In the challenges that lie ahead, there undoubtedly will be opportunities for all of us to renew our commitment, improve our ways, and exemplify the ideals of Tau Kappa Epsilon that we pledged to uphold when we assumed the Bond. With nearly 12,000 collegiate members, Tau Kappa Epsilon contributes to the advancement of society through the personal growth of our members, and service to others. Our infrastructure now includes, in addition to our buildings, an investment in information technology (IT). In Our Founders Day Celebration From modest beginnings, we have solidified our place as a Doctoral University with Higher Research Activity, as designated by the current Carnegie Classification. This is a proud moment for the campus she called home for over 30 years. To showcase living our values of love, charity and esteem. o The Chronicle of Higher Education has ranked us as a Great Place to Work seven years in a row. Past Grand Prytanis Gary LaBranche presided over the festivities and delivered remarks that touched on the legacy of success bequeathed to us: a legacy of challenges met and overcome; of impossible goals made possible. He went on to speak about alumni associations and alumni engagement. o We have partnerships with a number of public school systems and community colleges that address student and community needs. Capital Projects Research, Scholarship, and Creative Achievement o We have become a highly residential campus, with new and renovated residence halls and the Apartment Community Center (2013). These initiatives and programs are designed to ensure that students learn and make significant progress toward completion. For the life of our campus: It was a wise bargain for a new university: commuters saved their money by living at home; the state saved money by forgoing the cost of residence halls. We will continue to innovate in the classroom and on campus generally. In FY 2016, UMBC secured $82.3 million in extramural awards, an increase of 12% above the prior year. As you may know from our Declaration of Principles, We believe that a fraternity should be a brotherhood in conduct as well as in name., Secrecy that is promoted for selfish purposes or utilized to cloak fraternal wrong-doings we unsparingly condemn., We believe that at no other period in the life of a man is the time more opportune for the fostering of such qualities than during the years of his college career.. Our Founders and National Founders were passionate about the Knights of Classic Lore and the organization which only a few years later became Tau Kappa Epsilon. o We offer programs in Ancient Studies, Africana Studies, Asian Studies, Global Studies, and Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communications. Thats why Im proud of the important work being done by Wake Forests Slavery, Race, and Memory Project and particularly proud of our membership in the Universities Studying Slavery consortium. Our alumni have a strong impact. With support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), we are replicating our approaches at Pennsylvania State University and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. As Grand Prytanis on this Founders Day, I declare that now is the time for all hands on deck. Part of any honest reflection on the past requires honoring the parts that fill us with pride and critically analyzing where we have fallen short. With an increase of 24 percent in applications over the past five years, we have become more selective. Albin O. Kuhn the University of Marylands Vice President for Baltimore Campuses, and later UMBCs first Chancellorcalled opening day his most personally satisfying experience. Dear Sisters, We send warm greetings to each of you on the 122nd anniversary of AOIIs founding. o Many of our studentsincluding those in the Humanities Scholars Programspend at least a semester in study abroad. All of which are components of a championship culture. Why do we celebrate? As we celebrate this milestone, we have an opportunity to reflect on the illustrious history of our Fraternity and to dream about our collective futures together this year. January 18, 2018. o How can we provide experiential learning and greater cultural and global competence for all students? Advancing our role and reputation as a vital stakeholder in Marylands innovation economy? Good UMBC is now an inclusive, selective, highly residential research university. o What should our long-term thinking be with regard to the neighboring Spring Grove campus? Faculty are using technology to teach across borders from Portugal to India. Thank you for having the vision to open this university, and for carrying It means persistently and peacefully striving on. We had a nice discussion that continued while we waited for our bags after the conclusion of the flight. It was the year that Ed Reynolds became the first full-time black student to enroll at Wake Forest. We celebrate this energy and are working to support and expand it. It means cultivating a respectful and open dialogue with those with whom we may disagree. Let me talk here about the meaning of this growth. Similarly, at our founding no one could then have fully envisioned what we one day could become. The Maryland General Assembly authorized a new campus for Baltimore County in 1963, and it was 50 years ago today that UMBC opened in 1966 on what had recently been 432 acres of farmland. Today I have been endowed with the responsibility of speaking o We have students from more than 100 countriesalthough the majority of our students are from Maryland. Together, we can make this dream a reality and demonstrate the power of the Fraternity for Life. Program schedule for school and college annual day function. We have an inclusive notion of leadership and shared governanceand many of our administrators today were once leaders in our senates. 