Chapter Award Rubrics
Thank you for serving as a reviewer for our Chapter Awards Process. Please complete the form below.
Excellence in Academic Achievement
[Chapters might mention ways their academic initiatives inform their focus on developing an understanding of academic excellence beyond grade performance, such as professional development opportunities and engagement with campus resources. This item is specific to the community’s non-negotiable value of lifelong learning and critical thinking.]
[Chapters excelling in this area have a plan that addresses how the chapter achieves outlined goals that may include a variety of formal or informal strategies to engage membership in academic excellence. This may also include ways the chapter utilizes their plan in officer transitions, programming, and/or relationship building among chapter members to create a culture of scholarship in the chapter.]
[Chapters excelling in this area can easily articulate how they encourage both excellence and improvement through their recognition program and relate this process to their organizational values.]
[Chapters excelling in this area have formal and informal processes for encouraging academic success. This may be through creating individualized academic plans that monitor academic progress and provide information, resources, and strategies that encourage improvement.]
[Chapters might mention workshops or educational opportunities that foster skill building for post-college professional life, effective study habits, and how to engage critically in academic concepts for learning that will last a lifetime.]
[Chapters excelling in this area effectively identify and engage with systems, people, and programs that best meet their needs and help achieve academic goals. For example, chapters may utilize a faculty/staff and/or scholarship advisor, attend workshops related to academic success, engage with campus resources such as TILT or the Career Center, or actively outreach to other scholarship resources.]
Excellence in Harm Reduction & Risk Management
[Chapters might mention ways their brotherhood/sisterhood informs their focus on holding members accountable and ensuring members are safe and well. This item is specific to the community’s non-negotiable value of building coalitions and connections.]
[Chapters excelling in this area have a formalized plan enacted around individual member safety focused on reducing the potential of harm and on policy compliance. This might include social events, fire safety, wellness related topics, etc.]
[Chapters excelling in this area operationalize risk management and harm reduction in ways that go beyond managing social events with alcohol. This might include hazing prevention, interpersonal violence prevention, eating disorder awareness and education, fire safety, personal wellness, mental health, etc. This might include individual interactions as well as chapter programming and initiatives.]
[Chapters excelling in this area actively provide educational opportunities connected to risk related topics to the entire chapter. This might include ways that the chapter onboards new members and provides education on harm reduction topics and policy compliance to all members.]
[Chapters excelling in this area have formal and informal processes for encouraging good decision making, addressing member and chapter mistakes, and communicating care for individual member wellness, and can easily articulate those processes.]
[Chapters excelling in this area can articulate the layers of policies they need to know and how they actively work to follow those policies. This might include ways the chapter has learned about policy compliance opportunities from past mistakes or formal educational opportunities provided by the chapter.]
Excellence in Community Service & Philanthropy
[Chapters excelling in this area can articulate ways their service/philanthropy events inform their focus on addressing the root cause of social issues. This item is specific to the community’s non-negotiable value of change agents.]
[Chapters excelling in this area can articulate ways their service efforts teach members to focus on the impact of their service (vs. as a mere requirement). They may reference intentional debriefing service activities.]
[Chapters excelling in this area can articulate ways they share service opportunities within the chapter and the mechanisms they use to track service hours or incentives for the completion of individual service.]
[Chapters excelling in this area effectively communicate the underlying root cause issue being addressed through their philanthropic efforts. This may include references to going beyond simply raising money for their national philanthropic partner and extend advocating on behalf of the root cause issue. For example, if the organization is working with Project Homeless Connect, they might share that they engage in city-wide policy conversations about the treatment of the people experiencing homelessness or the criminalization of poverty.]
[Chapters excelling in this area can articulate ways they educate their members and non-members engaged in their philanthropic efforts about their philanthropic partner. This is communicated in person and on all marketing materials for the event.]
[Chapters excelling in this area can articulate ways they incentivize the completion of individual service hours and educate the chapter on the connection between doing service in our community and their organizational values. Examples may include day of service programming and service in preparation for initiation.]
Excellence in Membership Development
[Chapters excelling in this area provide developmental opportunities for members at all levels (first-year students through graduating seniors). This item is specific to the community’s non-negotiable value of lifelong learning and critical thinking.]
