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 doubled the chapter's size by initiating a total of twelve more brothers along with honorary member Chancellor Emil M. Mrak, the namesake of Mrak Hall. 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. Some of its service projects include Santa For Kids 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.

By 1983, Iota Phi had established its long-standing tradition of three families: Close Family, founded by Elizabeth Tom; Loose Family, founded by Debbie Sloane; and Tight Family, founded by Dave Emery. These families were intended to help the chapter's large membership build Brotherhood in smaller groups.

1990s to Present

From the 1990s and on, Iota Phi has done much to develop its service program. In Fall 1993, members collaborated with Head Start to create the annual Seasons of Giving project, also known as Santa 4 Kids. As a result of this project and its Spring counterpart started in Spring 2003, Spring Fling, Iota Phi strengthened its role in the Davis, Dixon, Woodland, and Sacramento communities. Later, in Spring 2004, the chapter began another annual tradition, Dance for Kids. This project offers children with special needs a night of fun at a prom-like event. As an extension of this event, members sometimes host Parents' Night Out, an event in which members spend time with local special needs children, so their parents can have a few extra hours of free time and fun.

Since Spring 2004, Iota Phi has required that all members fulfill projects in the four fields of service: chapter, campus, community, and country. Alpha Phi Omega's service program has become relatively large for the Davis community, with members regularly committing between 10,000 and 12,000 hours in total per year.

Section and Beyond

Section 4

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 1972, the Blake R. Boer Distinguished Leadership Award was named after Blake Boer, an Iota Phi alumnus. Similarly, 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 Fellowship Gold Pans, and 25% of Service Gold Pans awarded.

Region X

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.

Iota Phi has also contributed to the chartering and re-chartering of multiple chapters within Region X. In the early 1980s, the chapter helped charter and re-charter Alpha Alpha Xi (1981) and Kappa Sigma (1982) respectively. In 2000-2002, it additionally helped re-charter Rho Rho. Together, these three chapters were considered to be Iota Phi's Little Bro Chapters. Additionally, the National Board honored David Moll (Iota Phi, 1984) with the Ellsworth S. Dobson Award for Membership Efforts for his strong efforts to recharter Alpha Kappa chapter from 1988-1989. Another notable contribution was the integral role Iota Phi alumnus Bella Fong played in re-chartering Rho Pi in 1994.

Recently, Iota Phi hosted the Region X Conference for the first time in 2009. The conference was regarded as largely successful and had over 300 attendees. The conference was unique for taking advantage of many emerging online technologies. Members have also taken the chapter's technological savvy by spreading Erik Staab's original website design to chapters across the region.

National Involvement

On Alpha Phi Omega's national scale, several Iota Phi brothers have made many important contributions. 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.

As a chapter, Iota Phi pioneered bringing women into the fraternity before it was allowed nationally in 1976. Iota Phi, along with Alpha Chi at MIT, Kappa at Carnegie Mellon University, and Beta Sigma at Texas Tech University, initiated women as full members, and registered them with the National Office using either their first initial or a masculine version of their first names.

Iota Phi has also historically had several notable experiences at National Conventions. For example, the traveling woes of members attending the 1982 Convention were met with Earle M. Herbert's presentation of seven sashes to Iota Phi members. The sashes, called the Benevolent and Spirited Order of Oil and Sand (BASOOS), became one of the highest honors available to Iota Phi. Another notable experience was establishing a relationship with Cornell University's Gamma Chapter as Iota Phi's Brother Chapter. More recently in both 2004 and 2010, Iota Phi members won the National Man-Mile award for sending the most people to the convention over the greatest distance.

The chapter had once again made history at the 2010 National Convention, as Iota Phi members made up the bulk of the bid team to bring the 2012 convention to San Francisco. The bid narrowly lost to Anaheim, 218-211, in what was the closest decision for a convention bid in the history of Alpha Phi Omega National Conventions.

International Involvement

Iota Phi alumni have had a hand in the International Council of Alpha Phi Omega (ICAPO). ICAPO's first ever chair was Dave Emery (1996-1999). Dave maintained efforts to expand the fraternity to Canada, while acting as a liaison to interest groups in other countries such as the Philippines. Several people continued his work, including his long-time friend Beth Tom, who has served on the National Board as the International Relations Director (2008-2010).

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.

• Iota Phi's chapter colors are Black and Silver, as chosen in 2001.