UK Panhellenic Council Wins Top Award; Sororities Offer Meaningful Experience for Women

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 16, 2018) — The University of Kentucky Panhellenic Council is among the 43 College Panhellenic Associations recently recognized by the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) with awards for excellence and achievement in their work to advance the sorority experience throughout 2017-18. This is the 19th National Panhellenic Conference award presented to the UK Panhellenic Council since 1995.

“The College Panhellenic Associations being recognized have excelled in all areas of Panhellenic operations and met the core competencies of reporting and communication,” said Frances Mitchelson, NPC Panhellenic chairman. “We are proud of their hard work and dedication to upholding high standards for their College Panhellenic and ensuring the sorority experience is beneficial for all members on their campus.”

College Panhellenic Associations (CPAs) are cooperatives comprised of all NPC-member sororities on a campus. NPC-member organization chapters are located at more than 670 U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities, but only the top-scoring groups are honored.

“I am very proud the University of Kentucky Panhellenic Council was honored by the National Panhellenic Conference,” said Assistant Dean of Students Susan West, the director of Fraternity and Sorority Life at UK. “The leadership of the 3,400-member organization (at UK) has worked hard to support their members, the university and our community. The council worked hard this past year to implement recommendations from a National Panhellenic Conference consulting team and from the university’s administration. This award acknowledges the strength of our Panhellenic community and the achievement of their goals.”

Each CPA was scored on seven criteria of value to all campuses. The 25 Excellence Award recipients, including UK, met all seven criteria. The criteria are:

• academics;
• communication with NPC-area advisor;
• judicial procedures;
• Panhellenic community impact and relations;
• Panhellenic programming;
• Panhellenic structure; and
• recruitment.

UK Panhellenic President Grace Fultz said, “I believe the significance of UK Panhellenic's consistent recognition of excellence is because we are constantly trying to invent new ways to better the entire community in many different areas. There are always goals we work toward as a council that we set at the beginning of the year, and we don't stop until we have reached those goals.

"This award reflects the strength of our community because each individual chapter brings something different to the table, no two being exactly the same, and that is something we take pride in knowing. We celebrate our differences and use those to create common ground between chapters,” said Fultz, a native of Dayton, Ohio, and a double major in marketing and integrated strategic communication.

The national awards were announced just as fall semesters and sorority recruitment begin for universities and colleges across the country. UK Panhellenic sorority recruitment activities begin Tuesday, Aug. 21. Women wishing to join a National Panhellenic Conference sorority at UK this fall should visit www.uksorority.com to register for recruitment by Wednesday, Aug. 22. 

To learn about all fraternity and sorority membership opportunities, UK students are encouraged to attend the Rock the Block K Week event 3-5 p.m. Monday, Aug. 20, at Barker Plaza outside the Gatton Student Center. For more information, see https://bit.ly/FSLGuide18 or follow Twitter: @UKYGreek, Instagram: ukygreek, or Facebook: UKYGreek.

“Women want to be a part of this community to make an impact. Together, our Panhellenic women have donated more than 15,000 hours of community service per semester for the past several years. It's the continuous programming and devoted membership that makes a council strong, and the amount of time and effort we see on a daily basis from our women makes us that much stronger,” Fultz said.

“The UK Panhellenic sorority experience provides women with an outlet to find a group of women who share similar values and push you to become the best version of yourself that you may not have known was possible, and continue that support far beyond the four years at UK.

"Here at UK, the possibilities are endless when it comes to being a member of our Greek community,” Fultz said. “This makes it easy to say there is a home for everyone.”

For the complete list of College Panhellenic Associations honored by NPC, visit: https://npcwomen.dynamic.omegafi.com/2018/08/01/national-panhellenic-conference-recognizes-outstanding-college-panhellenic-associations-for-2017-18/.