Online Registration for Panhellenic Sorority Fall Formal Recruitment is open NOW!
Online Registration is required for participation in Fall Formal Recruitment. For more information, click here to visit our Recruitment pages. Early bird registration closes August 1st, and regular registration closes August 23rd at midnight.

Click here to be redirected to the online registration page!

Go Greek & Go Bears!

Fall Formal Recruitment will take place from August 26th until Bid Day on September 1st.
All potential new members are required to attend a Mandatory Orientation on Friday, August 25th. If you are interested in participating in Fall Formal Recruitment this August, please explore our PHC Recruitment pages for information and FAQ answers! You can also check out Panhellenic’s Facebook and Twitter for additional info.

Have a great summer, and stay tuned for updates! GO BEARS!

For more information on Jill’s story visit:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1178822/1/index.ht

Internal:

In response to our rapidly increasing numbers, Panhellenic has begun to explore Extension in order to add a 13^th National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) chapter to our campus! On August 2^nd, one representative from each chapter met as the Exploratory Committee to review recruitment and housing statistics. This committee will ultimately give the recommendation to our voting Delegates to either stay as 12 chapters or open our campus to a 13^th.  Stay tuned for more Extension updates!

I am pleased to announce that our CalGreeks Social Chair training will be held on August 25^th with presentations from Berkeley Fire Department, Berkeley Police Department, and the UC Police. Giving our chapter officers a refresher of City, University, and Greek social policies before classes officially begin means that we can start having safe events even sooner!

I also want to take the time to officially congratulate Gamma Phi Beta on their National awards! During the Gamma Phi Beta national convention in Orlando, they were presented with the Panhellenic Spirit Award and the Francis B. Haven Award for the most improved chapter. Congratulations to Gamma Phi Beta for these well-deserved awards! We are so proud of you!

In other exciting news, the Panhellenic GPA again topped both the All Cal Undergrad and All Cal Women’s GPA! Our chapters averaged a 3.38 GPA for the Spring 2010 semester, beating the All Cal Women’s by .06 and up an impressive .05 from last Fall’s 3.33. Congratulations to the women of Chi Omega for earning the highest GPA at a staggering 3.49! These numbers prove that Panhellenic women are intelligent and academically oriented. Good job ladies and keep up the hard work!

External:

Panhellenic’s participation in the Cal Move-Out and Re-USE Programs was extremely successful. In a letter to Chancellor Birgeneau and the Mayor of Berkeley, Tom Bates, Panhellenic was given a shout-out by the program coordinator, Caleb Dardick. We will definitely continue to work with these amazing programs for move-out next semester.

This Fall, Panhellenic chapters will be participating in the University Housing Move-In Program on both days of dorm move in. Our women will be rolling up their sleeves and helping students move in to the Units all weekend. Be on the lookout for us and let us tell you more about the Greek community and Panhellenic recruitment!

Programming:

The CalGreeks Programming Board has been busy this summer planning our major events for the Fall semester, Greek Carnival and Greek Week! Greek Carnival will be held on Monday, August 23^rd from 10pm-1am on Lower Sproul. Carnival is a fun and exciting late night event where students can meet people from each chapter on campus, play fun carnival style games, enjoy some free food, and dance to a live DJ! All 12 Panhellenic chapters will have booths; so if you are interested in recruitment, make sure to stop by!

Mark your calendars because Greek Week is the first week in October! Teams and events will be announced in September…get your game faces on and remember to start saving your change for penny wars!

Risk Management:

Greeks Fight Back is coming to Cal on October 10^th to teach Panhellenic women about self-defense in a hands on and exciting way! Attendance at this program will count towards chapter’s fulfillment of the CalGreeks/Panhellenic education requirement.

I am also excited to announce the first All-Panhellenic New Member Education event, which will be happening just before Greeks Fight Back. At this program, all new members from each chapter will learn about the Greek community in greater detail, including the Four Councils and Four Pillars, safety issues, and ways to prevent harmful situations. Our hope is that by educating our newest members early on in their college career, we can encourage safe habits and reduce risk.

Recruitment:

The majority of the work that goes on during the summer is to prepare for our Fall Formal Recruitment process! Chapters, Recruitment Counselors, and the Panhellenic Recruitment Team have been tirelessly preparing for what we are expecting to be our largest recruitment ever!

