Alumni Open House for Spring Game

Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 19: We are arranging an Open House/Alumni Association Gathering before and after the VT football Spring Game. We will be showing off the completed attic and second floor renovations. The contractor and architect will be present along with the House Committee members to give tours and answer questions.

Please take the time to visit for some refreshments, to view the renovation progress and see brothers. Families are welcome. We had a large turnout for the Alumni Meeting last fall and hope to repeat it!

Do You Get Our E-mail Newsletter?

We currently have a lot of missing brothers in our e-mail list. One of our 2008 goals is to increase e-mail communications to reduce expensive print mailings. This will allow us to refocus funds on priorities like events and house renovations.

We've sent two e-mail newsletters thus far and will soon send a third. If you're not getting these e-mails, please update your records so we have the right e-mail address!

Help us find lost brothers: please tell all brothers you keep in touch with about the newsletter, and ask them to visit this website to update their records using the link at the top.

And don't forget, any time your contact information changes, please let us know using the Update Records link.

David Calhoun in Fortune

VT DKE alumnus Dave Calhoun (Spring '76) picked up some more press coverage in the latest issue of Fortune magazine. You can read the whole article at Fortune's website by clicking here.

The article, "Made to Measure", describes his management successes as CEO of The Nielsen Company, which he took over in 2006.

Dave is just another example of successful DKE alumni... check out our list of Famous Dekes.

Join DKE - Spring Rush 2008

Open fraternity rush begins Wednesday, January 30. Delta Kappa Epsilon invites interested men to meet the brothers and learn about the fraternity at a variety of events over the coming weeks. More information can be found on our Join DKE page. An introduction to the Fraternity, the Chapter and the brotherhood can be found on our Fraternity and Chapter pages.

With DKE you can develop enduring friendships throughout your college years and beyond. We look forward to meeting you. Email us to learn more.

Rush Chairman Patrick Mellonas (mellonas@vt.edu) with BC Moose.

Orange Bowl Tailgate

Bert Burson (Winter '79) is organizing a DKE Tailgate/Meet-Up at his parking spot at the Orange Bowl. His spaces are in the orange section of the parking lot, and will provide more specific information if you give him a call or an email before game day to let him know you plan on stopping by. His mobile number is (703) 244-7913, and his email address is eeburson@aol.com. If you're making the trip, we hope you'll stop by to say hello and enjoy a drink with us.

Welcome Fall 2007 Pledge Class!

We are pleased to welcome the Fall 2007 pledge class into our Fraternity. They were initiated on November 10th. The class has three members:

Coleman Scott Knabe is a freshman from Yorktown, Virginia. He is an Industrial Systems Engineer and is also a member of the Marching Virginians.

Florian Mayer is freshman from Medford, New Jersey; he is originally from Austria. He is currently undecided.

Michael Allen Simenauer is a freshman from Washington D.C. He is a Marketing major.

"We are really excited to become Dekes. We can't wait to keep having a great time with all the brothers and help the Fraternity out however we can."- Mike Simenauer

Alumni Meeting Before Miami Game

We will be holding an Open House and very brief Alumni Association meeting a couple hours before the Miami football game on November 17. We'd like to invite you to come see all the great work we've put into the house. Board members will be on hand along with our contractor and architect to show off the latest renovation efforts, make a few announcements and take questions. If you're in town we hope you'll join us for a bite and a drink or two to reconnect with the fraternity.

Open House: 12 noon - whenever
Meeting: 1:00 - 1:30 pm

Attic framing and HVAC work

Work on the attic renovations continues... as of this week the attic framing is nearly complete and HVAC system installation continues. See the below photos to get a sense of the scale of this project. It's easily the most substantial construction work the house has seen in years and we're excited to move forward with it. However, our ability to continue is subject to your financial support -- after completion of framing and HVAC work we must stop until fundraising catches up with spending. Please consider supporting this needed work with a generous donation.