14th Founders Day Welcome Speech by Dawn Dekle We anticipate that, with winter, spring, and summer enrollments, as well as students in UMBC Training Centers, we will serve a total of more than 20,000 students in the coming academic year. o The latest one-year retention rate for full-time, first-time freshmen from the first to the second year is the highest ever at 87.2 percentwith little variation among racial/ethnic groups. Founders Day Speech. My point was that we needed to set our sights high. But ultimately, this community worked together to create the foundation from which a more diverse, equitable and inclusive Wake Forest could be built one we continually strive to build today. In the video just shown, you saw how our numbers have grown for enrollment, degrees, programs, research, buildings, budget, and endowment. However good you are, you can always improve. It takes a lifetime, however, to become Tau Kappa Epsilon, the Fraternity for Life. Founder Michael Hooker began to expand UMBCs aspirations at his installation as fourth chancellor in 1986 when he said, My [vision] is for UMBC to be a model university for the twenty-first century, and to be the best public university of its size in the country. Hooker argued that to capitalize on the universitys potential and make this vision a reality, the campus should: At the same time, the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case of Brown v Board of Education of Topeka and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964again under Johnsonhelped ensure that the expansion of access could be inclusive, extending beyond just whites to African Americans and other minorities. Whether in the chapter room or the boardroom, my time in TKE has highlighted that our Fraternity's true strength lies within our members' diversity. Let me give a few examples. The headlines in the news when fraternity life goes wrong have a negative, adverse effect on all of us. Fraters, those were the words of Fraters Settles, Mayer, Atkinson, Truitt, and McNutt about why our fraternity was founded. If you are already engaged, can you reach out and encourage other Fraters to do the same? Moving forward, I very much look forward to what we can found together. And, most of all, we still believe in hard work. There is a commitment to make our Fraternity great. For our first twenty years, UMBC played its original allotted role as an institution whose students were primarily commuters. Williams became Grand Prytanis in 1944 following a series of unexpected resignations on the Grand Council during the Second World War, there were only 11 chapters and about 100 collegiate members of Tau Kappa Epsilon at that time. And it was the year that the Rev. It is the very fiber of the paper upon which we write our history. Wake Forest University does not rest on a rigid slab foundation but on a growing number of piers and beams that together hold us up and expand our footprint. You can use phrases such as the following: * According to. Across the universityacross all of our collegeswe seek to educate our students and advance research in areas that meet national and global needs. Mission is the beacon that lights the way in our unrelenting pursuit of excellence. Our philanthropic work has raised millions of dollars for the St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital along with other charitable organizations. Can you become a chapter volunteer? If TKE is truly the Fraternity for Life, then the undergraduate years are merely a launching pad for life. And then in 1956, we relocated to this beautiful campus here in Winston-Salem. o We have corporate partners such as Mitre, Northrop Grumman, and IBM that allow us to advance education and research in cybersecurity and with Medimmune which facilitates key work in biomedical research. Founders' Day Address | Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity Hence the importance that each chapter take the greatest care in selecting men who are entirely in sympathy with the original high moral, social, and scholastic standing in which Tau Kappa Epsilon had its beginning. Founders Day is always a significant day and I join you in paying tribute to those persons who through their own dedication and their tireless efforts brought this fraternity into being. She is rightly part of our celebration today. Today is a celebration but also a convocation a calling together. Men of wisdom and faith, Joseph Settles, James McNutt, Clarence Mayer, Owen Truitt, and C. Roy Atkinson had great confidence in the future of Tau Kappa Epsilon. After WWII, all of this changed, quite dramatically. To achieve what our Founders set out to accomplish. I challenge you to live the Fraternity for Life by contributing your time and financial resources to ensure that we not only survive these challenging times, but thrive and continue the success that we have all enjoyed. first female Rangers speaks during Founders Day What new goal can we achieve? Collegiate chapters broke recruitment records despite social distancing. We now have 15 major research centers on campus that report to either the provost or the vice president for research, and another 10 established by our colleges and departments. Undoubtedly, Abraham Lincoln would not have met some of the modern fraternity tests in polished appearance, bank and bond holdings, but he did possess what is better still, that wealth of character which has ever been the standard of Tau Kappa Epsilon. TKE ideals and values endure through generations and connect our past to our future. Much as America's founding fathers before them, our Fraternity's Founders were pioneers filled with the spirit of building a new and better enterprisenot just for them, and not just for their time, but for all brothers for all time. These partnerships are important to the Maryland economy and the health and defense of our nation. Its not another thing written on paper. BreakingGround achieved the following milestones in its fourth year: 34 courses to-date created or redesigned to foster civic agency; 24 projects producing social contributions beyond episodic service; 270+ stories and reflections shared on the BreakingGround blog, attracting more than 110,000 views. 