Of the initial men recruited, several were members of an interest group created in spring 1999. Chris Mazanec (Dayton, Lambda Theta ’01) and Jay Harter (Dayton, Lambda Theta ’01) spearheaded a group that contacted the Pi Kappa Alpha International Headquarters and expressed an interest in establishing a chapter at the University of Dayton. The interest and appeal of this group grew quickly as 25 men were recruited to petition the University, IFC, and Pi Kappa Alpha to gain formal recognition as a colony. After many meetings and presentations, Mazanec and Harter secured a colonization for Pi Kappa Alpha commencing in fall of 2000.
After setting the standard for fraternities on campus and meeting the goals they set upon forming the colony, the group sent a chartering petition to Expansion Coordinator Justin Buck (Southeast Missouri, Epsilon Iota ’96) in October 2001. The petition was approved and an inspection date set.
On October 6, 2001, representatives from Beta Eta Chapter (University of Illinois) and Eta Rho Chapter (Northern Kentucky), along with past staff member Brad McLaughlin (Gamma Omicron, ’89), conducted the colony inspection with Chapter Consultant Korey Kimball (Lamar, Epsilon Kappa ’97). Following the teams’ vote to approve the colony for chartering, the chartering of Lambda Theta was unanimously approved.
On Friday, November 30, 2001, 70 men received the honor of being initiated into Pi Kappa Alpha. Initiation teams consisted of brothers from Alpha Rho Chapter (Ohio State), Eta Eta Chapter (Morehead State), and Delta Iota Chapter (Marshall). The following day, Delta Iota Chapter along with International President H. King Buttermore III (Vanderbilt, Sigma ’63) and Great Lakes Regional President Kevin E. Virta (Western Michigan, Epsilon Psi ’83) conducted the installation ceremony. The group was installed as the chartering members of Lambda Theta Chapter and Chris Mazanec was installed as the chapter’s first president. I
International President Buttermore was also the keynote speaker of the evening’s black tie event, which was held at the Dayton, Ohio Crowne Plaza. Also attending the banquet were Virta, Hagen, Buck, and Expansion Consultant Dean Snihur (Alberta, Lambda Epsilon ’00), along with the men from Delta Iota Chapter. Numerous parents and sorority women were also in attendance that evening. Thanks to Lambda Theta Chapter’s hard work and tremendous support from alumni, faculty, and sororities on campus, Pi Kappa Alpha has created a long-lasting impression at the University of Dayton.
1st – Chris Mazanec (2001)
2nd – Chris Faddis (2002)
3rd – Kevin Clarke (impeached)
4th – Reed Lawless (2003)
5th – Owen Schnapper (2004)
6th - Kevin Fitzgerald (2005)
7th - Michael Lofton (2006)
8th – Jeffery Heisler (2007)
9th – Dan Debacco (2008 – resigned)
10th – Matt Behr (2008)
11th – Daniel Demko (2009)
Pi Kappa Alpha International Fraternity is a Greek letter, secret, college, social fraternity. It is composed of men who share similar ideals of friendship, truth, honor, and loyalty. The Fraternity's ideals are expressed in the written words and symbols of a secret ritual. These ideals and members' ability to maintain the visions of the Fraternity's founders are the great moral legacy of Pi Kappa Alpha.
Pi Kappa Alpha was founded at the University of Virginia on March 1, 1868.
It all started in Room 47 West Range when Frederick Southgate Taylor turned to Littleton Waller Tazewell, his cousin and roommate, for help in starting a new fraternity. Also present was James Benjamin Sclater, Jr., a schoolmate of Tazewell, and Sclater's roommate Robertson Howard. Those four men voted to add a fifth to their group and chose Julian Edward Wood. Although history is unclear, William Alexander, probably a friend of Sclater, Jr., was proposed for membership and was admitted as a founder. The first initiate was Augustus Washington Knox.
The essence of the Founders' vision for Pi Kappa Alpha can be found in its Preamble. A committee was first suggested by Brother William Alexander "to draw up a statement of the origin and the organization of the Fraternity." The committee was composed of brothers Robertson Howard and Littleton Waller Tazewell. The resulting statement is now referred to as the Preamble.
The years after the Civil War found a proliferation of American college fraternities being organized, particularly in the South. Pi Kappa Alpha's founding in 1868 was soon followed by the founding of Kappa Sigma and Sigma Nu. These fraternities, along with Alpha Tau Omega, Kappa Alpha Order, and Sigma Phi Epsilon, are known as the "Virginia Circle".
Before the end of Spring 1868, the brothers had decided that they wanted more than a Virginia society. They wanted to become a national fraternity. The following 21 years would prove to be some of the most troublesome times, nearly shattering the dreams of these young men. With universities making it nearly impossible for fraternities to exist by placing bans on the presence of secret societies, the Fraternity was still able to expand. The second chapter, Beta (Davidson College), had even voted to disband saying in a letter to the president of the college, "we have disbanded our chapter and we do not intend to carry it on unless we can do it openly and above board, as we regard its ties too sacred for other procedure."
Nearly two years later, the third chapter, Gamma (William & Mary), was established. During the years that followed until 1889, there would be a total of ten charters granted; however, only five remained active. This was the year of a most important convention. The Hampden-Sydney Convention brought the likes of Theron Hall Rice, a transfer to Virginia from Southwestern, who represented Alpha; Howard Bell Arbuckle, a recent graduate and then a teaching fellow at Hampden-Sydney, who represented Iota; and John Shaw Foster, a delegate from Theta Chapter at Southwestern (now Rhodes College). Lambda at the Citadel was to have been represented by Robert Adger Smythe, but a telegram from Charleston explained, "no holiday given us. Impossible to come. Act for us in everything." This convention is of major importance, as it is considered the rebirth of the Fraternity. Together, Theron Rice, Howard Arbuckle, Robert Smythe, and John Foster came to be known as the Junior Founders