Top TKE Chapter and Excellence Awards Criteria Updated

INDIANAPOLIS - Today, Tau Kappa Epsilon announces updated criteria for Top TKE Chapters and Excellence Awards.

TKE Chief Executive Officer, Donald E. Aldrich, said, "As you all know, The Expectation of Excellence is the theme of this biennium. This requires all of us to elevate and reflect upon what excellence means internally and externally. In this spirit, we have updated the criteria for Excellence Awards and Top TKE Chapters as we continue to expect excellence from our groups."

In summary, TKE has added an additional excellence award in Health and Safety and clarified or increased the requirements in nearly half the categories.

Most importantly, TKE has updated the eligibility requirements for Top TKE Chapters from winning 4 of 7 excellence awards to winning 5 of 8 awards and additionally require one of the two recruitment excellence awards as a qualifier for receiving a Top TKE Chapter.

The largest impacted changes are below:

• St. Jude – increased the excellence from $2,500 to $5,000; modified honorable mention to have raised at least $2,500.
• Education – added minimum criteria of 4 attendees to Forums and RLC attendance as well as a requirement for a chapter member to apply for Leadership Academy; modified Forum attendance to 10% of membership.
• Alumni Engagement – require verification of Board Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer; modified requirement for newsletters to include social media postings; renamed from Alumni Relations.
• Community Service – adds Philanthropy to the title.
• Recruitment – modified honorable mention to require a minimum of 10 new initiates.
• Risk, Health and Safety – this new category requires 100% eCompliance completion, two advisors completing online Alumni Volunteer Academy training, no risk incidents or policy violations or has completed all outcomes from prior incidents or policy violations, and hosting two educational sessions on health and safety.
• If your group has a chapter house, additional qualifications are required:
  • Proper response and compliance with fire marshal’s recommendations.
  • Hard wired centrally monitored fire and smoke detectors.
  • Semesterly fire drills and annual presentation with the local fire department.

Aldrich continued, "We had an extreme number of groups qualify for excellence awards and Top TKE Chapter Awards at the past Conclave. This only showcases that our groups can achieve when stretched and challenged. We believe these challenges outlined above will grow the TKE experience and elevate the impact of our Fraternity on campuses and communities throughout TKE Nation."

The full Excellence Award criteria for the 2019-2020 academic year is outlined below.

• Minimum of 20 initiates
• 80% conversion rate 
• All fees paid to the Offices of the Grand Chapter 

• Honorable Mention will be for any chapter/colony who does not meet all criteria for excellence award, AND has initiated a minimum of 10 new members, AND has had a growth year in initiates, AND all membership fees are paid to OGC

• Top three on campus or top 10% in TKE Nation
• Minimum of 40 member chapter

• Honorable Mention will be for any chapter/colony who does not meet all criteria for excellence award, AND has had a growth year in chapter size, AND has chapter size of at minimum 35 members

• Chapter organized a minimum of one service project per semester
• Fundraised $100+ per member average
• Averaged 20+ hours per member

• Honorable Mention will be for any chapter/colony who does not meet all criteria for excellence award, BUT holds a minimum of one service project in academic year, AND average $75+ per member, AND average 15+ hrs per member

• Verified Board of Advisors, to include: Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary & Treasurer in TKE Chapter Module. Each position should be filled by at least three different people.
• Verified Chapter Advisor
• Held three alumni events per academic year with attendance submitted in the Chapter Module
• Active communication method with Alumni (3 or more newsletters sent during academic year and/or active social media page/group)

• Honorable Mention will be for any chapter/colony who does not meet all criteria for excellence award, AND has an updated Chapter Advisor and BOA Chairman, AND 2 or more alumni events with attendance submitted in the Chapter Module, AND active communication with alumni (2 newsletters during academic year, active social media page/group).

• GPA must be at or above the All-Men's GPA on campus
• Semester GPA must be above 3.00, it can be previous fall semester if spring GPA has not been released

• Honorable Mention will be for any chapter/colony who does not meet all criteria for excellence award, AND has a semester GPA above 2.75

• TKE Conference attendance with
• 10%+ of membership at Province Forum, minimum of 4 attendees
• 10%+ of membership at RLC, minimum of 4 attendees
• Representation at Conclave, if applicable
• At least one chapter member applies for TKE Leadership Academy (Academy application deadline is March 15, apply today)

• Honorable Mention will be for any chapter/colony who does not meet all criteria for excellence award, AND attendance at all educational conferences available that academic year (Forum, RLC, Conclave) with minimum of 4 total attendees.

• Chapter participated in a minimum of one fundraising project for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
• Chapter raised over $5,000 as reported by St. Jude toward TKE's commitment

• Honorable Mention will be for any chapter/colony who does not meet all criteria for excellence award, AND participated in chapter or St Jude sponsored fundraising event, AND raised at least $2,500 for St Jude

• The Chapter has completed 100% eCompliance for all members and candidates.
• Two advisors have completed the online AVA or One Advisors has attended an in-person AVA Training.
• The Chapter had no risk-incidents or policy violations during this fiscal year or has completed all outcomes from any risk incidents or policy violations during this fiscal year.
• The chapter hosted two educational sessions related to health and safety during the fiscal year with greater than 80%-chapter attendance. Qualifying sessions include any Fraternal Health and Safety Initiative program and/or other campus based program focused on reducing risk and promoting health and safety of members and guests.

• The Chapter has completed 100% eCompliance for all members and candidates.
• Two advisors have completed the online AVA or One Advisors has attended an in-person AVA Training.
• The Chapter had no risk-incidents or policy violations during this fiscal year or has completed all outcomes from any risk incidents or policy violations during this fiscal year.
• The chapter hosted an educational sessions related to health and safety during the fiscal year with greater than 80%-chapter attendance. Qualifying sessions include any Fraternal Health and Safety Initiative program and/or other campus based program focused on reducing risk and promoting health and safety of members and guests.

• The chapter is able to show proper response and compliance with the local fire marshal’s recommendations from the regular facility inspection report.
• The chapter facility has hard-wired centrally monitored fire and smoke detectors.
• The chapter conducts semesterly fire drills and at least annually coordinates a presentation with the local fire department.

• Earn either Excellence in Recruitment - Results OR Excellence in Recruitment - Chapter Size
• Meet the requirements for at least five of eight Excellence Awards