If you are interested in getting an exclusive tour of our chapter houses before recruitment begins, please join us for House Tours on Sunday, August 22^nd at 2pm, 3pm, and 4pm, leaving from International House (top of Bancroft Ave.). You will have a chance to speak with Recruitment Counselors, meet chapter officers, and learn more about Panhellenic and the recruitment process.

At 6pm on August 23^rd and 24^th, Panhellenic will be holding info sessions for interested women. Please come and ask us any questions you have about our community!

This year, recruitment begins on August 27^th and ends on September 2^nd. If you are interested in participating in Recruitment, please see the Panhellenic Recruitment page and register by August 24^th.

Whew! So much has been going on, the summer sure has flown by! But I know that with everything that will be going on this semester, school will be just as fun! Also, it is almost the “most wonderful time of the year,” football season! GO BEARS!

Fraternally,

Katrina Ziegenhirt

Panhellenic President

Internal:

Continuing on past semesters, CalGreeks hosted Chapter Officer training on February 6^th for Presidents, Social Chairs, Risk Managers, and others. Recognizing that chapters want to have social events as soon as the semester started, we arranged for a Panhellenic preliminary Social Chair Training that occurred on the first day of instruction. To continue relationships with chapter officers and create arenas for discussion, roundtables were held with Presidents, Social Chairs, Risk Managers, GAMMA reps, Sustainability Chairs and Philanthropy Chairs. Chapter Delegates met bi-weekly to get caught up on everything Panhellenic to report back to their chapters. A new program this semester is Woman of the Month, where each chapter nominates a member and one is chosen and featured in the No Matter the Letters newsletter. I want to thank every chapter officer for participating in these discussions and for taking an active role in the community. Without your involvement, there would be no flow of ideas between chapters and progress would be made more difficult.

External:

This semester we have improved on our relations with much of our community. First, numerous Panhellenic chapters took advantage of the Greek Opportunity Fund set up by the ASUC to fund their Philanthropy events. Ten out of our twelve chapters hosted philanthropy events raising thousands of dollars for their national philanthropies. Panhellenic has also created ties with the outside community through membership on the Chancellors Advisory Committee on Student/Neighbor Relations and the Neighborhood Relations Task Forced headed up by IFC Advisor, Brandon Tsubaki. Membership in these entities ensures that Panhellenic is able to participate in dialogues concerning risk management, neighborhood relations, and sustainability. In April, Panhellenic partnered with Kaplan Test-prep Services to gain a 15% discount on courses for Panhellenic women and host four strategy sessions at Chi Omega. Lastly, Panhellenic chapters are participating in the ReUSE clothing drive program during move-out to reduce waste.

Programming:

Panhellenic women were busy this semester with programming events ranging from sports nights to service opportunities. Panhellenic and IFC sponsored Warriors Night in March and Giants Night in April yielded huge turnouts and fun was had by all! The ASUC Voter Booths were enormously successful, leading to multiple Chipotle re-orders and voters opting to use their smart phones to vote instead of waiting in the long line for a laptop. We want to thank Greeks for voting in this year’s election because many of our Greek candidates won! The Pre-Cal Day Cleanup saw unprecedented numbers with over 250 participants, the majority of which were Panhellenic women. In addition, every chapter had a team for Relay for Life, the American Cancer Society’s event to raise money for cancer research. Thank you so much for your participation this semester and get excited for Greek Carnival and Greek Week (including Greek Benefit!) in the Fall!

Risk Management:

Working with a brand new Panhellenic Social Code, Panhellenic and Chapter officers worked together to plan and register safe events for members. It was difficult at the beginning to work through the new City Ordinances and Fire Permits, but now that everyone has the routine down, the number of registered events has increased dramatically! This means that chapters are making risk management and safety their priorities in planning events on and off site. I truly appreciate chapter officers taking the time and effort to work through this difficult semester. We definitely came out on top and next semester should be no problem! Panhellenic chapters also completed their education requirements through events like the Body Positive documentary screening and having BEARS come to chapter meetings. The CERT program was brought to campus in late April, allowing chapters to send representatives to a building on campus instead of a fire station. Look forward to Greeks Fight Back!, a self defense event and an alcohol safety event for new members in the Fall.