2019 Founders' Day Message Within one year of World War II ending, several TKE chapters had restarted their operation, increasing our active chapters to nineteen. With fewer than 1% of more than 240,000 living Fraters donating to the Fraternity, the promise of an equally inspiring moment in our Fraternitys history is great. We had just $4 million in research in the late 1970s and $22 million at the end of the 1980s. Welcome to our 2022 Founders Day Convocation. When we look ahead we are also inspired in two essential ways. Their focus on mental development by studying classic literature is what inspired the original name. * As the old saying goes. I was born the son of a car mechanic and a hairstylist. During this time, UMBC has been in the midst of it all a 50-year experiment in higher education here in Catonsville. Our founding fathers had a vision that was progressive and revolutionary back in 1899, creating an organization that would consider personal worth and character to be principle qualifications for membership. Phi Delta Theta not only rejected them for not being conventional, but frowned on the name Knights of Classic Lore and suggested we start a new fraternity. Being a TKE for Life means acting on our values to make a better life for you and those around you. We are here today and we are who we are today because of many foundings and many founders. Significantly, more than one thousand Tekes since June made their first gift to the TKE Foundation through Life Loyal Teke (LLT). In 1924, at the Silver Jubilee Conclave, our founders addressed the Grand Chapter and clearly set forth the inspiration which led to their founding of our fraternity. In reflecting on these newest members, I wonder. Looking to the Future: Imagine whats next. As we look forward in the new year, what does 2018 have in store for us? As I travel TKE Nation, I consistently see the positive impact of our chapters, our alumni, our headquarters staff and our Foundation. Our fraternity has been made by the early initiates and this in itself was sufficient vindication of the policy we made use of in securing our first new members. o Our faculty across disciplines have won a range of impressive awards. What better place can an undergraduate Frater learn lifes lessons than in our fraternity? As we celebrate the 119th anniversary of Tau Kappa Epsilons founding, we once again have an opportunity to recall our origins and use them as inspiration for continued excellence in our lives. Space-sector expert joins ASU Thunderbird | ASU News Each Fraters journey to Tau Kappa Epsilon is individualized but often rooted in finding a community. We are now developing a systematic, integrated approach to using analytics in decision-making. Not having an exclusionary clause for membership was groundbreaking and forward thinking. Today, there may be no other time in our history where fraternities may be more relevant. They called themselves the Knights of Classic Lore. Youngest Grad Remarks Given by First Lieutenant Francis Q. Hoang At Kansas City Area Founders Day Dinner On March 27th , 1999 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Brigadier General Abizaid, Brigadier General Wood, distinguished guests, fellow graduates, Good evening. It means engaging in radical collaboration with others. Founders Day Speech Quotes It's a challenge I proudly accept without hesitation as I know all of you do as well. Founders Day provides us the opportunity to reflect briefly on our university's history, to highlight important recent accomplishments, and to describe some of our vision for its future. WebWe learn by growing older, by suffering, by loving, by bearing with the things we can't change, by taking risks. Founded on January 10, 1899, Tau Kappa Epsilon is one of the largest collegiate mens social fraternities in North America with over 297,000 initiated members and 218 active chapters. So today, I want to call us to all be founders for the future and to engage in the hard work needed to accomplish great things. For example, our Humanities and Social Sciences Forums explore key issues in our society. The Pell Grant program, which today provides extensive need-based federal student aid, was created in the Higher Education Act Amendments of 1972 under Nixon. In so many ways, we've done just that. Our most successful and impactful research efforts are frequently interdisciplinary and based on successful collaborations across the campus, with other academic institutions, and with external partners. His doctoral student and postdoctoral fellow, Victoria DSouza, was granted tenure as full professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Harvard University. Alpha Kappa Alpha 110th Founders' Day Message - YouTube Our social science research productivity, though, was much greater than would be reflected in the dollar amount when taking into account the number of publications per faculty member. That fundamental membership requirement of personal worth and character has withstood the test of time, and its as relevant today as ever. We are in the quiet phase of the capital campaign now, and we will launch the public phase for $150 million in the spring. This is a moment that allows us to consider what our aspirations have been over the years; reflect on 50 years of growth, grit and greatness; celebrate all that we have achieved together; and aspire yet again as success is never final. Member Privacy, Frater Eric Chamberlain Becomes TKE Foundation's Chief Development Officer, 2023 Founders' Day Address - Ryan J. Vescio Esq., Grand Prytanis, Past Grand Prytanis Robert D. Planck Enters Chapter Eternal, The Grand Council of Tau Kappa Epsilon Has Extended Donald Aldrichs Contract as CEO for Ten Years. Celebrate with your fellow Fraters by sharing on social media the memories of your fraternal experience using #IAMTKE. We are becoming a stronger and healthier organization by coupling our ever-present grit and determination with bold initiatives and an overarching commitment to excellence. We are looking to build on these strengths with key research prioritieswell-aligned with state and national prioritiesin environment, health, national security, education, and public policy. But we are also an institution constantly looking for ways to expand the narrative. We often recall the vision of our five founders to create a fraternity that was revolutionary in its progressive selection of members; valuing personal worth and character instead of the exclusionary requirements of our peers. As we move forward we are looking in the mirror, asking questions: What are our challenges? If you would like to write a draft speech and post it here, we will have a look at it for you. I ask you on this Founders Day to reflect on your TKE experience and financially invest in the Fraternity that has taken us on such a wonderful ride. In order to fortify our existence and build a championship culture, we need to control our destiny through bold initiatives and progressive actions. Our values and viability have been tested in recent years. Using virtual platforms, alumni have reconnected for the first time in decades. In a moment, Professor Erica Still is going to speak to us about one of our most renowned and beloved Wake Foresters Maya Angelou. Special Occasion Speech Examples & Samples TKE builds Better Men for a Better World. Most of all, we believe in hard, sustained work for student success.