Alumni Association website provides members a central hub to connect, obtain information
As part of its overall strategy for communication, the Iowa Beta Alumni Association has launched Version 1.0 of its website, which can be found at www.iowabetasae.org.
"Members have asked for a central place to go for Iowa Beta information and we are responding to that need," said Iowa Beta Director of Communication board member Greg Miller (IABE '86). "We live in a period of time that historians often call the 'Information Age,' and with so many sources of information available today, it can become confusing and overwhelming. And we know each generation has it's own preferred method of communication, compounding the issue."
When visiting the site, the user will land on the home page, which gives a brief overview of the alumni association and contains a button at the bottom to join the association. This is very similar to the prior online form. Additionally, there are historical images of Iowa Beta throughout the site.
“In August 2013, we introduced an online membership form enabling people to join the alumni association in a fast and easy manner,” said Brian Kingery (IABE ’91) , Director and Member Services Chairman of the Iowa Beta Alumni Association. “In December, that online form evolved into a full-blown website that can address a variety of member needs.”
Along the left side, you will find various tabs. The second tab is labeled "News." Clicking on this tab will provide members the latest Iowa Beta information as well as the archives of Alumni Association newsletters.
This is where archived monthly e-newsletters that are located. The news section will expand in the coming months with additional information.
The next tab is labeled "Events." This is where the members can keep up with social gatherings, game watches, meetings, golf outings and other Iowa Beta get-togethers. It also lists the events that have occurred.
The fourth tab is "Giving." This link provides an easy way for members to make a donation to provide financial support for the alumni association’s programs and initiatives as it works to reengage alumni and build support systems for undergraduates to reoccupy the house in 2016.
The next tab is labeled "Chapter Eternal."
"According to the ritual of SAE, it is our duty and responsibility to honor those brothers whom death has claimed from our Mystic Circle," said Iowa Beta Alumni Association President Marc Rosenow (IABE '86). "This tab lists the most recent brothers who are known to have died as well as all of the Iowa Beta brothers who have gone to the Chapter Eternal since the founding in 1905."
Members are grouped alphabetically by last name within the decade of their graduation. If there are any errors or omissions, please let the Alumni Association know at info@iowabetasae.org.
The next tab, labeled "Officers," lists the current officers of the Iowa Beta Alumni Association and the house corporation. This is followed by the "Update Your Info" tab, which is a quick and easy way to provide the Alumni Association with home address, phone number or e-mail address changes.
“We will continue to upgrade and enhance the website over the coming months and introduce other components of our digital strategy in due course," Rosenow said. “We welcome your comments and ideas for improvement as we work to build website Version 2.0.”
Michael Eovino enjoys some family time with his family. Here he is with sister Shawn, his mother, Molly, and his father, Tim. On Michael's left is his girlfriend, Sarah Ackerman.
Eovino keeps the SAE fires lit at home in Florida
Michael Eovino (IABE ’05) may have left Iowa City after he graduated the University of Iowa in 2005, but SAE still burns in his heart.
He regularly sees many of his SAE brothers and is finishing a two-year term serving as president of the Naples, Florida SAE alumni club, where he currently resides.
“It’s a great group of guys,” Eovino said of the Naples SAEs. “Most of them are in their 50s and 60s and then there is me. We have dinner once a month and find interesting activities to engage in. The members are from different parts of the country and attended a variety of colleges. And many of them are well-connected so we do some really unique things together.”
Next month the club of approximately 75 men will visit a private auto museum.
Eovino, 31, a graduate of Cedar Rapids Washington High School, was born and raised as a Hawkeye. It’s not surprising that he also runs the Iowa Club in his city.
In 2001, when he arrived at Iowa’s campus, he decided to explore Greek life. The summer before his freshman semester, he had been approached by some of the members of Beta Theta Pi which peaked his interested in joining a fraternity.
“I was also looking at the Fiji house, but the guys at SAE seemed more real,” Eovino said. “Fijis seemed to be a little more popular at the time and it was important to me that people had heard of the fraternity I was going to join. But the SAEs just seemed a lot more genuine. They did not seem to be concerned with being the so-called ‘coolest;' but just focused on being themselves and I was impressed. And they were all very different. There was not just one kind of guy in the house; I thought that was cool. They all got along.”
The SAEs had won the intramural football championship in 2000 but according to Eovino, the brothers did not sell themselves as the “jock” fraternity.
“I was a little surprised they did not advertise their athleticism as much,” Eovino said. “They really just stated the facts that they had guys in sports, guys in music, a lot of guys who were really smart and also a couple of guys, you know…who left a lot to be desired in the classroom. (laugh). But they were all really cool guys.”
Eovino was initiated as a member of SAE on February 8, 2002, and lived in the SAE house his sophomore and junior years before finding an apartment for his senior year.
“Everyone was ‘living in the now’ and trying to get along with each other, study hard and have fun. We were trying to apply the essentials of TheTrue Gentleman into our daily lives.”
But in recent years, traditions and ritual had not been instilled as rigorously as in the past. And there had been a decline in learning the songs of SAE.
“We were young college students and at times we had trouble connecting with ideas we considered old fashioned. Then someone would find a wonderful example of The True Gentleman and would share it at a meeting and we did our best to absorb it. It would have helped to have had someone who was older there to explain The Ritual.We did not have a lot of access to that knowledge.”
