Lambda chapter has an active alumni association that is several hundred members strong. Because we have all lived it, we know that a Rensselaer education is both demanding and rewarding, and our alumni are dedicated to ensuring that our undergraduate brothers balance their educational demands with the best possible college experience and a superior living environment right on the edge of campus.
Our alumni are committed to investing in our undergraduate brothers. We built our new chapter house with this in mind, to make it a real home for our brothers while they are at RPI and to create a place where brothers can comfortably live, learn, socialize, study, relax and make life-long friends. Joining Delta Phi provides the opportunity to live and socialize in The Academy. Life there is a unique steppingstone from dormitory life to being fully on one’s own, and a chance to learn, take on responsibilities and hone life skills that will go with you and help you be better ready for life beyond college.
Lambda has built proud traditions that we carry on today and into the future. We strive to instill these traditions in our new brothers; traditions that will stay with them throughout their lives; traditions that we believe work to make our brothers better innovators, better leaders and better overall people for their entire lives.
First, we made sure that our chapter flourished during the years we did not have a chapter house. During those years, we planned for a new home for our undergraduate brothers and built the financial foundation to make that happen. In January of 2020, that work and support culminated in the opening of The Academy, our new, state-of-the-art chapter house a five minute walk from campus.
But investing in our undergraduate brothers means much more than offering an outstanding environment to live in at college. Our goal is to provide the life skills and learning that will build future leaders and innovators. We encourage brothers to join school-supported clubs to make new friends, learn new skills, talents and hobbies and become more well-rounded individuals. To show our support, we commit association funds to pay for club memberships. We fund group outings and other opportunities to bond and learn to work together. We also sponsor scholarship awards for undergraduate academic achievement.
We include our undergraduate brothers in alumni-initiated projects that will benefit both the alumni and the undergraduates and provide opportunities to build new skills – managing the restoration our billiard table; building new furniture and fixtures for the chapter house during our summer Build weeks; and volunteering to help in projects that benefit and give back to the local community. We want to build an environment that makes it easier to stay ahead of the constant demands of schoolwork, so we have funded an inventory of electronic prototyping tools that allow brothers to model and create interactive projects; professional in-house printing capabilities; and virtual meeting capabilities that make it easy to attend conferences and webinars and conduct interviews at home.
Led by our alumni Board of Directors, all of our efforts are guided by one of our alumni, who volunteers as the Chapter Advisor. He serves as the primary mentor and as a risk manager for the active brothers. Our philosophy is to allow the brothers to essentially learn on their own, while simultaneously providing a safety net and guidance rather than direct control. Our Advisor acts proactively to ensure the chapter operates responsibly while fostering an environment for independent development. He also serves as a direct liaison, regularly communicating with the school’s Greek Dean to ensure the chapter maintains full compliance with all university regulations.
We are committed to ensuring the fraternity experience is both enjoyable and professionally formative. To maintain a current pulse on chapter morale and address issues proactively, our Advisor frequently hosts informal events like hot pot dinners or simply brings ice cream to the house to engage with brothers outside of formal settings. On a professional level, he actively manages the alumni-chapter relationship to facilitate meaningful, relevant connections rather than give simple lectures. He also directly supports career development by refining resumes and planning professional workshops based on current active brother interests. The Chapter also appoints an in-house Advisor, who is an upperclassman. His role is to set an example for the undergraduate Brothers and to be available to guide them on issues that might arise during their time in the Chapter house.
We make an effort to learn from the successes of our alumni, and we share that learning with our younger brothers. In The Academy, we provide a place where everyone can study, work, explore and succeed. We know that adhering to these principles works and we regularly measure how it is reflected in the academic performance of our brothers. To that end, our Chapter Advisor manages the chapter’s annual RPI Accreditation review. This comprehensive process measures success across academic achievement (maintaining a GPA above the RPI average), community philanthropy, and organizational goal-setting. He successfully guided the chapter through the inaugural 2024 review, resulting in Lambda chapter being designated a “Chapter of Merit”—the highest possible standard and an honor achieved by only five Greek chapters.