The Pursuit of Excellence Program

In August 2000, at the 59th Grand Chapter in Phoenix, Arizona a group of undergraduate members came together and suggested that the Fraternity implement a minimum standards program. Their desires were two-fold: to measure the success of chapters who are effectively representing the values and mission of Sigma Nu, and to lift up and offer support to those chapters that were struggling to do so especially in areas of chapter management, leadership and operations.

This student led initiative sparked interest among the High Council, and in March of 2002, an appointed committee met to begin conversations about implementing "minimum standards" for chapter performance. After thorough discussions they made a recommendation suggesting that minimum standards were necessary to support the Fraternity's mission. Such standards, they agreed, should be flexible enough to allow for each chapter's uniqueness and that in implementing such standards initially, the Fraternity must allow adequate time for preparation by the chapters. These initial conclusions guided the work in developing The Pursuit of Excellence Program.

Launched in May 2003, The Pursuit of Excellence Program measures chapter excellence in the following categories of chapter operations:

	Membership Development
	Chapter Development
	Chapter Management
	Support Structure
	Chapter Governance
	Campus and Community Involvement

In order to measure a chapter's success a point system was established for each category and a minimum number of total points out of a possible 110 was designated for the first three years of implementation. Chapters may accumulate points by achieving or performing the standards included in each category. If a standard is not applicable to a chapter, they are not judged on that standard. In the first year a chapter was required to earn at least 60 points, in 2004 that amount increased to 70 and in 2005 it will be increased and remain at 80 points indefinitely.

The Pursuit of Excellence Award is given to the ten chapters that had the highest scores for the Pursuit of Excellence Program in an academic year. These are the ten most recent Pursuit of Excellence Award winning chapters:

	Eta Theta - North Dakota State University
	Delta Xi - University of Nevada - Reno
	Gamma Gamma - Albion College
	Delta Alpha - Case Western Reserve University
	Kappa Upsilon - University of North Carolina - Greensboro
	Theta Iota - Middle Tennessee State University
	Eta - Mercer University
	Mu Iota - University of Hartford
	Mu Pi - Philadelphia University
	Zeta Sigma - Gettysburg College