University of Maryland Colony

The National Capital Section Alumni Club has decided to take on the task of establishing a new Theta Tau Colony at the University of Maryland at College Park. With approximately 2,800 undergraduate students, the Clark School of Engineering is an excellent prospect for expansion of the fraternity. We were encouraged to find that although the Engineering School has many active student engineering organizations and a strong Greek system, there is nothing that has all of the unique qualities and facets that Theta Tau has to offer. We spoke with several current students at UMCP, and they responded with a very enthusiastic response, and felt that a group like Theta Tau would be a welcome addition. We felt that this made The University of Maryland at College Park fertile ground for colonization.

Our next step was to gather the support of the local alumni and student members in the Washington, DC area. The idea was brought up by the alumni club. We then contacted the Gamma Beta Chapter at The George Washington University to get their input and ask for their support. With only a short metro ride between the two campuses, Gamma Beta's interaction will be critical to these efforts.

We have recently attended a meeting with the Associate Dean of the Engineering School. At this meeting, both representatives for the Alumni Club, Mark Wisneski, UB and Alex Rosenheim, GB) and the Student Chapter (Jon Kazmiercyk, GB and Ben Tinsley, GB) gave a detailed presentation of the fraternity's history, our on-going student and alumni club activities and an outline of a proposed timeline to formation of the Colony leading to full Chapter status.

The National Office has contacted the Dean of the Engineering School making a formal statement of our goal of establishing this Colony. Locally, we will be spending the summer learning more about the logistics of student groups at UMCP and completing our preparations for full interaction with the engineering student body. At the administration's request, we will be a introducing Theta Tau to the Engineers' Council at UMCP in the fall. As our progress continues, we will keep the Nationals, the local alumni and students informed on our latest activities.

In H&T,
Alex Rosenheim, GB '96