A couple of prestigious national fraternity awards – one for a chapter, another for an individual – top the list of accolades received recently by fraternities and sororities at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System.
The UAH chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike) fraternity won the Robert Adger Smythe Award this summer at the Pi Kappa Alpha Thomas C. Tillar Leadership Academy. The Smythe Award recognizes the top 10% of the roughly 200 Pike chapters in the nation. UAH was the only Pike chapter in the state of Alabama to receive this award.
Patrick Doolin, a member of the Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) chapter at UAH, received the Thomas Arkle Clark Runner Up Award as one of the top individual ATO members in the nation at the fraternity’s national awards ceremony this summer. This is the fourth consecutive year that a member of the UAH chapter has been recognized for Thomas Arkle Clark; three previous men received honorable mention.
Doolin graduated from UAH in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in information systems with a focus in cybersecurity, a second focus in supply chain management and a major in marketing. He is pursuing a master’s in cybersecurity at UAH.
Michael Wieland, president of the UAH Pike chapter, points out the effort required for a smaller chapter to gain this national recognition:
“We’ve had to prioritize making our operations more efficient, and our members have had to put out extra individual effort in order to be competitive with chapters that have more manpower.”
The award comes with a new challenge.
“We had won the Smythe Award four years in a row until the streak was broken during the 2021-2022 school year,” he says. “Previous to those four, we had never won any. Now, we hope to begin the streak once again and eventually earn a dynasty-level Smythe, which is achieved by winning them five years consecutively.”
The Pikes also received the Orians Excellence Award as part of the top 20% of all Pike chapters, Best Overall Workday Award, 2022 Scholarship Award, 2022 Recruitment Award and Best Membership Development Programming.
Doolin’s recognition was just one of the awards the UAH ATO chapter received at the ceremony says Tyler Rodighiero, chapter president:
“Our chapter received our 31st True Merit Bowl; Gold Communication Award; Excellence Award for Elevate, Scholarship, Impact and Roadshow; Runner Up Elevate Award, and Honorable Mention Impact Award.”
Other fraternity and sorority national awards are listed by organization:
Delta Chi
- Region 8 Brotherhood Award
- Region 8 Philanthropy and Service Award
- Region 8 Leadership Award
- Region 8 Academics Award
- Region 8 Outstanding Brother
- Region 8 Outstanding Alumni
- Runner Up for Region 8 Regents Cup
- IHQ Excellence with Distinction in Advancing Justice
- IHQ Excellence in Assisting in the Acquisition of a Sound Education
- IHQ Excellence with Distinction in Developing Character
- IHQ Excellence in Promoting Friendship
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Sigma Nu
- Award for 40% Increase in Manpower
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