Phi Kappa Tau

On October 15, 2008, Jason McConkey, a junior resident council member of Phi Kappa Tau, was named “Mr. B-W” after participating in the annual male pageant.  The event was hosted by Alpha Gamma Delta sorority as a fundraiser for their philanthropy, the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation, which supports juvenile diabetes research and helping sisters in need.

Mr. B-W consists of three components: eveningwear, talent, and Q & A.  After explaining why he felt he should be Mr. B-W and strutting down the runway in his tuxedo, he proceeded to sing “I Want to Grow Old with You” from the wedding singer (accompanied by Phi Kappa Tau associate member Dominic Schillace).  After being placed in the top 5 contestants, Jason sailed through the Q & A with confidence and ease.  In the end his hard worked paid off and he was crowned Mr. B-W 2008.

Congratulations to Jason for his first place finish and Alpha Gamma Delta for a successful philantrhopy event!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Zeta Tau Alpha is trying to raise awareness for breast cancer through their philanthropy, the Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation  There are a number of ways to help support the Zeta’s and raise breast cancer awareness:

• Pick up a THINK PINK! ribbon at their table in the Union this week.
• Collect lids from Yoplait yogurt.  Yoplait donates 10 cents for every lid collected.  They can be dropped off in the lunch room of the Union.
• The Breast Cancer site donates one free mammogram each day they meet their visitor quota.  Help them meet that quota by checking out their site: http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

For more information on ZTA and their philantrhopy, check out their website at http://www.bwzta.org.  The brothers of Phi Kappa Tau wish them the best of luck and support on their philantrhopy efforts!

Thirteen men have accepted bids for membership at the end of formal fall recruitment.  In total, 54 men have joined the five fraternities on campus.  We would like to congratulate the following men in becoming an associate member of our chapter:

• Josh Bernhofer
• Jim Capron
• Andy Ferguson
• Danny Fink
• Chad Kaderbek
• Matt Majewski
• Alex Mayan
• Nate Ploskanka
• Gary Pollack
• Ricky Scheman
• Dominic Schillace
• Karl Tomblin
• Michael Towers

We are looking forward to an exciting semester with our new members.  Congratulations to all the Greek organizations and their new class!

The brothers of Phi Kappa Tau would like to thank everyone who made it out for the Max and Erma’s Philanthropy Fundraiser.  The event raised $300 for Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Camps.  Your support is appreciated!

From Phi Kappa Tau CEO Steve Hartman:

Dear Phi Tau Brothers and Friends,

The Phi Kappa Tau community is saddened by the passing of brother Paul Newman, Ohio ‘43, a great leader, talented actor, writer, director and producer, and an indefatigable philanthropist. Newman entered Chapter Eternal Sept. 26 at his home in Westport, Conn.

Brother Newman has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to philanthropic causes and was a founder of the Hole in the Wall Camps, the national philanthropy of Phi Kappa Tau. The Hole in the Wall Camps provide a summer camp experience for children with life-threatening illnesses and are widely supported through philanthropy and volunteerism by Phi Taus nationwide. Brother Newman was also very supportive of the Phi Kappa Tau Foundation, donating $90,000 for Phi Taus to attend Leadership Academy and obtain travel stipends to volunteer at Hole in the Wall.

The Phi Kappa Tau family extends heartfelt condolences to the family of Paul Newman and the Hole in the Wall community.

Sincerely,

C. Steven Hartman, Muskingum ‘89
CEO
Phi Kappa Tau

Jeff Baird, Eta ‘01, and Communication Coordinator Lane Shetzer has put together a video tribute to Paul Newman.

The brothers of Phi Kappa Tau will be hosting a Max and Erma’s Fundraiser Thursday, September 18.  Twenty percent of carry out and dine-in orders will be donated to benefit Paul Newman’s Hole In The Wall Camps.  Just go eat and give the flyer below (click for full size) to your waiter or waitress. This applies only to the Middleburg Heights Max and Erma’s.  Our chapter and the Hole In The Wall Camps thank you for your support.  For more information on our chapters philanthropic efforts, please click here.

Thanks to Brian Renkas for submitting these updates.

