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News and announcements below
Taus serving in harm's way in the US Armed Services:
Other alumni on active duty or recently active duty with the military, but NOT currently deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq:
- Captain André Cunningham (1998) is stationed with the Africa Command in Stuttgard, Germany. André has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan since hostilities began
- Sergeant David Humfleet (2003) is stationed in Columbia, MD.
- Captain George H. Johnson III (2000) of the US Army Chemical Corps recently (July 2008) returned from his third deployment since the beginning of hostile action in the middle-east. Welcome home! George will be taking over leadership of an ROTC department at the Pittsburgh State University in Pittsburgh, KS, a posting that should take him out of the deployment cycle for several years.
- Sergeant Tricia Roll (2002) of the US Army Reserve recently (September 2007) returned from her first tour of duty in Iraq. Welcome home!
- Matt Woodard (04) is an active member of the armed services stationed in El Paso, TX. We do not know if he has been recently deployed or not.
News and announcements! (updated November 16, 2008)
- ° Website Updates {11/16/08}
- All three of this fall's pledges were activated on Friday, November 14th and are now full members of the House. Please welcome Dave Christensen, Jon Palecek, and Ross Weinert to the House.
- The Centennial Reunion will take place starting at 4pm on Sunday, June 27, at La Sure's of Oshkosh. More details about the event are being worked out.
- The Fall 2008 Newsletter has been posted. Check it out!
- A subtle but important change has been made to the profile pages. When one visits the profile a small menu bar appears under the normal menu bar with navigation links, an email link (if available), etc. The rightmost menu item has been changed to read "Update." Should you find that your profile is out of date or that you would like to make additions, changes, or subtractions from the profile, please hit that link. It will take you to a questionnaire that you can fill out. We have not yet automated the profiles such that members can update their own, but this makes it easier for members to update their profile as it provides the keepers of the site with all the pertinent information needed.
- ° Website Updates {11/02/08}
- Debate regarding a venue for the Centennial Reunion is ongoing, as well as debate regarding what exactly will happen during the reunion. No other activities have been, as yet, approved by the House.
- The newsletter will be posted within the week.
- Also, another change to the website: the previous password for full members that gave access to the "Members Only" sections of the site has been changed for security purposes. The OLD full member password will still work for the directory, but all alumni who are or were full members will need to contact Pete Lenz (1989) in order to obtain access to the Members Only section. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but there was a strong possibility that the password had reached non-members and thus we felt it necessary to take this step.
- The 2007 and 2008 formal glasses have been added to the Relics page.
- Pete Lenz (1989) recently found and won what appears to be a previously unknown relic of the House: this Letters Pendant. It has been given a spot on the Relics page.
- An image of the memorial plaque created to honor E. Gary Gygax (H) was placed on his memorial page.
- ° Website Updates {10/19/08}
- The Centennial Reunion shall take place on Alumni Weekend 2010 (June 25 - 27). More news about the Centennial can be found on our Centennial webpage.
- Also, another change to the website: the previous password that afforded full members with access to the "Members Only" sections of the site has been changed for security purposes. The OLD full member password will still work for the directory, but all alumni who are or were full members will need to contact Pete Lenz (1989) in order to obtain access to the Members Only section. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but there was a strong possibility that the password had reached non-members and thus we felt it necessary to take this step.
- ° Website Updates {9/19/08}
- This fall three students have pledged the House. David Christiansen and Jon Palecek have pledged previously but been unable to activate for various reasons. Ross Weinert is pledging for the first time. Welcome to pledging, guys, and good luck!
- Live In Weekend will be October 3-5 this fall.
- Fall activation will take place on November 14.
- Alumni and actives are invited to fill out this survey (now closed), which polls the membership regarding the Centennial Reunion's date and asks for an update on your contact information.
- ° Website Updates {7/12/08}
- A new page has been added, one devoted to listing and organizing the various Centennial Events that will take place throughout the 2009-2010 school year.
- Some additional member names have been added to the directory, some additional pictures from various Crimsons, and several older alumni had to be converted from member to memorial pages.
- ° Website Updates {6/28/08}
- It has been a long time since this page was updated... we apologize. We've been updating various parts of the site as necessary but have had little time to do much that is new.
- The Spring edition of the Tau newsletter is done and located on the Newsletters page. Those who subscribe for paper copies should have received them by now.
- Welcome to full membership to the Spring 2008 Pledge Class.
- Richard Demas (1993) and his wife, Anne, recently welcomed their daughter, Clover, to the world.