Photos from September 29:

        

View architectural plans

65 years and a new old House

Welcome to our new website. On behalf of the Alumni Association and the active brotherhood I hope you enjoy it. We will use this site to share the latest information about the active DKE chapter, the Alumni Association and the historic DKE House in Blacksburg.

2006 marked our chapter's 65th year at Virginia Tech, and 2008 will be our 40th year at 302 East Roanoke Street. With the financial support of the Alumni Association, the DKE House is undergoing its most significant restoration and modernization program ever. We'll keep you posted on our progress here.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you'll check back often.

The historic DKE House in downtown Blacksburg after completion of exterior renovations, June 2007.

Capital campaign update - $80,000 pledged!

Charlie Lloyd, our Campaign Chairman, just announced that so far we've received over $80,000 in pledges and donations to the 2007-08 Capital Campaign. These have come from about 60 alumni. This is a great start and we are very grateful to all who have recommitted themselves to their fraternity. Click here to see a list of donors. We still have a long way to go - as you'll see in the news items below, progress continues but we're going to have to take a breather until fundraising catches up. Our goal is $200,000, with which we will be able to finish this aggressive and ambitious restoration project.

If you haven't yet contributed, please visit our Fundraising section to learn more about making a tax-deductible donation. We hope to involve all brothers in this project so all can take credit for the turnaround.

Attic & 2nd floor work continues

Reconfiguration of the second level bedrooms is now complete, much to residents' relief. Both driveway-side bedrooms received new closets and wall and ceiling work. The second level hallway has new recessed lighting and the removal of the former paddle room wall is complete, substantially opening up the space. The second level bathroom renovation is complete, with new walls and ceilings, new tile flooring, a new window and a new sink, shower and toilet. The new staircase to the attic level is now roughed-in and the attic subflooring work is complete. Attic walls are now framed and HVAC system installation began this past week. Following this work we will have to put the project on hold until fundraising catches up - please send in your donations!

Check out these photos from 15 September:

Check back soon for more photos.

Dave Calhoun leads VT fundraising

VT DKE alumnus Dave Calhoun (Spring '76) was recently named Co-chair of Virginia Tech's new fundraising effort, The Campaign for Virginia Tech. Over the course of the next three years Dave will lead the public phase of the most ambitious campaign in university history. To read all about VT's fundraising efforts and Dave's involvement, click here for the VT Office of University Development's IMPACT newsletter. In addition to his exploits as a gentleman, scholar and jolly good fellow in DKE, Dave is also kind of famous in the business world for his executive talents as the current Chairman and CEO of The Nielsen Company, and before that, Vice Chairman of General Electric -- accomplishments we are sure he would attribute almost entirely to experience gained managing his first enterprise as DKE’s Bar Chairman many years ago.

Congratulations, Dave.

Dave Calhoun (Spring '76, center) with DKE Alumni Board members Dan Johnson (Spring '74, left) and Jim Scanlon (Winter '76, right) at a reception at the DKE House in May 2005. Calhoun gave the commencement address for VT's 2005 graduating class later that night in Lane Stadium.

Doc Marshall - in memorial

With regrets we pass on word that Charles Herbert Marshall III passed away in Maryland in May. “Doc” Marshall was a Deke from the Phi chapter at Yale (where he was NFL star Calvin Hill's big brother!) who came to Virginia Tech as a graduate student in 1976. Doc will be remembered from his VT days for shattering the color barrier at the Sigma Alpha chapter and bringing disco dancing to the Deke basement. DKE became a better place because of Doc’s presence, although graciously the disco music was banned from most DKE parties saving embarrassment for all of us born with two left feet. Our hearts and thoughts go to the family and friends of our brother. Click here to see his Washington Post obituary.

Interior work begins

We are underway on the first phase of DKE House interior renovations! We received the building permit for the interior construction on July 5th and began demolition work the next day. Our plan is to do the second floor bathroom remodeling as well as other renovations on the second floor, install the permanent access to the attic level and complete the demolition/clearing of old rooms on the attic level.

Have a look at photos of demolition and construction in progress:

    

This phase of the work is expected to be completed in August.