[Chapters excelling in this area actively provide leadership and personal development experiences for their members. This might include the delivery of educational programs on a wide range of topics and/or programs sponsored by the (inter)national organization.]
[Chapters excelling in this area have formal and informal structures utilized to build/enhance brotherhood/sisterhood. This might include brotherhood/sisterhood retreats and other activities that increase the membership’s sense of belonging.]
[Chapters excelling in this area provide Ritual education to all members throughout the membership experience in promotion of the organization’s values and lifelong membership.]
[Chapters excelling in this area articulate specific ways they encourage involvement in other on-campus opportunities and the pursuit of leadership roles in those organizations. This might include incentivizing on-campus involvement opportunities, recognizing involved members, and challenging all members to be involved in an organization outside of the fraternity/sorority.]
Excellence in Recruitment/Intake & Retention
[Chapters excelling in this area intentionally incorporate the values of their organization into their recruitment or intake efforts and offer membership to individuals that share similar values and ideals. This item is specific to the community’s non-negotiable value of building coalitions and connections.]
[Chapters excelling in this area can articulate how their new/associate education/intake plan teaches members about relevant organizational information in an engaging way. This might include individual reflection, facilitated group discussion, and interactive educational activities.]
[Chapters excelling in this area set realistic and intentional membership goals, offer membership to individuals that exemplify organizational values, and actively strive to retain members at all stages of their membership. Chapters should articulate how they manage this growth plan through bringing in and retaining members.]
[Chapters excelling in this area provide hazing prevention education beyond the mandated programs required by their (inter)national organization and the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. This might include hazing prevention workshops, critically assessing current practices, and adjusting chapter practices to eliminate potential hazing.]
Excellence in Chapter Management
[Chapters might mention how officers and advisors think critically about systems and practices that can be amended or have been adjusted for long-term success and systemic improvement. This item is specific to the community’s non-negotiable value of lifelong learning and critical thinking.]
[Chapters excelling in this area are easily able to identify the systems they use for organization and communication. Typically, this includes use of shared calendars, web-based communication and document sharing mediums, etc. The chapter should be able to articulate how these systems have improved chapter management.]
[Chapters excelling in this area understand what financial solvency is and can share their methods for successfully managing chapter finances including dues collection and transparently communicating financial structures and needs to the chapter at large. This might include systems, policies, or practices set up to ensure long-term financial success.]
[Chapters excelling in this area have specific strategies employed to make meetings effective. This may include ways to engage all members, strategies for communication before and after meetings, ways to allow officers to conduct business, management of meeting length, etc.]
[While chapters excelling in this area do not need to have arrived at a perfectly balanced calendar, they are able to reflect on the process they have in place and their thoughtfulness connected to creating a balanced calendar that provided developmental opportunities for members that are congruent with the organization’s values.]
[Chapters excelling in this area identify a forum for communicating to members. Depending on chapter size and structure, this forum can be in person or virtual, but chapters can articulate how their current system is effective for their membership.]
Chapters excelling in this area have a way for chapter officers – usually executive board officers – to share responsibilities and discuss ongoing chapter needs. Often this occurs through a functioning executive board meeting schedule and division of responsibilities. There should also be a way for officers not meeting expectations to be held accountable.]
Excellence in External Relations
[Chapters excelling in this area articulate various ways they communicate with a variety of constituents to build coalitions and make authentic connections. This item is specific to the community’s non-negotiable value of building coalitions and connections.]
[Chapters excelling in this area articulate specific examples of how they engage alumni/ae. This might include alumni/ae events, newsletters, alumni advisor engagement & appreciation, etc.]
[Chapters excelling in this area articulate specific examples of how they engage faculty & staff. This might include faculty appreciation activities, faculty & staff advisor engagement, etc.]
[Chapters excelling in this area articulate specific examples of how they engage parents and families. This might include parent and family events, newsletters, outreach to parents and families related to milestones in their student’s membership (initiation, upcoming alumni status), etc.]
[Chapters excelling in this area articulate specific examples of how they engage the local community. This might include service events in town, neighborhood activities if the chapter has a facility, etc.]
[Chapters excelling in this area articulate specific examples of how they engage the larger fraternity and sorority community through event co-sponsorship, communication, partnership. Examples might include co-sponsored service/philanthropy events, educational programs, social events, participating in programming board sponsored programs, etc.]
