[Sigtaudelt] Another great semester in Sigma Tau Delta

[David Sweeten]

Hey everybody,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Sigma Tau Delta President here to get us jump 
started on this year’s events and activities. We’ve got some great things 
planned for this year, and with your help we can really help Sigma Tau Delta 
make an impact. For starters, we have our first member meeting coming up on 
September 18th, at 2:00, in the English Faculty Lounge. All members are 
expected to attend, and this is your opportunity to let your voice heard in 
what we do with our organization.

Before even this meeting, however, we had our first Muffin Morning Tuesday 
September 5th. Muffin Mondays, held the first Monday of every month, are 
another great opportunity to fulfill the required participation hours (3 
events per semester) and raise money for our organization. You can help 
either by making muffins (and being reimbursed for expenses) or selling 
during our operating hours.  Whatever you can do, we could use your help 
with Muffin Mornings.

Speaking of participation, I would like to say a few words about these 
requirements. As you know, in January 2006 we instituted some changes to the 
old constitution that better reflect our Delta Delta chapter’s goals and 
that are more in line with the Sigma Tau Delta national organization’s 
program. I have attached a copy of the updated constitution as a Word 
document for those of you who may not have a copy of it.

The most significant change that we adopted is a minimum participation 
requirement for all our members of three events or activities per semester. 
In order to receive the Sigma Tau Delta designation on his or her 
transcript, each member must help with three activities and/or serve in the 
new Sigma Tau Delta Lending Library.

To clarify, participation does not necessarily mean that you have to attend 
an event. Moreover, you are not expected to put in a large amount of work 
per every event. There are a multitude of things that need to be done in the 
planning and preparation stages, and you can gain your participation points 
there. For instance, you might pick up drinks or snacks for the English 
Finals Cram (and bring a receipt so we can reimburse you for the money 
spent), or you can bake muffins for Muffin Mornings (and again, bring a 
receipt for reimbursement. You can make or distribute flyers advertising 
events, or you can help set up an event or clean up after it. Each of these 
activities counts as participating in one event.

The best way to participate is to join one of the committees that handle an 
event or to participate in an activity. The committees are:

Lending Library

Literary Masquerade

English Finals Cram

Banned Books Week

Events include the finals cram and literary masquerade, in addition to the 
following:

Muffin Morning Sales

Trivial Pursuit Challenge

Graduate Reception

Holiday Dinner Raffle

If you would like to volunteer for any of these committees or participate in 
any of these events, please either reply to the listserve or email me at 
david_sweeten at hotmail.com to express your
interest.

As mentioned above, Sigma Tau Delta has a new Lending Library. Our
current hours of operation are set at 10-2 on Wednesday and Thursday, but if 
you would like to come in at a different time, that would work, too. The 
primary operation is to both lend books out and answer questions about Sigma 
Tau Delta that students coming to the office may ask. You may, and more than 
likely will for a good amount of time, simply read or study while being 
there, but we need a presence there. In terms of participation, three hours 
spent in the lending library equal one event, and these hours do not need to 
be served consecutively.

All in all, we have a great deal going on this semester, and we look forward 
to making our presence known on campus.

If you have any questions about committees and activities, feel free to 
contact me at this email address or at 713-885-8430; if you have any 
questions or concerns about participation requirements you should contact 
the sponsors, Drs. Bilsing (eng_teb at shsu.edu) and Bell (eng_kkb at shsu.edu).

Once again, these changes are to enhance the prestige and presence of our 
chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, both on campus and beyond. These requirements 
are small compared to other organizations on campus and other Sigma Tau 
Delta chapters. We are here to serve our members, and changes of this sort 
will only improve Sigma Tau Delta’s utility.

See you at the Member Meeting on Monday, September 18.

David Sweeten
Your Friendly Neighborhood Sigma Tau Delta President