Recruitment:

Nine of twelve chapters were involved in Spring COB this semester, adding dozens of amazing women to our community! In February, 34 Recruitment Counselors were chosen and completed their semester long training in order to be effective in helping PNMs through the recruitment process in the Fall. Weekly Recruitment Roundtables with each chapter’s VP Membership were essential in getting everyone on the same page and sharing ideas. The Go Greek Book will be our official summer mailer featuring all four CalGreeks’ councils and providing more information about Panhellenic to incoming women. The Judicial Committee did presentations clarifying “dirty rushing” and educating chapter members on recruitment rules. I am so thankful for all of the hard work that chapters put in to recruitment events to make our community better. I am looking forward to an amazing recruitment in the Fall!

Reflecting on this past semester, it is amazing to see all of the wonderful things that have been accomplished and all of the excitement planned for next semester. None of these things could have been accomplished without the hard work and dedication of the Panhellenic Executive Council and all chapter officers. Please feel free to contact me at phc.president@calgreeks.com if you have any suggestions on how to make next semester even better! Thank you again for all of your contributions to the community and to your chapters. Together we are making the Panhellenic community better.

Fraternally,

Katrina Ziegenhirt

Panhellenic President

Ben Elkin – Alpha Epsilon Pi – A junior a 3.21 overall GPA as a Chemistry major and a minor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Ben has served as his chapter’s treasurer, and community service chair. He is a member of the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative, as well as the leader of a working group at the Science, Technology, and Society Center at UC Berkeley. Finally, Ben has also been involved in several research projects including research into myeloma and bone cancer, as well as research to develop a vegetative voltaic cell to be used as a low-power energy source in the developing world.

Dane Johnston – Zeta Psi – A sophomore with a 3.89 overall GPA as an Economics major, Dane has served as his chapter’s philanthropy chair. He holds the position of legislative liaison for the Office of External Affairs of the ASUC where he collaborates with city officials to increase student involvement in civic affair as well as represent the voice of UC Berkeley students to the city of Berkeley. Finally, Dane serves as research assistant in the Political Science department where he conducts research and analysis on political violence in Africa.

Daniel Kronovet – Delta Chi – A sophomore with a 3.93 overall GPA as a dual major in both Cognitive Science and Political Economy, Daniel has served as both his chapter’s alumni relations and finance chair. He also is a staff writer for the Daily Californian where he writes in the Arts & Entertainment section about film, theater, music, and literature. Daniel also serves as a cabinet member for the Berkeley Student Cooperative where he helps oversee long-term growth for the 1,300 member organization.

Kevin Sitek – Alpha Sigma Phi – A junior with a 3.55 overall GPA as a dual major in both Cognitive Science and Linguistic, Kevin currently serves as president of his chapter and has also served as treasurer of his chapter. He is Vice President of the Berkeley Project where he helps organize a 2,000 student volunteer day in the fall and a 300 student volunteer month in the spring. Kevin also serves as a Community Service Officer for the Berkeley Police Department. Finally, Kevin serves as a research assistant in the phonology lab in the Linguistics department.

John Tran – Pi Alpha Phi – A junior with a 3.55 overall GPA as a Business Administration major, John has served as his chapter’s recruitment coordinator and academic committee chair. John currently serves as Academic Affairs Vice President for the ASUC where he is responsible for for organizing campus wide programming and initiatives to enhance the academic experiences of students. In this position he oversees a staff of 32 directors and 50 interns who help carry the academic mission. He has also been actively involved in raising awareness about and raising funds for Hepatitis B initiatives.

James Zheng – Pi Alpha Phi – A junior with a 3.69 overall GPA as an Integrative Biology major, James has served two terms as his chapter’s president where he helped turn the chapter around by instituting a strong organizational culture. He has also served as his chapter’s VP of Internal Relations and as academic chair. Additionally, he has served as the IFC Academic Achievement Officer. For the past year James has taught a course on organizational leadership through the DeCal program. James has also conducted cardiac research for the VA Medical Hospital in San Diego.

Congratulations again to all our winners!