When my chapter was installed in 1992, many of the sisters initiated that day were AIs.

In my opinion, these women remain as the backbone of my collegiate chapter -- and without them, we probably wouldn't have survived 13+ years on campus. Our former Alum Chapter President was an AI, was very instrumental in helping Hawaii achieve 5 star status and now serves on the VST.

A sister is a sister, no matter when or how she joined.

Hijack really quick -

L'Cena goes to my church and she and her husband are very involved. It's funny because I never really paid attention to the fact that she was Greek. Then I saw her at a luncheon for the South Bay Alumnae Panhellenic and discovered she was Gamma Phi Beta - she had the most beautiful GPhiB necklace on. I remember thinking that is the type of necklace that an international officer would wear. You guys have a great sister and officer in L'Cena.

End of hijack

I don't know. She introduced me to friends as "an AGD sister", but had this "shocked" look when I told someone that I am an AI. It was then that she stopped talking about AGD. WEIRD, huh?

What a shame if she feels this way.:(

Little does she actually realize.:confused:

Bonnie Payne, the Executive Director.

She's a past International President. See my other post, but she IS NOT an AI.

Ah...ok! No wonder I was so suprised! L'Cena is the Chair of the Foundation's Executive Committee and she is the one who appears on all of the Foundation brochures. So, when you said, "head of our Foundation" it was hard to tell if you were refering to the Chairwoman or the staff's Executive Director. I got it now!


.....Kelly :)

As an additional sidebar--I am an AI and I served a term as an international officer. We currently have two AIs serving on our international board, and I believe an AI is president of our foundation. In the last few years, AIs have been immediately active in our volunteer forces in a variety of roles. It can be done! I am so glad to hear that there are other groups who embrace AIs in their leadership.

I think this attitude arises from uneducated sisters. And, let's be realistic -- some snooty ones, too.

I know a woman who was going through the AI process and had found a group that was interested in her. One of the requirements was that she had to meet every member of the alumnae association and get their approval. She had met everyone except for one woman, who happened to be a recent graduate. When she sat down to dinner to meet w/ her, this member told her point blank, "I do not believe in alumna initiation, so I will not approve you."

She has no idea what she missed out on -- this woman ended up initiating w/ another NPC group and is a very active volunteer.

Many of the women in my alumnae panhellenic have expressed shock that there even is such a thing as AI for some groups. One of the comments was something to the effect of it's unnatural to want to join a sorority after college. Well...by that logic, it's unnatural to be involved as an alumna!

CAs who are also alumna initiates are some dedicated women.

*cough* ;)

Alpha Phi has a long history of alumnae initiates being involved in critical roles. Frances E. Willard, our first alumnae initiate, served as international president of our fraternity.