NOTES FROM THE PRESIDENT
A 30-Year Goal is About to Become Reality!

For many decades Pi Gamma Mu international honor society discussed the need to have a way in which to contact our lifetime members. Preliminary discussions with Harris Connect began this past spring about preparing a directory of all Pi Gamma Mu members. Our Board of Trustees had a number of questions about how the directory would be organized and whether members could be looked up by university as well as state. A committee composed of board members Larry Heck and Amy Orr and executive director Sue Watters was asked to make a recommendation. Its consensus was that the essence of organizations is the ability to communicate with members, and that we needed to have a directory. The committee also noted that members of Phi Beta Kappa, the national honor society for the liberal arts, working with Harris Connect, have such a directory. Our student trustees pointed out the importance of networking, and strongly supported the effort of making a Pi Gamma Mu directory available to lifetime members. We found that nearly all major universities and colleges work with Harris Connect. After establishing the overwhelming support of the board, we signed a contract with Harris Connect for a directory that may be purchased by all members, but not by non-members.

Please alert members of your chapter that the directory should be available in May 2010. It is important that each member respond when Harris Connect calls for an update on information that the member wants to appear in the directory. Harris Connect will also establish whether there are enough members who want to purchase a directory to support its publication. We think that this directory, in addition to facilitating student and alumnus networking, will enable our leadership to become aware of the career paths that our members have selected. The directory will help local chapters to locate and contact alumni whom chapter officers might want to invite to speak at their chapter meetings and special events.

The most important breakthrough is that, finally, we will be able to send our newly designed electronic newsletter to lifetime members for the first time. We will all be connected with the latest news about the Pi Gamma Mu international honor society. Our current trustees are to be commended for wanting to amplify Pi Gamma Mu’s ability to communicate with all of our members. You can do your part by helping Harris Connect to ensure that your information is updated and by ordering a directory that will help you locate and reconnect with other members. We hope that our chapters will share the board’s enthusiasm for this project!

Gordon Mercer
Pi Gamma Mu International President

©2009 Pi Gamma Mu