- A listing of, and links to, the various exploders has been added to that page.
- Other updates include, as usual, a number of updated directory pages and, sadly, the listing of a number of alumni as deceased.
- Tweaks, typos, and other corrections have also been done. With the summer we are hoping to get some more work done on the scrapbook pages.
- ° Website Updates {11/25/07}
- The Fall edition of the Tau newsletter is done and located on the Newsletters page. Those who subscribe for paper copies will receive them soon.
- Welcome to full membership to the Fall 2007 Pledge Class.
- Barb (Thompson) Pamperin (89) recently donated a number of Ripon College Magazines to the effort we are making in trying to get the website up-to-date and as complete as possible.
- Other updates include, as usual, a number of updated directory pages, primarily the addition of personal information for a number of Taus from the early 40s through the present and, sadly, the listing of a number of alumni as deceased.
- ° Website Updates {10/1/07}
- The big events of the semester are:
- Live-In Weekend - October 5, 6, 7
- Haunted Prairie - October 26 (a House sponsored fund-raiser for the American Diabetes Association)
- Halloween Party - October 27
- Activation - November 16
- Ed Shaw proudly announces that he may now append the letters Ph.D. to his name!
- ° Website Updates {09/16/07}
- George Johnson (00) and Patti Beck (98) announce the birth of their very own microTau, Virginia Heinlein Johnson on September 5 of 2007. Virginia and Patti are doing fine. George is eager to meet his daughter when he returns from his current posting in Iraq.
- Welcome to the Fall 2007 Pledge Class. Have fun pledging and we look forward to your activation late this semester.
- Barb (Thompson) Pamperin (89) recently donated a number of Ripon College Magazines to the effort we are making in trying to get the website up-to-date and as complete as possible.
- Work is still moving slowly on the scrapbook portion of the site. The most notable addition that was recently made is a photo of the House members taken this fall. It includes most of the active House (which currently numbers 26 members) and most of the fall pledge class.
- Other updates include, as usual, a number of updated directory pages, primarily the addition of personal information for a number of Taus from the early 40s and, sadly, the relisting of a number of alumni as deceased.
- ° Website Updates {08/21/07}
- Christy Robinson (05) will be holding a book signing for her first novel, The LeFay Chronicles, at the Weyauwega Public Library on Saturday, September 8, 2007, from 9.30 - 11.30 am. She'd be thrilled to have some of her Tau brothers and sisters in attendance.
- Work is moving slowly on the scrapbook portion of the site. Like the history of the house itself, getting things organized and identified is taking some time.
- The demographics and data page now consists of
- A map showing the distribution of Taus (and honoraries and socials) throughout the US and abroad.
- A listing of known legacies. We suspect a few more to exist, but are not yet sure.
- A listing of incestuous marriages... marriages between members of Tau (including honoraries, socials and pre-1980 little sisters). This will, of course, include civil ceremonies as well as the last known state of the relationship.
- Other updates include a number of updated directory pages (adding symbols to people who have deceased, and adding titled symbols representing military service... stop on a flag and see which branch and what conflicts a person served in) and an update of the trivia page. The former will force us to move some of the existing member pages to the memorials directory, a change that will be made soon.
- We have recently obtained Crimsons from 1940, 41, and 43. The House moved from Sanford to Evans over the summer of 1939. THe House was still going strong, although smaller, by 1943. In the 1946 Crimson there are no fraternities in evidence, so in either 1944 or 1945 the houses all went into dormancy as the second world war heated up and the men departed to serve. In the 1947 Crimson the houses were all back and ready to rebuild.
- Pete Lenz (89) recently got a membership to Ancestry.com, which has come in useful in tracking down the status of former members and has also provided us with some interesting newspaper articles, some of which will be shared in the upcoming newsletters. (The site has also been very useful in tracing his father's family back to Germany in the early 1700s and his mother's family back to Poland in the late 1800s... and work on that continues as well.)
- ° Website Updates {07/07/07}
- The Summer edition of the Tau newsletter is done and located on the Newsletters page.
- Work has begun on the scrapbook portion of the site. It will be a longish process, but hopefully the end result will be pleasing to most.
- The bare beginnings of a demographics and data page associated with the member pages now exists. Currently it consists of a map showing the distribution of Taus (and honoraries and socials) throughout the US and abroad. Since we don't know where a majority of people are located, it is woefully inaccurate at present, but this will change as time goes on.
