NIC Blog
NIC Seeking Graduate and Undergraduate Interns
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Position Announcements: Graduate and Undergraduate Internships at the NIC
The North-American Interfraternity Conference invites candidates to submit an application for one of four Internships available in the spring and/or summer of 2011. The NIC is a trade association representing 73 International and National men's fraternities and each of the internships will focus on specific areas related to the mission of the NIC which works to advocate, collaborate, and educate so that fraternities can operate in environments conducive to their success. Available opportunities include:
Graduate Practicum in Interfraternal Advocacy:
Seeking a graduate student in a Public Affairs / Policy, Higher Education, or related graduate program. Membership in a social fraternity/sorority is not required, but a benefit. Specific responsibilities will include:
- Provide assistance to fraternal partners with implementation of NIC Standards.
- Assist in the review of Relationship Statements.
- Coordinate communication between and among NIC Membership regarding Interfraternal and campus advocacy efforts.
Graduate Practicum in Assessment:
Seeking a graduate student in a Higher Education Master's Program. Membership in a social fraternity/sorority is not required, but a benefit. Specific responsibilities will include:
- Assist with the marketing of the Coalition Assessment Project, which is a comprehensive fraternity/sorority community assessment process that includes participation from the NIC as well as the National Panhellenic Conference, the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations, and the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors.
- Assist in coordinating the logistics of Coalition Assessment team visits to host institutions.
- Synthesize data from assessment team reports to develop recommendations regarding current trends and resource needs within the fraternity/sorority movement.
Graduate Practicum in Program Development:
Seeking a graduate student in a Higher Education Master's Program. Membership in a social fraternity/sorority is not required, but a benefit. Specific responsibilities will include:
- Assist with the content development of print and digital resources for NIC member fraternities and host institutions.
- Assist with the planning and coordination of specific aspects of the Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute, which is the premier leadership institute for undergraduate fraternity men and sorority women.
- Coordinate the Into the Streets experience for UIFI, which annually results in over 2000 hours of community service at UIFI host locations.
Undergraduate Internship in Marketing:
Seeking an undergraduate student with an interest and/or experience in marketing, communications, and/or public relations. Demonstrated knowledge in social media and experience with video editing software is also a desired skill. Active involvement in a social fraternity/sorority is not required, but is a benefit. Specific responsibilities will include:
- Assist in the ongoing development and implementation of the NIC's comprehensive social media strategy, with a focus on the continual improvement of the web and social media presence of the NIC, as well as content updates to www.fraternityinfo.com, a site designed for high school students and their families who are looking to learn more about fraternity life.
- Coordinate the process of updating and publishing the NIC Interfraternity Directory & Membership Survey
- Coordinate the process of collecting NIC Academic Success reports.
- Assist in the publication and marketing of resources for NIC member fraternities and host institutions.
Applicants should have a desire to learn and bring with them a passion for contributing the fraternal movement. Each intern will be tasked with contributing to the work of the staff and will be given significant opportunities to learn and work as a part of a dynamic team. Through this experience, an intern will gain an awareness of industry standards and best practices.
Review of candidates will begin on November 1, 2010. To apply, submit a current resume and letter of intent to:
Pete Smithhisler, President & CEO
North-American Interfraternity Conference
3901 West 86th Street Suite 390
Indianapolis IN 46268
T: 317.872.1112 / F: 317.872.1134 / E: pete@nicindy.org
Building a Strong Volunteer Board
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Looking for tips for building a more effective Volunteer Board. Here are some thoughts courtesy of the Indianapolis Not-for-Profit News
Entry originally appeared in October 12, 2010 Issue of the Indianapolis Not-for-Profit News.
What Really Works In Building a Strong Board?
You may recall an on-line survey we promoted last fall for a board researcher named Mary Hiland, Ph.D of Hiland Associates in California. She appreciated the 30+ organizations who responded from Cincinnati and Indianapolis about both board turnarounds and boards that had shown growth to new levels of effectiveness. In total, she looked at 59 cases from organizations across a broad spectrum of budget and board size. Mary is still assembling the detailed analysis and report but wanted our readers to be among the first to receive her preliminary findings.
She found five dimensions that participants consistently identified in the way boards work:
· Alignment: Right people doing the right things with the right skills.
· Individual growth: Assisting each board member to be the best they can be.
· Team building: Fine tuning how the group works as a team.
