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Pitt State was one of just 10 councils to earn the Outstanding IFC Award from the North American Interfraternity Conference — and the only NCAA Division II campus among this year’s recipients.
The recognition comes alongside two individual honors for Pitt State leaders: Owen Mall, an Automotive Technology major and the 2025 IFC president, received the Outstanding IFC President Award, and IFC Advisor Sydney Anselmi (BS ‘13, MS ‘15) earned the Outstanding IFC Advisor Award.
The NIC’s 2025 award slate recognizes councils and individuals whose leadership, peer governance, and community impact advance the fraternity experience.
“Through IFC, I’ve built leadership skills, stepped outside my comfort zones, improved my soft skills, strengthened my involvement on campus, and gained confidence in public,” Mall said. “And none of that would have been possible for me or any of the other members without the support of Sydney.”
IFC serves as the governing body for Pitt State’s fraternities, with student officers elected from each chapter to collaborate on recruitment, education, accountability, and community engagement. Fraternities and sororities at Pitt State are registered student organizations and part of national networks of chapters.
As advisor, Anselmi meets one‑on‑one with chapters and counsels the council executive board — work that students say has been pivotal.
“Sydney is someone you can trust, someone you can rely on,” said Noah Yeakey (Sigma Chi), current IFC president and an Applied Sciences major with a focus in Construction Management and Electrical Technology. “Anytime we have ideas, we go straight to Sydney.”
In high school, he wasn’t a leader and wasn’t confident.
“I didn’t even consider running for a position, but Sydney encouraged me,” Yeakey said. “I went from not knowing what fraternities are to being president for all fraternities. She pushed me to step outside my comfort zone.”
Mall (Sigma Chi), a first‑generation college student, shared a similar story.
“I had no idea about fraternity life. My first year, I wanted things to do and to be connected. I met a fraternity member at the gym, got involved, and it changed my whole experience here,” he said. “Public speaking was not a thing for me. Being part of this brought me out of my shell. Sydney supported me the whole way. Now, I have a whole brotherhood.”
For Ivan Reyes (Sigma Tau Gamma) a Construction Management major with a minor in Automotive Technology, involvement quickly grew into leadership.
“I was so quiet. I never said anything,” Reyes said. “It’s taken me into leadership roles I never imagined for myself.”
Reyes serves as IFC vice president for programming and is a chapter officer in his own fraternity.
“Being part of IFC gives you a real‑world environment where you’re working with people from across many chapters, each with their own unique characteristics — just like when you go into a career and are working with many segments of people,” Reyes said.
Keaton Mallicoat (Pi Kappa Alpha) a Business Administration major, didn’t plan to join a fraternity — until he did. He leaned into service right away.
“I started applying effort to leadership positions in my fraternity, then thought to improve our image on campus, I could join IFC and get involved,” he said. “I ran for VP of campus affairs and got it. Sydney has been very helpful.”
Under Mall’s leadership in 2025, IFC prioritized bringing the Greek community closer together.
“One of our goals was to bring Greek life together here — reducing friction and working together,” he said. “We’ve worked to improve our identity. We’re collaborating, we’re friendly, we joke with each other, we all love Greek life. We’re all Gorillas, we’re all fraternity men — if one of us goes down, we all go down.”
Yeakey described fraternity involvement as an investment that keeps paying off.
“Participating in a fraternity is an investment into opportunities,” he said. “I’ve gotten to go to conferences in five different states — it pushed me to do things I didn’t think I could do.”
One of those experiences: attending the Association of Fraternal Leadership & Values conference — one of the largest gatherings of fraternity/sorority leaders in the country, drawing attendees from nearly 300 campuses each year. Yeakey came back with ideas that helped fuel recruitment growth and returned the following year as a presenter.
Anselmi’s own fraternity/sorority life experience at Pitt State was transformative. As an undergraduate member of Alpha Sigma Alpha, she was mentored by the campus advisor then in her role, Ashley Wadell, who now leads First Year Programming at the university.
“This is something you’re a member of your whole life, and that was a very important connection,” Anselmi said. “It’s very special to get to have this role at my home institution.”
She also has seen the fraternity/sorority community evolve.
“Greek organizations do more now than we did in terms of activities, self‑governance, and philanthropy. And that’s great — we want to see it continue to grow,” she said. “They take a lot of pride and initiative in helping hold each other accountable and uplift each other. When I was here as a student, it was much more in silos — now it’s very much a cohesive and unified thing. They push each other to grow. It may sound cliché, but a rising tide lifts all ships.”
Research shows students who get involved on campus report greater satisfaction, build stronger networks, and develop leadership and professional skills that last. Pitt State’s fraternity community echoes that through peer‑governed leadership, cross‑chapter collaboration, and national connections.
Prospective students can explore fraternities and IFC at pittstate.edu/fsl and submit interest forms to get started.