• Congratulations to Devin Baumgart ‘02 who was married to Heidi Kampf this past Saturday.  Brothers serving as Groomsmen include Joseph Hildebrandt ‘02, Chip Desimone ‘02, Irving Treibatch ‘03, and Dan Bergolc ‘02.
• Rocco Serafini ‘04, recently received the “MJS Member of the Year” Award from the Magnolia Jewish Society for his contributions to the community.
• Oliver Highman ‘03, took 3rd place in the Gimme the Mic Charlotte Singing Competition on the Charlotte Fox TV Affiliate.

The Alpha Omega Chapter would like to welcome Mike Hasapis as our new chapter advisor starting September 1.  Mike is a graduate student at Baldwin-Wallace and kept a very active role with the chapter during his undergraduate years.  Mike has taken the position after Ross Grippi has stepped down.  We would like to thank Ross for his years of service and support to the chapter.

Also, there have been some changes to our current Board of Governors (BOG).  Troy Gerspacher has stepped down from BOG Chairman but will continue to keep an active role on BOG.  Mike Dovilla has volunteered to take the role of BOG Chairman.  We would like to thank Troy for his committment as Chairman over the past few years.  We’d also like to thank the other active BOG members: Anthony Silvestro, Greg Renkas, and Nate Taylor.

The 2008 composite has been posted!  Check it out here.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Cleveland, Ohio

Dear Friend,

Is it happening to you again this year? The days seem to be flying by, as Labor Day and the end of summer come hurtling toward us. For my part, I am finding it difficult to believe that I have been home from Iraq for over seven months.

I had not thought to do this on a regular basis - and have not done so this year - but several friends have called in recent weeks to ask why my e-mail updates had ceased. I explained that I didn’t think my simple, if busy, life back in Cleveland, Ohio was exciting enough to warrant special monthly reports from the “home front.” But I will make this rare mid-year exception since quite a bit has been going on.

During the cold days of a northeast Ohio winter that stubbornly refused to yield to spring, I resumed work on building my fledgling consulting company, The Dovilla Group. Clients and work have developed in two areas, political campaign management and government affairs, with a primary emphasis on the former.

I spent the early part of the 2008 election season working to get a campaign for Cuyahoga County Recorder off the ground. This was a particularly interesting experience given the implosion of several countywide Democrat incumbents, including the Recorder, who resigned in disgrace this past spring after pleading guilty to a federal obscenity charge. More recently, about 200 FBI and IRS agents raided the homes and offices of a County Commissioner (who is also the Cuyahoga Democratic Party Chairman) and the County Auditor, reputedly the largest such sting in county history. So, it’s been quite an active summer for certain politicians here on the North Coast. Cook County, Illinois, you have nothing on us…not that most of us here in Cleveland are proud of that!

Currently, I am serving as the campaign manager for former State Representative Jim Trakas, the Republican nominee this year walking the path I trod in 2006 as the challenger to Congressman Dennis Kucinich in Ohio’s 10th Congressional District. Happily, things are moving in a positive direction this cycle as we work to (finally) defeat “Dennis!” in 2008.

I have also been nibbling at the edges of some government affairs work in the areas of strategic human capital management and energy, but am finding myself more than fully subscribed with the campaigns and other activities in Ohio, rather than in the Nation’s Capital.

Chief among them is a very rewarding project on which I have been working since the spring. On June 15, I began hosting my own radio program, Inside Cleveland Politics with Mike Dovilla. The show airs on NewsTalk 1420 WHK on Sundays, 2-3 p.m., here in Cleveland. It can also be heard via live streaming audio at www.whkradio.com. This opportunity arose from the kind offer of Garry Meeks, a radio executive who helped a colleague of mine, Chris Long, President of the Ohio Christian Alliance, produce his own show in 2006 on which I was the inaugural guest during my Congressional campaign. Garry offered to get me started with my own show in late 2006, but my Navy deployment intervened. This spring, he was generous enough to renew his proposal, and the rest is history. My guests have included former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, Ohio Veterans for McCain Chairman (and former Viet Nam POW) Colonel Tom Moe, Mayor Tom O’Grady of North Olmsted, Ohio, and a number of candidates for local office in Greater Cleveland. Our final show of this initial run (air date: September 7) will focus on the future of the State of Ohio and features my friend, former Congressman Rob Portman of Cincinnati. Please tune in! Shows are being archived as well on my new Web site, www.dovillagroup.com. Just click on the “Inside Cleveland Politics” tab.