· Maturity: The board's ability to understand the needs of the organization and their best roles as a collective group.
· Asset creation: The collaborative process by which boards reach their full potential to lead and add value to the organization in achievement of the mission.
The results reflected a continuum of board development, seemingly independent of the organizational life cycle:
1. Getting the basics right.
2. Improving overall board functioning; building board infrastructure.
3. Becoming more strategic.
4. Attracting investment, social capital(people and influence), and engaging with the community in powerful ways.
She found three critical success factors:
1. Outside governance expertise or training - a "nudge" - usually from a trainer/facilitator or a board member's attendance at outside training contributing to a new vision of the board.
2. The Board Chair - critical in creating (or inhibiting) movement and building momentum for change, in partnership with the Executive Director/CEO. The board chair usually engaged a few other board members, building a small group of champions for change.
3. Intention - Study participants described a specific, articulated intention to develop the board: "We were obsessed with board development." "Status quo was not OK."
What is a "Stronger Board"? The tangible improvements included changes in:
· Leadership - More leadership; better leaders.
· Interpersonal dynamics - Better, stronger relationships among the board members and with the Executive Director/CEO.
· Engagement - Increased attendance and participation. Better quality discussion, better preparation. More energy, momentum.
· Board functioning - better meetings, more ownership of the board's work, more effective committee work, and recognition that the board needs to work on itself - not just the organization.
· More strategic; Less involved in operations - Taking it to the next level.
· Composition: More diverse, better "quality" of board members
· Community engagement - Board members increased engagement with the external community, "got it" regarding fundraising, increased identification and use of board member's networks, and/or strengthened advocacy.
Greeks Compose One Third of Congress
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For a third of lawmakers, Congress isn’t the only fraternity they’ve pledged. This is a recent article from the Washingtonian
The members of Kappa Alpha Theta, a sorority at the University of Missouri, needed a new social chair. And only one of their sisters-a blond, gregarious member named Claire-would do.
Under the leadership of the woman who would go on to be Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri-who now sits on committees including Armed Services-Thetas paired with the coolest fraternities on campus to enjoy a social calendar full of dances and parties. At least that's how Leslie Myers, a Theta two years younger than McCaskill, remembers it.
"When we were voting on social chair, the whole room goes, 'Claire,' " says Myers, the owner of a marketing firm in St. Louis. "She knew more people on campus than the other 100 people in Theta combined. It was our most fun year. If we wanted to do it, Claire could make it happen."
McCaskill isn't alone on Capitol Hill in having a Greek affiliation-nearly a third of members of Congress were in a fraternity or sorority, says Peter Smithhisler of the North-American Interfraternity Conference. That percentage is much higher than it is in the general population. Fraternity and sorority life seems to provide good preparation for a career in politics: The Greek process starts with a period of schmoozing, relationship building, and attempts to remember names and faces.
For the House majority leader, Maryland's Steny Hoyer, the experience provided lessons in governing. "My membership in Sigma Chi is one of the big reasons that I am where I am today," says Hoyer, who joined his frat at the University of Maryland. "I learned about working toward a common goal with brothers from every background. We learned that even when we disagree, we are still brothers and have a responsibility to pass that lesson of community on to others."
Those values were tested in Georgia in 2008, when two politicians, who knew each other from their Sigma Chi days at the University of Georgia, faced off in a Senate race.
"I first met Saxby when I was going through fraternity rush," says Jim Martin, the 2008 Democratic challenger to Georgia senator Saxby Chambliss. "He was tall and looked old."
Martin lost to Chambliss but says the race was never personal.
"When I was president of my Sigma Chi pledge class at UGA, Saxby's wife, Julianne, was our pledge-class sweetheart," Martin says. "I have always liked them."
In Congress, Chambliss joins a number of other prominent Sigma Chi brothers, including Hoyer and senators Lamar Alexander, Bob Corker, John Ensign, and Mike Enzi.
Senator Johnny Isakson, also of Georgia, isn't a Sigma Chi-he's a Sigma Alpha Epsilon-but he knows Chambliss and Martin from their frat days.
"Johnny was there at the same time, so we all knew each other," Martin says.
Representative Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia was a Kappa Kappa Gamma at Duke in the 1970s, but she's still making Kappa connections: "Kappas are everywhere. I can start singing the Kappa song and always find someone nearby who knows it."
This article first appeared in the October 2010 issue of The Washingtonian.
