The Mississippi Gamma Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon was awarded the Buchanan Cup at the Grand Chapter Conclave in Nashville. The convention, which took place Aug. 12-16, recognized 32 chapters that received the award. The Mississippi Gamma Chapter was one of those 32 and has been named one of the most significant chapters nationally.
Since the Mississippi Gamma Chapter’s start at Southern Miss in 1953, this is its first time to receive the award.
“In order to qualify to win the Buchanan Cup, a chapter has to excel in all facets of operations and new levels of success,” said Patrick Kirby, president of Sigma Phi Epsilon. “We have strived to be the absolute best men that we can be and we worked really hard on an extensive application, which ended up being about 80 pages or so.”
The Buchanan Cup is named after Sigma Phi Epsilon’s former Grand President, Edwin Buchanan. The award recognizes actions and achievements in volunteer service, recruitment, academics, member development and faculty engagement during a two-year period.
“Sig Ep is consistently one of the leaders in our Interfraternity Council,” said Charles Childress, Southern Miss director of Greek Life. “Their continued recognition through their National Office proves they are a leader regionally amongst their peer chapters. We in Greek Life are proud of their past and current accomplishments and what the future holds.”
The Grand Chapter Conclave is held every two years, and its goal is to teach undergraduate and alumni members educational programming and professional development.
“This award means everything to our chapter and pushes us to continue to push ourselves to new levels,” Kirby said.
The Mississippi Gamma Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon was founded in 1963 at Southern Miss. Sigma Phi Epsilon was established in 1901 and is one of the nation’s largest fraternities, with more than 15,000 undergraduates on 240 campuses across the United States.
Its mission is to build well-rounded men which is accomplished through a continuous member development program that has contributed to a fraternity-wide GPA of over 3.0, a focus on the principles of Sound Mind and Sound Body and service learning efforts that allow members to develop leadership skills while giving back to the community.