- Updates as of this date include a number of updated and new member & memorial pages and an update of the trivia page. One thing that can be added to members' pages if they should like: we currently display AIM, Yahoo, MSN, and Google messenger handles... we can also display ICQ and X-Box live account handles... helping more people get and stay in touch in more ways. Also, we will be listing MSpace pages that display a public URL on their profiles. If you'd like any of this to be added to your account, or anything else you cna think of, contact us.
- ° Website Updates {6/9/07}
- The Summer edition of the Tau newsletter is in-process and we hope to get it into the hands of the postal service by July 4. If you have any news, email Plenz asap.
- At this point only the Scrapbook remains to be done to give the site a sense of completion. Most info pages are complete (many already probably getting out of date... *sigh*).
- Another project is to update and upgrade some of the items available in the Tau store. Hopefully this summer will provide ample time to work on this as well as the scrapbook.
- Yet another idea is a page associated with the member pages that contains various demographic and other data: a map with regional concentrations of Taus, data indicating the number of various majors throughout the history of the House and perhaps how it has changed over time, etc.
- Thanks are extended to Amanda Piccirillo (07) for her many contributions to the website during the end of the past semester. Amanda was doing a senior seminar paper on the history of Tau having gone co-ed and, during her work, took the time out to scan and email literally dozens upon dozens of Crimson photos from the years 1980 through 1988. When she has the project organized, she will make it available to us through the website!
- Thanks also to Barb Pamperin (89) for the loan of her 1988 Crimson for purposes of adding to our Yearbook pages (not yet finished).
- Updates as of this date include a number of updated and new member & memorial pages, the addition of the spring pledge song to Tau-ster and an update of the trivia page.
- ° Website Updates {5/5/07}
- Congrats to Gretchen Cuthbert, Jessica Fuoco, Kali Jankovich, & Amanda Piccirillo, this year's graduates!
- Individual information pages are, for the moment, mostly complete. There is still more work to be done on these but the majority of the pages that we have information for have been set up. As always, if you find that there is something missing or you would like something changed or deleted, please drop Pete an email.
- As we gain more information from further in the past, we have discovered that the term "MicroTau" is insufficient for our needs. We have coined several new terms to help to fill the necessary referents that are arising:
- MicroNus: the children of members who were Sigma Nus
- NanoTaus: the grandchildren of Taus
- NanoNus: the grandchildren of Sigma Nus
- when necessary we will add PicoTaus and PicoNus
- More pages have been added all over the site. In fact, the only pages that are still missing are the Members-Only Relics page, the Scrapbook, and the Store page. There are many missing subpages, and many more that will eventually be added, but we are getting there. The next major project is to try to organize the scrapbook images and pages.
- We continue to collect Crimsons and images from Crimsons in order to add to individuals' pages, the Yearbook pages, and the Scrapbook.
- Now that we have a solid date that would be THE birthday of Theta Sigma Tau, a committee ought to be formed to attempt to organize a Centennial celebration in May of 2010.
- ° Website Updates {3/9/07}
- There will now be two different passwords for the site, although an individual will only have to remember one:
- Full members and Alumni: These people may have a password that gives them access to the Membership Directory as well as to the Members Only sections of the site including Tauster, Traditions, and Relics. Please note that the members-only Traditions and Relics pages are not yet up, they will have information on them that only people who have activated as full members of the House may have access to.
- Honorary members, social members, advisors, friends of the House: These people will be given a password that permits them access to only the Membership Directory.
The old password is the one that gets into the directory. In order to obtain a access, one simply has to contact Pete Lenz (posting them would be sort of silly, ya know?). One may, of course, ask another password holder and people can be free to give out the appropriate password to the people that should have them. Members are reminded, however, that access to the Members Only section of the site is intended to be for members only and so the password to those areas is to be only given to people who are or were full members.
- Individual information pages continue to be created/updated. As of March 9 we have completed info pages for members whose last names begin with "A" through "Hoff-". As always, if you find that there is something missing or you would like something changed or deleted, please drop Pete an email.
- MicroTaus are getting their own pages, linked from their parent's(') page(s). These will include a picture or two if we have any as well as news and other information when it is available. Moms and dads can submit images and info to be posted, of course. These pages are also protected by the same passwords that protect other directory entries. However, if a parent is very uncomfortable about having a picture or information posted, they can contact Pete to have the pages altered to their liking.
- The Donations and Philanthropy pages have been created and the Yearbooks, Contact, Definitions, and Events pages have been updated.