Eovino said his time as an SAE were instrumental and helped his development in becoming a man of character.
“I still have a plaque of the True Gentleman on the wall where I live and I think it is a great credo,” he said. “I am by no means accomplished and I am constantly working on myself. What I like most about SAE is the central idea of Phi Alpha. We always have an opportunity to start over. Even though today may have been difficult, tomorrow can be completely different. I think that is great and something that has always helped me.”
Eovino went through his undergraduate experience with brothers including Ben Boulden (IABE ’04), Grayson Beatty (IABE ’05), Praveen Bontu (IABE ’05), John Clayton (IABE ’05), Matt Dixon (IABE ’06), Jason Geater (IABE ’03), Ted McCartan (IABE ’05), Andy Orlando (IABE ’08), Adam Smestad (IABE ’04), Bobby Thompson (IABE ’05)and Ryan Wise (IABE ’07).
And he reminisced about several guys from his time at Iowa, including T.J. Hakanen (IABE ’05) and Chuck Stanley (IABE ’05) .
“When T.J. went to school, he liked to party and was easy going,” Eovino laughed.“I thought he was a great guy, we hung out quite a bit and he was a good friend. Now he is a middle school teacher in Chicago. He comes down here once a year and we hang out. Stanley is a really good guy. He served as eminent deputy archon.”
One of the men who made a strong impression on Eovino was Steve Theiss (IABE ’03).
“Theiss was our eminent archon my sophomore year,” he said. “He could make anyone laugh and he respected everyone. No one intimidated him. He was hilarious, but always fair to everyone. I learned a lot from him. Steve Theiss is a True Gentleman.”
Eovino said that, unfortunately, there was not a lot of alumni engagement during his years at Iowa Beta.
“We saw some alumni at homecoming and it was nice,” he said. “But that’s understandable. People grow up and they have life events and focus on that.”
After graduation, Eovino moved to Florida and started in the commercial real estate business with his father. Subsequently, he became a personal banker with Bank of America. After five years there and some time in their investment division, he spent two years working for Merrill Lynch. Last summer, he landed his current position as a private client banker with JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Eovino is delighted with the progress of the Iowa Beta Alumni Association and is a proud member of the organization.
“It is amazing to see how Iowa Beta alumni are beginning to rally today. And it is important for alumni to impart their knowledge and wisdom to the men in the chapter.”
Last September, Eovino went to a three-day music festival in Altanta called TomorrowWorld. He spotted the fraternal flag and met up with some SAEs from Chicago. People from 75 countries attended the event, which featured music electronica, dub step, house, trance and your basic everyday oonst oonst.
Quiz Answer: The lore of SAE's creed - The True Gentleman
According to The Phoenix , the new member manual of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, The True Gentleman was first introduced to the fraternity by John O. Moseley and has been memorized and recited by members of the fraternity since that time.
However, it was not until 2001 that it was officially adopted by the fraternity as its creed.
The words were discovered by Judge Walter B. Jones in the Alabama Baptist quarterly magazine and he sent a copy to Moseley, who began using it at Leadership Schools to illustrate how a member of the fraternity should act.
The author was actually unknown for many years, but in the 1970s the editor of The Phoenix, Dr. Joseph Walt, discovered that the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis also used it in a manual and its author was denoted as John Walter Wayland.
The True Gentleman had originally appeared in The Baltimore Sun newspaper as part of a competition for the best definition of a true gentleman. Wayland's submission was the clear winner.
With his family's approval, Wayland was posthumously initiated into Sigma Alpha Epsilon.The Virginia Omicron chapter at the University of Virginia was selected as Wayland's chapter since he had completed his master's degree at that institution in 1901.
The True Gentleman
The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety,and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others, rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.
- John Walter Wayland,Virginia 1899
How is the Alumni Association doing? We want your feedback
The Iowa Beta Alumni Association and the house corporation have been working very hard to keep you proud of Iowa Beta and help you connect with the brothers in your fraternity. We would like to hear from you.
What do you think of Association's progress so far? What can it do better? Are you satisfied with the frequency and content of communications?
We are here to serve you.Please send your comments and suggestions to:marc.rosenow@iowabetasae.org.
Thank you and Phi Alpha!
Did You Know?
New Nomenclature
Sigma Alpha Epsilon has recently changed its nomenclature regarding member status.
Formerly, a person who just joined the fraternity was called a “pledge” until such time as he was initiated at which point he became known as an “active” member.
Now, the term “pledge” has been eliminated from use and the proper term is “new member.” The change reflects that they are new members of SAE working to achieve full member status.
The term “active” has been replaced with “collegiate” member. Thus, a collegiate member is a full member of an active chapter or a colony while studying at college.
The term “alumni members” is still used to describe to Sigma Alpha Epsilon members who have transitioned from collegiate life to the next chapter in their lives.
A member of the Chapter Eternal is a brother who has passed away.
· February 11, 1905: Iowa Beta Chapter was installed as a chapter by William C. Levere
· February 5, 1983: Iowa Beta Chapter was
re-installed after leaving campus in the late 1970’s
· Fall 2016: Iowa Beta returns to campus at the University of Iowa after being briefly suspended in 2012