Doug Miller '77 #1075
President, Psi Chapter Diamond Association
October 11, 2006

Brothers,

I hope everyone is well.  Homecoming weekend has come and gone and Beta Theta Pi was well represented at every event.  Friday’s alumni golf outing included over 50 brothers.  Friday evening featured Brother Francis Leo Haus III, being inducted into the Bethany Athletic Hall of Fame for his excellence on the basketball court and on the baseball field during the late 70’s.  Saturday morning was our annual PSI Diamond meeting.  In addition the actives designed and decorated a float for the campus parade.  Last but not least was a great ‘party’ at the football game; which was won by the Bison’s.  Four players on the team are now actives of PSI Chapter.  All things considered it was an outstanding weekend.  If you weren’t able to make it this year, please plan to make the trip next year. 

I wanted to quickly share a few of the highlights from our PSI Diamond meeting Saturday morning.  The PowerPoint presentation is posted here (as a PDF) with additional details from our meeting.

Our meeting kicked off with Buck Smith providing some insight into Beta alumni and active support of Bethany College.  It is no surprise that Beta’s continue to provide leadership in vital positions in campus life and with the Board of Trustees.  Most notably, Buck gave great credit to Greg Jordan who despite his very hectic schedule continues to make a significant impact on the direction of the college.  Buck has made several changes that bode very well for the future of Bethany and will bring the college back to the prominence that it held in years past.

Dave Cottington provided a status on the ‘new’ active chapter.  These young men are very involved on the Bethany campus in a very positive way.  Academically they are doing extremely well finishing last year with a 3.3 GPA.  Their Rush activities have netted an additional four upperclassmen that indicate they will pledge Beta.  They have a goal of adding a total of approximately 15 young men to the rolls this spring. 

Dean Lesiak gave an update on our Charitable Foundation.  Through Dean, Scott Thompson, Doug Selwyn, Mark Hicks and Ted Kemp’s dedicated leadership, the CF is in a strong position with approximately $520K in invested funds.  Both Bethany College and PSI Chapter have received distributions from the CF over the last twelve months.

Art Musicaro discussed the many improvements made to the house over the last year.  These improvements have made a significant difference in the appearance of our house and have become a point that is now a positive in recruiting future Betas.  Recently a brick fireplace and grille were built on the patio by one of our actives fathers Tim Curtis father of Brandon Curtis.  Art Musicaro and Art Bertol have done a great job of leading the House Corporation through the excitement of the last few years.

We also had brief updates from Dr. Michael Mihaylo our Faculty Advisor and Kent Peterson our new District Chief.  Finally, I gave an update on the activities of the PSI Diamond Alumni Association.  I announced the winner for our ‘Class Warfare’ contest.  The class of 1955 had the highest donations.  Review the presentation to see the top 10 class contributors.  Most notably I announced a Scholarship Fund for the active chapter that will reward academic excellence and campus leadership.  Also discussed was the possibility of resurrecting the PSI Stampede in the coming year and the formation of an Internship Program to support worthy young men from the active chapter.

We encourage you to ‘weigh-in’ on these ideas by sending a note to me. Remember as alumni this is your organization, so get involved.

Our last action at the meeting was the election of officers for Psi Diamond. Val Gundling, class of 1975 was nominated and approved as our Vice President and Ron Varga, class of 2002 was nominated and approved as Secretary.  Congratulations to both and Mark Bado and I look forward to serving with them in the year ahead.

Let me close by asking that you please renew your support for PSI Chapter or begin to support the chapter by making either a contribution to the Psi Charitable Foundation or to the Psi Diamond Association.  The support is needed and as you can see is being used to make a difference at the house or on campus.

Doug