MU’s Fraternity Alumni Consortium recognized 11 fraternities Thursday for their academic excellence during the spring 2011 semester at a ceremony in Jesse Hall.

John Dean, MU Fraternity Alumni Consortium Academic Achievement chairman, began the ceremony by reiterating the event’s purpose: to highlight the effectiveness of fraternities’ focus on academic achievement.

“I’ve learned to recognize what makes successful individuals and successful organizations, and it begins with what you learn when you’re going through your student years,” Dean said.

Since April 2009, the 27 members of the MU Fraternity Alumni Consortium have been cooperating with administrators and the Office of Greek Life to upgrade and enhance Interfraternity Council chapters. Reflecting their priority of academic achievement, they began recognizing chapters whose all-chapter GPA exceeded the all-campus GPA three semesters ago.

Ceremony speakers Vice Chancellor Cathy Scroggs and Athletics Director Mike Alden both expressed their pride for the honored fraternities and reiterated the importance of prioritizing academics first.

“From the fraternities’ perspective, it’s encouraging to hear alumni and faculty such as Scroggs and Alden supporting and admiring the fact that so many chapters are getting good grades and are doing a good job of keeping members focused on getting good grades,” IFC President Mike Zeiter said.

IFC takes additional steps to promote fraternities’ academic excellence. The council encourages chapters to have both alumni and faculty advisers, provides academic success plans for each fraternity and allows chapters to earn Greek Development Points for high grades.

“If they need to know what kind of stuff to do for members academically, we can help them out,” Zeiter said.

Eight chapters received a black banner, indicating the all-chapter GPA exceeded the all-campus GPA. Theta Chi, Phi Kappa Theta, Kappa Alpha Order, Alpha Epsilon Pi and Lambda Chi Alpha retained this honor from the fall 2010 semester. Alpha Gamma Rho, Delta Chi and Phi Delta Theta received new banners.

The Fraternity Alumni Consortium awards gold banners to the chapters with the top three all-chapter GPAs. Alpha Gamma Sigma received a gold banner after receiving a black banner the previous semester, and Sigma Chi retained its gold status from fall 2010. Beta Theta Pi had the highest GPA for both fall 2010 and spring 2011.

Dean said the banners are a badge of honor for the fraternities and serve to encourage competition for academic achievement.

“We live in a society that is very competitive and puts a very high value on college education and achieving at a high level,” Beta Theta Pi President Steven Glynias said. “To know that we’re a society that also places a high value on academics is a great feeling.”

Beta Theta Pi’s high standards begin with recruitment. After new members are initiated, each works with an upperclassman in a similar major who monitors his academic performance.

“We have a lot of upperclassmen who have done well in school, and we encourage new members to follow in their footsteps,” Glynias said.

Glynias attributes the success of Beta Theta Pi and the other honored chapters to the encouragement found within the entire Greek community.

“It’s important to realize that although 11 chapters were recognized tonight, we are not able to do anything without the support of the Greek community as a whole,” Glynias said. “The achievements of one are the achievements of all.”