Acacia gathers its leaders once a year in one city for a conclave. This year a new strategic plan is being reviewed. I can't be there, but the ideas of this group can, if there are people who will draw attention to this group when they are at Conclave, or at chapter meetings all over the country.
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I attended Homecoming at Illinois Wesleyan University yesterday and spent the day with Acacia Fraternity brothers ranging from pin number 3, one of the founders in 1957, to new pledges who have just joined in 2019.
During the alumni/active chapter meeting held at 10:am rush was discussed, as well as the negative image of fraternities in public media.
I took the opportunity to call the group's attention to this forum, and my efforts since the early 2000s to motivate the IWU chapter and the national fraternity, to adopt the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy, for the following reasons.
1 - student learning - between 2006 and 2015 interns from various colleges, including many from South Korea, spent time looking at ideas on my web sites, then creating their own interpretations. View these here. In many cases interns used this opportunity to teach themselves new tools. If you visit this section you can see who they were and see their reflections.
If Acacia undergrads started doing this work as freshmen and continued through graduation they would learn a wide range of tools to share their understanding of complex ideas with many other people. They would learn leadership roles and the cyclical process of action research.
A few years ago I added a link to this discussion group showing ways to use social media to support charities. Here it is again. Imagine the learning opportunities that come from students applying these ideas over and over for many years.
2) Public visibility and public image - Using the graphic I've attached imagine learning teams within each chapter, as the yellow box in the middle of the "hub and spoke" concept map on the right. The spokes point to issues that affect all of our lives, but have a greater negative impact on young people living in high poverty areas.
Each issue area needs to be filled with Acacia study groups, who duplicate Tutor/Mentor Connection 4-part strategy, to build greater understanding of that particular issue, and greater involvement in solving that problem...focusing on the local community where that chapter is located, or where undergrads and alumni live.
3) Connections between alumni and undergrads, and between chapters across the country. Imagine being able to go to the web site of any chapter and finding a page with the graphic at the top of this article. In each node would be links to a sub-page, showing a group of people studying a particular issue.
Then imagine finding network analysis maps like this, using NodeXL, showing Twitter, Facebook and/or Linked in discussions of this strategy, or of any of the sub-issues on the concept map above. The nodes on the NodeXL should show numerous undergrads and alumni from different chapters talking about that issue during a specific time frame.
Over time participation in these discussions would grow as the social media strategies described at this link are learned and applied.
Finally, look at this page showing media stories I've been part of since early 1990s. Then imagine having a page on each chapter's web site showing stories like this, that are a result of adopting this strategy.
4- Impact on Rush and Fund Raising - A strategy that focuses on issues important to a community, and that focuses on helping kids from high poverty area come through school and into college, which generates growing public and social media awareness, has to build awareness among incoming students (and parents) and potential donors, as well as university administrators. That awareness leads to new pledges and new dollars to fund scholarships, operations at the local and national fraternity level.
It also influences what other fraternities do.
5 - Impact on careers. The NodeXL map shows connections between people. In each map the growing number of undergrad and alumni nodes represents constantly expanding social capital, that can open doors to jobs and business opportunities and strengthen the ties of brotherhood, within each chapter and across the national fraternity.
6 - One Acacia in a divided America - If there are groups of undergrads and alumni in each node focusing on important issues, the on-going work builds stronger ties and reduces the social and political divides that are tearing America apart.
All of these are leadership roles that are available to Acacia. Just by sharing your interpretation of this article from the National Chapter, at Conclave, and from local chapters, you are inviting members to take time to understand it, and to take the lead in launching it.
Replies
I attended Homecoming at Illinois Wesleyan University yesterday and spent the day with Acacia Fraternity brothers ranging from pin number 3, one of the founders in 1957, to new pledges who have just joined in 2019.
During the alumni/active chapter meeting held at 10:am rush was discussed, as well as the negative image of fraternities in public media.
I took the opportunity to call the group's attention to this forum, and my efforts since the early 2000s to motivate the IWU chapter and the national fraternity, to adopt the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy, for the following reasons.
1 - student learning - between 2006 and 2015 interns from various colleges, including many from South Korea, spent time looking at ideas on my web sites, then creating their own interpretations. View these here. In many cases interns used this opportunity to teach themselves new tools. If you visit this section you can see who they were and see their reflections.
If Acacia undergrads started doing this work as freshmen and continued through graduation they would learn a wide range of tools to share their understanding of complex ideas with many other people. They would learn leadership roles and the cyclical process of action research.
A few years ago I added a link to this discussion group showing ways to use social media to support charities. Here it is again. Imagine the learning opportunities that come from students applying these ideas over and over for many years.
2) Public visibility and public image - Using the graphic I've attached imagine learning teams within each chapter, as the yellow box in the middle of the "hub and spoke" concept map on the right. The spokes point to issues that affect all of our lives, but have a greater negative impact on young people living in high poverty areas.
Each issue area needs to be filled with Acacia study groups, who duplicate Tutor/Mentor Connection 4-part strategy, to build greater understanding of that particular issue, and greater involvement in solving that problem...focusing on the local community where that chapter is located, or where undergrads and alumni live.
3) Connections between alumni and undergrads, and between chapters across the country. Imagine being able to go to the web site of any chapter and finding a page with the graphic at the top of this article. In each node would be links to a sub-page, showing a group of people studying a particular issue.
Then imagine finding network analysis maps like this, using NodeXL, showing Twitter, Facebook and/or Linked in discussions of this strategy, or of any of the sub-issues on the concept map above. The nodes on the NodeXL should show numerous undergrads and alumni from different chapters talking about that issue during a specific time frame.
Over time participation in these discussions would grow as the social media strategies described at this link are learned and applied.
Finally, look at this page showing media stories I've been part of since early 1990s. Then imagine having a page on each chapter's web site showing stories like this, that are a result of adopting this strategy.
4- Impact on Rush and Fund Raising - A strategy that focuses on issues important to a community, and that focuses on helping kids from high poverty area come through school and into college, which generates growing public and social media awareness, has to build awareness among incoming students (and parents) and potential donors, as well as university administrators. That awareness leads to new pledges and new dollars to fund scholarships, operations at the local and national fraternity level.
It also influences what other fraternities do.
5 - Impact on careers. The NodeXL map shows connections between people. In each map the growing number of undergrad and alumni nodes represents constantly expanding social capital, that can open doors to jobs and business opportunities and strengthen the ties of brotherhood, within each chapter and across the national fraternity.
6 - One Acacia in a divided America - If there are groups of undergrads and alumni in each node focusing on important issues, the on-going work builds stronger ties and reduces the social and political divides that are tearing America apart.
All of these are leadership roles that are available to Acacia. Just by sharing your interpretation of this article from the National Chapter, at Conclave, and from local chapters, you are inviting members to take time to understand it, and to take the lead in launching it.