Iota Phi

History

On May 27, 1951, the national office installed thirty-four students, three scouting advisors, six faculty, and four honorary members as the Iota Phi chapter of Alpha Phi Omega. Gamma Gamma chapter (UC Berkeley) and Chi chapter (UCLA) brought spirit and ideas of Alpha Phi Omega to Davis. Iota Phi flourished in its early days under its first president, William Aylett Sparkes. Its founding brothers include Harry A Laidlaw, Jr. (UC Davis Faculty), Claude Burton Hutchison (UC Davis Dean, 66 years of age), and Knowles A. Ryerson (UC Davis Professor, 59 years of age). Incidentally, these are the two same people that Hutchison and Ryerson Halls are named after on UC Davis' campus. By the records, 26 of the founding brothers had graduated or would graduate by 1952. Apparently, the chapter graduated en masse, leading to the de-activation of the Iota Phi chapter in the mid 1950's.

Rechartering

The spirit of Iota Phi rekindled in 1961 under the direction of Professor Harlan Pratt and his "Iota Phi Club." The chapter eventually reactivated with nine initiated, including their elected president, Oliver Michaelis, on September 20, 1962. These inspired and dedicated men, tried desperately to build a strong chapter from which the spirit of humanitarianism would grow. The next pledge class brought forth 5 more brothers. The third pledge class of Iota Phi included the notable Emil M. Mrak (Mrak Hall is named after him) and a total of 12 more brothers, doubling the chapter size. The chapter went through its ups and downs until around 1979, when David A. Emery, Deborah Sloane, and Elizabeth Tom pledged. These three were critical in establishing 'Families,' a tradition which we continue to this day.

The reborn Iota Phi chapter has progressively grown in strength and number since 1962 and going co-ed in 1976, and it has developed a broad service program encompassing service to the nation, community, and campus. Its service projects include Santa For Kids (a program created by the chapter for the HeadStart program), planting in the Arboretum, Special Olympics, trick-or-treating for UNICEF, various projects associated with Picnic Day on campus, Examiner Bay to Breakers, among other noteworthy projects.

1980s

Alfred Sheets (pledge namesake some 13 years later) pledged on May 20, 1983; at that time, about 14% of the pledges were Asian. When Teri Grimm, Alfred's future wife and future Region X chair, pledged in 1985, 40% of her pledge class was Asian. By 1986, 70% of the pledge class was Asian. In contrast, the first Asian brother who pledged Iota Phi in 1967 was the only one in his class. Since then, ethnic diversity has been a major goal in its Rush program.

Section and Beyond

In the context of Section 4, Region X, and even at the national level, many notable members of Alpha Phi Omega pledged at Iota Phi. As of 2010, seven of the last twenty known Section 4 Chairs were from Iota Phi. In 1982, the Chuck Cruz Distinguished Fellowship Award was named after Charles Cruz, another Iota Phi brother. More recently in 2002, the David A. Emery Distinguished Alumni Award was named for Brother Dave Emery. Many members of the chapter earned various substantial awards at the sectional level. Most notably, Dave Emery, John W. Jones, and Teri Sheets each received the Section 4 Distinguished Service Key.

In recognition of Iota Phi's strong programs, the chapter has received many Section 4 Gold Pan awards--traditionally the highest awards offered annually to any chapter in Section 4 for the quality of their programs. Iota Phi was the first recipient of the Overall Program Gold Pan Award in 1965. It earned the award again in 1968, 1973, 1974, 1975, and 1976, 1992, and 2006 respectively. Since Gold Pan awards were created for the cardinal principles of Leadership, Friendship, and Service in 1990, the chapter was a frequent recipient of these awards as well. From 1990 to 2010, Iota Phi received 25% of all Leadership Gold Pans, 10% of Friendship Gold Pans, and 25% of Service Gold Pans awarded.

On the regional level, Iota Phi members John Trunick III, Dave Emery, Teri Sheets, and Beth Tom comprise half of all Region X Directors since the position has existed. Moreover, each of those former Region Directors along with Debbie Sloane have all received the Region X Distinguished Service Key. As a result, Iota Phi has, as of 2010, crossed more Region X DSK recipients than other chapter in the region.

Several Iota Phi brothers have even contributed to Alpha Phi Omega works on the national scale. Beth Tom, Dave Emery, and Teri Sheets have all served on the National Board in the past. In 1996, each of them, along with Debbie Sloane, had contributed to hosting the 1996 National Convention in Region X. Lastly, in 2006, Brother Dave Emery earned the National Distinguished Service Key, the highest honor any member can receive from Alpha Phi Omega.

Trivia

• Iota Phi's Brother Chapter is Gamma (Cornell University), and its Little Brother chapters are Kappa Sigma (CSU Sacramento), Alpha Alpha Xi (University of the Pacific), and Rho Rho (UC Irvine).

• Iota Phi is one of the largest chapters of Alpha Phi Omega in the United States, regularly initiating anywhere between 60-130 pledges.

• While most chapters name their pledge classes by letters of the Greek alphabet, Iota Phi refer to pledge classes by their namesake. E.g. Rather than something like "Beta Class", Spring 2008 would be Aaron Lipton Class.

• Unlike most chapters, where someone's big bro is referred to as their "grand big", Iota Phi refers to such relationships in a more mathematical way. One would refer to their big bro's big bro as "Square", and their Square's big bro as "Cube", and from there, "Fourth", "Fifth", and so forth. See Family Line for more information.