings and initiations. But quality growth is much more than formal fall “rush”. Growth involves the next step or steps, planning and executing on growth strategies beyond formal fall rush throughout the semester and throughout the year. Growth is a continuing process – we don’t want our chapters to rest on the lofty achievements of a successful fall rush, we want to capitalize on this momentum, and parlay this into a successful strategy of Quality and Growth throughout the academic year, and into next year.

Finally, building quality chapters involves a focus on chapters which have not yet achieved the quality objectives of our Strategic Plan, or which may be nonperforming, and helping these chapters to become stronger. In each instance where a chapter becomes better and stronger, the brotherhood of Pi Kappa Alpha is likewise strengthened. Bear in mind that as a chapter in the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, you are part of the best and strongest fraternity in North America. The “strength” of our Fraternity lies in the fact that we have strong chapters, and so we must vigilantly maintain standards of quality and excellence in our chapters as we go forward to assure that our chapters are strong and remain strong. This strength is what sustains us, and we can rely on this strength no matter what challenge we may face.

As I said at the conclusion of my remarks at the International Convention, I am very proud to be the president of this great Fraternity, and I am excited about being able to lead this Fraternity as we go forward, meeting opportunities and challenges alike, as we continue to build quality chapters and continue to achieve excellence. As your president, I want to assure you of this – if you need help, when you need help, your Fraternity will be there for you, and as your president I make this promise and commitment to you. We want to help all of our chapters become stronger and achieve excellence in every respect, and I know that we will be successful if we but persevere.

Yes, it really does seem like yesterday since our Memphis convention. Pretty soon, fall will also seem like yesterday, and before you know it spring will be here and you’ll be looking at the end of another academic year. Time passes quickly. Don’t let it pass you by. Do everything that you can to make your chapter stronger, and become an excellent chapter.

As for me, I just realized that 1/8 of my term is already over… it’s time for all of us to get to work.

In the bonds,

Pat Talley
International President