Academic Excellence Fund

Not only is Beta DKE known as a great social fraternity, where many alumni have gone on to achieve great success, but it has also been known as a fraternity that prides itself on academic achievement of its members.

In 2012, the brotherhood, under the leadership of then DKE President Russell Hardin, and the UNC DKE Academic Advisor, Scott Smith ’80, composed, accepted, and implemented an academic excellence plan that has helped DKE raise its house average semester GPA. Since the implementation of the plan, the DKE academic house GPA has risen from the 2.9 range to 3.3 or higher.

The DKE Alumni Board wishes to permanently establish and encourage academic excellence at DKE and build on the academic success brothers have been achieving. The following will be done to achieve this goal:

• As part of the Academic Plan, the fraternity publicly acknowledges and provides a gift to all members for maintaining a GPA of 3.6 and higher. This program is currently being funded through non-budgeted money coming from the DKE alumni board expendable account, to purchase 15+ $50 gift certificates, which are being and will continue to be distributed at a dedicated chapter meeting each semester and acknowledged publicly.
• In addition to this type of annual recognition, the Alumni Board wishes to create a significant monetary award ($250 – $1,000) for outgoing seniors who have maintained a GPA of 3.5 or higher each semester they attended UNC. This award will be named after a donor(s) of a significant gift for academic initiative during the campaign.
• The Alumni Board would also like to incentivize and support academic excellence and leadership at DKE by awarding annual scholarships of $1,000 to $2,000 each semester to applicable candidates.