Sorority members and faculty mingled in Garden I yesterday as part of the Inter-Sorority Council's effort to start a faculty mentoring program for sorority women.
The ISC's Faculty Fellows program will pair a faculty advisor with each sorority, ISC President Whitney Eck said.
The fellows will serve as an "academic mentor or resource we want all houses to have," Eck said.
ISC envisions the fellows providing "basic academic mentoring and a communication route for sororities and faculty," said ISC Alumnae and Faculty Chairwoman Jessica Belue, adding that sororities sometimes are perceived as separate from the academic community at the University.
"This will help establish sororities as part of the academic community," Belue said.
Each sorority invited about five faculty members whom their house had named as good candidates for the program to yesterday's reception. There are 16 sororities in the ISC.
Three ISC sororities -- Delta Gamma, Pi Beta Phi, and Alpha Delta Pi -- already have faculty advisors, despite the lack of a formal ISC program until now.
"We are targeting some women, and also some men with whom the sisters already have close relationships, whether professors, advisors, or even friends," Alpha Chi Omega President Maggie Lenhart said.
Only a half-dozen professors attended yesterday's reception.
Several other professors have said they are interested in the program but couldn't make yesterday's event, Belue said.
ISC sororities won't be required to have a faculty fellow, but interest has been high and most houses will probably have one, Eck said.
"We want to increase relations between the faculty and the Greek system," said Kappa Alpha Theta President Jinna Innamorati, present at yesterday's reception.
It will be up to each sorority and its faculty fellow to determine the nature of their relationship, Belue said.
Faculty fellows might participate in academic programs or events designed to promote academic achievement for sororities, Eck said. They also might address academic concerns about individual sorority sisters, she said.
Faculty fellows may present their research to their sororities and help sorority women present their own research, Belue said.
They could put sorority women looking for advice in touch with professors in their area of interest, said Politics Prof. James Sofka, who was at yesterday's reception.
Commerce School Prof. Ryan Nelson, who expressed interest in being an ISC faculty fellow, said that in his role as informal mentor for Kappa Sigma fraternity he has helped brothers find jobs and internships.
The Faculty Fellows program will help "break down stereotypes" among the faculty about the Greek system, Sofka said.
"I think the idea of a faculty fellows program is great for both the IFC and the ISC," he said. "I've tried to promote it among my colleagues already."
Politics Prof. Lynn Sanders also said she was interested in becoming a faculty mentor.
"I think it's good to connect with students in every possible way," Sanders said.
The Inter-Fraternity Council started a faculty fellows program last spring with a reception much like the ISC's. But the IFC was disappointed in faculty turnout for that event, IFC President Phil Trout said.
The ISC will match individual professors with sororities within the next week, and will plan events to kick off the program within the month, Belue said.
"The kind of interaction this program seeks to foster is pristinely Jeffersonian," said Aaron Laushway, assistant dean of students, and director of fraternity and sorority life.
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