This year, I was honored to have been appointed 10th Congressional District Chairman of Ohio Veterans for McCain by the Senator’s campaign and a Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Cuyahoga County (RPCC) by my friend and colleague, RPCC Chairman Rob Frost. The former opportunity in particular has found me traveling the 10th District once again this year and making the occasional trip to Columbus and elsewhere in the Buckeye State. As usual, it is very satisfying to be engaged in such an important campaign for the White House, and I am confident that our hard work and the good political center of gravity possessed by the American people will yield a positive result for our nation in the general election on November 4.

In the traveling around category, I have also been active on the volunteer speaking circuit in Greater Cleveland and beyond this year, sharing perspectives on my experience in Operation Iraqi Freedom. I have had the opportunity to speak with middle school students in North Royalton, seniors at my church in Berea, veterans and residents on Memorial Day in Highland Heights, and various civic and political organizations throughout the region. My favorite remains the warm homecoming I received at the Berea Kiwanis Club, where I had last spoken in 1995 as a candidate for Berea City Council as a 20-year-old junior at Baldwin-Wallace College. Attendees included my fifth grade teacher, my high school debate coach, and many other family friends since childhood in my hometown. What a treat! In May, I visited Abington Heights (Pa.) Middle School and the General Dynamics facility where my step-dad works as an engineer in Scranton to thank both the students and plant employees for their wonderful care packages, which they regularly sent to Baghdad last year. But undoubtedly the greatest speaking privilege of this year was the opportunity to deliver the Confirmation Sunday sermon, “Ambassadors for Christ,” at my church.

On the Navy front, I am enjoying being back in the Reserve Component. Since demobilizing, I have been serving as my unit’s Administration Officer, a department head position - a pretty high speed assignment for a Lieutenant, thanks to the confidence of my Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Brad Boyer, who also served in Iraq in 2007. At the end of September, however, I will detach from the Chief of Naval Operations Intelligence unit to accept an assignment closer to home than Washington, D.C. - a U.S. Forces Japan unit that drills in Akron, Ohio. I will provide intelligence support to this operational Navy Reserve unit, including during one or more annual, multi-national, joint exercises in Japan and the Western Pacific. So, I guess that’s not actually closer to home! But on a monthly drill weekend basis, it is.

On the volunteer side of things, I have resumed an active role as an alumnus in my collegiate fraternity, Phi Kappa Tau, stepping up as Chairman of the Board of Governors at our Baldwin-Wallace chapter and attending my seventh consecutive National Convention earlier this month in Louisville, Kentucky, home of excellent bourbon and, of course, baseball bats. We are also gearing up for another year of excellent regional leadership conferences for our students, including the 12th Annual Capital Conference I co-founded in 1997 in Washington, D.C., and the LEADERS Conference in Cleveland that during my undergraduate days helped change our B-W chapter from the brink of closure to the most improved in the nation. I have also joined the Cleveland Italian-American Organization (CIAO) on the invitation of my friend, Rick Cyngier, and I intend to follow up on my good intentions and get more involved with my American Legion Post (#91 in Berea) and join the Berea Kiwanis Club. All in due course. My thanks go, as well, to my friend and brother in Freemasonry, Ron Morris, and his wife, Mary for their hospitality during my recent visit to their beautiful new home in the mountains of Bedford, Virginia, where I had the opportunity to tour the National D-Day Memorial, a fantastic tribute to the men who sacrificed all in the liberation of Europe through Operation Overlord in June 1944. It was great to catch up with Ron, and underscored that getting connected with a “blue lodge” here in Ohio should remain on my volunteer to-do list, as I was made a Master Mason at a Virginia lodge when I was working in the Nation’s Capital.