- We have recently obtained Crimsons from 1935 and 1936 (which may have formerly belonged to a fellow Tau) that provide us with some useful information about the history of the House, including the actual date in the spring of 1910 that the Elms Eating Club formally became Theta Sigma Tau for the very first time. We have also obtained Crimsons from 1946 - 1950 as well as 1952 and 1961.
- Now that we have a solid date that would be THE birthday of Theta Sigma Tau, a committee ought to be formed to attempt to organize a Centennial celebration in May of 2010.
- ° Website Updates {2/25/07}
- Newsletter #58: The Sagacious Scalliwag has been posted to the site. Some might recognize this title from an earlier newsletter. We've decided to settle upon one name for the newsletter and this is it. It has information about the website update, Tau Notes, the cast of Tau: The Movie (circa 1990) and recent news about the House. Enjoy. Paper copies will be mailed to those that subscribe in the next day or two.
- Individual information pages are getting updated slowly but surely. As of Feb 25 we have completed info pages for members whose last names begin with A through F. If you find that there is something missing or you would like something changed or deleted, please drop us an email. Use the old password you can check out the directory entries.
- MicroTaus are getting their own pages, linked from their parent's(') page(s). These will include a picture or two if we have any as well as news and other information when it is available. Moms and dads can submit images and info to be posted, of course.
- The publicly accessible Traditions and Relics pages have been updated.
- A reminder that one can add a song to one's page if one donates regularly to the upkeep of the site, which amounts to $7/year (less than 60¢/month!). For that low cost you can have a song on your profile page as well as an email address @thetasigmatau.org. We may have an mp3 of the song you would like to have added, but if you can send us a copy, that's probably best. It doesn't HAVE to be a song, it can be any audio-type file you would like. We're planning to change the one posted for Harrison once we have access to a dvd of a certain scene from one of the Indiana Jones movies.
- ° Website Updates {2/3/07}
- The pages linked to The Crimson entries are now switched over. I have a few more to scan, a couple borrowed from the house and a couple won recently on eBay.
- The non-yearbook images from the photo albums will be done eventually. They are still accessible in the old set up, follow this link.
- In an effort to reduce some repetitive tasks, all of the links on the upgraded site now point to the pages they will eventually point to, although some of those pages don't yet exist. Most notable for the house, in the midst of the pledge process, is that the link to Tauster, which has all the pledge songs, is not working. For you folks, here's Tauster but you will need to contact me for the new password.
- Using the old password you can check out the directory entry for Plenz. That's the basic format that I have planned for those pages, but they can be somewhat flexible. If anything is missing that absolutely ought to be there, let me know. Also, please drop me an email with an image and what info you want displayed and what info you don't want displayed. If you want to post art or poetry, we can work something out for that.
- Please note that on Plenz's page there is a music player and song above his picture... this is available for people who help me keep the site live and active with donations. For $7/year (more is welcome, of course) you can have a song of your choice on your page (it would be most helpful if you could provide an mp3 of the song) as well as an email address or email forwarder.
- ° Website Updates {1/23/07}
- The site upgrade is going apace. The following pages have been upgraded: Pledges, Actives (including individual info pages), House officers, Alumni (NOT including individual info pages), the Trivia page, the Newsletter page, the Coin page and the Family Trees.
- Still working on the other pages, including the Definitions page.
- ° Website Updates {1/10/07}
- If you have not yet noticed, the website has begun the process of getting updated. This will be a slow process, and it will be strange to have the old pages and new pages loading one after the other, but it'll be easier to troubleshoot errors this way.
- Feedback on the changes that are being made is always welcome.
- This particular update involves:
- A new welcome "splash" page in front of both the House and Alumni site addresses. It's black, to catch the attention of infrequent visitors, and will automagically push most browsers to the new front page of the site.
- A new front page to the site which will be the basic appearance of all the pages eventually.
- A new Latest News page. Hey, the site is undergoing changes, that's news... updating the news page makes sense.
- ° Website Updates {1/1/07}
- We are beginning to outline a reconstruction of the two websites to make them more integrated and more interactive. This will take some time because of other constraints on our time and the fact that we want to implement some new authoring techniques, but eventually the website will see a dramatic facelift.
- The guestbook that had been set up has been removed... it was hijacked by some porn-spammer and the easiest solution to the problem was to nuke the guestbook. We will investigate other options for this.
- Spring Pref Party is January 19, Spring Pledge Party is January 20.
- This particular update involves:
- Updates of some profile pages
- Some updated email addresses
- The addition of four memorial pages
- Restoration and update of the Pledge Songs page contents
- Update of the Challenge Coin page
- Additions to the Relics page
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