Finally, I must share some rather unpleasant medical news, although it is certainly nothing permanent. On the morning of Saturday, August 16, while rushing around the house to get out the door for another busy day, I cut my right hand on a glass when I tripped up my kitchen stairs. I needed to have surgery to repair a severed tendon that afternoon (middle finger, no less - quite a site, that!) and am now working with only my non-dominant left hand. Safety for 12 months in Iraq, thanks in no small measure to your prayers, apparently did not extend to the family home I have known for over 33 years. My sincere thanks go to my friend, college roommate, and fraternity brother, Ryan Cross, Vice President for Institutional Relations and Development at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, the good folks at UH Connect, and Dr. J. R. Anderson, my hand surgeon, and his team from UH and Case Western Reserve University who put Humpty Dumpty back together again. I’ll be on the mend until at least mid-October, so please bear with me if it takes a bit longer to get an e-mail response (phone calls are preferred) or if I can only offer you my south paw for a handshake on the campaign trail. (And yes, it took several days to cobble together this e-mail with only one hand available for typing.) The lesson learned: slow down. Not an easy task for me, as you know!

Enjoy the rest of your summer, be safe, and keep in touch.
All the best,

Mike

Have a textbook the bookstore wouldn’t buy back?  Need a book someone might have?  Post the books you have available to give away, trade, or sell and the books you need.  Save some money this year by trying to find books from other BW students.  Click on the Comment link below to post.  No registration is required to post.

This Sunday, August 24, the Alpha Omega Chapter will be speaking on Inside Cleveland Politics on WHK 1420AM.  The show will take place between 2pm and 3pm and will discuss the chapter’s contributions to the Cleveland area and Greek Life as a whole.  The show’s host (and proud Alpha Omega chapter alumni of ‘94), Mike Dovilla, has invited a few active brothers to speak about being a learning, social, and service organization.  They will be answering questions from callers and speaking on how the American fraternity movement is beneficial to individuals and society.

If you are unable to tune in, the show will be posted on the Inside Cleveland Politics website in the near future.

This past weekend, brother Nick Fantis rode on the MS-150 bike ride put on by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which raises money and awareness for multiple sclerosis .  Nick rode with Team E-Techron, a team of 18 members this year.  Team E-Techron is sponsored by the E-Techron Group, a Cleveland based startup company specializing in small business IT solutions.  The team spent 11 hours over two days and 150 miles biking to Sandusky and back from the Berea Fairgrounds.

Over the past three years, Nick Fantis and Team E-Techron have raised over $10,000 to help fight multiple sclerosis.  Congratulations to the team and Nick for their philanthropic contributions for MS!

The past year has been very successful for our chapter and we are looking forward to another great year.  This past year, we achieved Order of the Star status, and were invited to apply as a Maxwell Award finalist at the 58th National Convention.  We raised over $1,000 for the Hole in the Wall Camps and increased our community service hours by over 100% from the previous year. Many of our brothers attended national leadership conferences such as UIFI and our National Convention.  We worked to reestablish our Board of Governors and increase our contact with chapter alumni.  Our website has been revamped to allow easier access to information and quicker posting of new items.

In addition to maintaining the success from the past year, our chapter has come up with new ideas to excel even further.  We are working on the strongest philanthropy campaign ever, with a goal of raising a minimum of $2,200 for the Hole in the Wall Camps.  We are redefining our recruitment program to focus more on finding “men of character” that can carry out our mission statement.  We are going to continue working with alumni to keep them involved in chapter events such as our annual Alumni Golf Outing coming up this September.

Adam would also like us to continue improving our image across campus and within the community.  The chapter plans to be more involved with other organizations on campus.  Our chapter would like to set an example of what Greek Life should be about.  We would like our current members to be able to share the enjoyable experiences we’ve had with future brothers.  Adam says,

I’ve always believed that Phi Kappa Tau should be a fun learning environment and that is where I see this great brotherhood years from now.  Getting a couple first place trophies this year wouldn’t hurt either!

In conclusion, we are looking to continue our success of previous years and build upon the areas that need improvement.   Our chapter is looking forward to a great year!

The video of our chapter’s performance at the 2008 Greek Sing has now been posted.  Check it out here!  The pictures from the event are also posted.