Dan Bureau, Ph.D., recognized by the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Educational Leadership Foundation

Dan Bureau, Ph.D.

On March 4, 2020, Dan Bureau, Ph.D., was recognized by The American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Educational Leadership Foundation at a recognition banquet in Nashville, Tennessee.

The ACPA Foundation invites members and non-members alike to assist fundraising efforts for vital initiatives. …The Diamond Honoree Program, established in 1999, is a way for those that care about students – and the research, scholarship, and programs that promote student development and success – to help advance the association’s efforts. Diamond Honorees are “Championed” by dedicated individuals who recognize their specific contributions and choose to raise funds in honor of each Diamond Honoree’s outstanding and sustained commitment to higher education through student affairs and student development (foundation.myacpa.org).

In response to Bureau's recent recognition, Phi Kappa Theta Executive Vice President Robert Riggs, CAE, shared, "On behalf of the entire Fraternity, we share our congratulations to Brother Bureau for his recognition as a 2020 Diamond Honoree. Brother Bureau's commitment to the profession is demonstrated through his leadership on our Fraternity Board. We are blessed to have Brother Bureau invest his talents into our own brothers."

At the recognition banquet, Bureau spoke of his care and value of others’ unique stories within student affairs and student development. “I see a lot of hope and faith in every single person with whom I interact,” said Bureau.

Soon after the banquet concluded, Bureau reflected on the recognition through a Facebook post, describing what it means to be part of the Diamond Honoree Program, “Being recognized by ACPA for my contributions to the field is something for which I am forever grateful. Seeing the other honorees - past and in the 2020 cohort - reminds me of how much more work I can do to positively influence the lives of students and colleagues.”

Bureau also added a touching tribute to a personal mentor; his father, George Bureau, “George Bureau, you taught me all the things I need to be a good and committed college student educator.”

To support Bureau’s Diamond Honoree campaign, please visit his donation page.

This video was created with friends and colleagues sharing their thoughts about Brother Bureau. It was shared as an introduction to his recognition. This video was graciously provided by The American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Educational Leadership Foundation. All rights reserved.

More About Brother Bureau

Dan Bureau, Ph.D., joined Phi Kappa Theta at the University of New Hampshire. He has worked in higher education for over 20 years and currently serves as Associate Vice President for Student Academic Success at the University of Memphis. He is also the current President for the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS). He served as the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors President in 2004 and has held roles in ACPA and NASPA.

His areas of focus have included fraternity and sorority life, leadership programs, student affairs assessment, and first-generation college students. He has served at the University of New Mexico, University of Illinois, Indiana University, and the University of Memphis. He has presented at several association conferences and has authored peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and many other publications. He is the co-editor and contributor to Leading Assessment for Student Success: Ten Tenets That Change Culture and Practice in Student Affairs. Dan enjoys spending time with his family, playing tennis, and staying fit.

“George Bureau, you taught me all the things I need to be a good and committed college student educator.”

— Dan Bureau, Ph.D.

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The Evolution of Leadership

by Nathan Dorer
RPI, ‘18

Brother Angel Roman (California State University - Dominguez Hills) speaking

Brother Angel Roman (California State University - Dominguez Hills, ‘20) found his passion for leadership in the form of community advocacy.

Through his roles in the campus Peace Club and the professional society Pro World Life, Roman found himself in communities focused on bringing about social change.

However, Roman found himself questioning why so much of the leadership community was targeted towards Higher Education and working professionals.

In an effort to make the empowerment of leadership platforms available to a more general public, Roman created the conference Evolution of Leadership, with the mission of awakening motivation and inspiration within demographics that have typically not been represented in leadership conferences.

Evolution of Leadership provides attendees with skills to become managers and business owners, as well as opportunities to connect with industry leaders. Through this, Roman hopes that he can empower people to achieve their personal goals.

Roman credits Phi Kappa Theta with much of his inspiration for Evolution of Leadership; he currently serves as Vice President of his chapter, and stated that his experience in the Fraternity has challenged his leadership in a way that it had never been challenged before.

Phi Kappa Theta has been key in his development of a mindset of continuous self improvement, and he has worked to extend that mindset toward the community at the Dominguez Hills colony.

His role within the house demands that he target his leadership to allow people to achieve their highest potential, and has contributed to his personal development as a student and a professional. “I’m more organized as a person,” Roman said, “I wake up every morning and reflect on what needs to happen in the next day.”

For Roman, the Fraternity comes as an entity that allows members to achieve their best.

In the future, Roman hopes that Phi Kappa Theta will allow him the resources and opportunities to develop Evolution of Leadership into a larger entity with an even broader scope of impact.

Coaching vs. Advising

by Johnny Hohenstein (Belmont Abbey College, ‘12)

As of late, a few of our Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity chapter executive boards have been asking about best practices when finding an advisor. In any situation, being without a mentor can make an individual or group seem a little lost. The imagery of a ship without a captain comes to mind: what would a bunch of pirates do out to sea with no chief swashbuckler to set the course?

While our organization technically does utilize and endorse an advising model (sans swashbuckling...), we prefer to use the term "coaches" when referring to the individuals in these roles. We do this in order to encourage a more dynamic relationship that emphasizes the idea of creating a two-way street communication style. The more that both parties understand that success can come as a result of collaborating and listening, the more likely both parties will find success - and enjoy the journey along the way.

Last month Phi Kappa Theta hosted its second annual Servant Leadership Summit, during which ten new Performance Coaches began their training. These individuals – a combination of alumni and community volunteers – will act as an extension of the Executive Offices. Each has the ability to offer tailored support, guidance, and challenges to three collegiate chapters.

By adding this personal level of support to chapter leadership and operations, Phi Kappa Theta hopes to be able to challenge our members to be better leaders while supporting them through difficult conversations and decisions. Performance Coaches are gearing up to hit the ground running with their chapters in January of 2019.

These two things, difficult conversation and decision making, were large parts of the Servant Leadership Summit. We wanted to treat this Summit as the foundational beginnings to a new initiative; we hoped to get all of our coaches in the same room, have intentional conversations about the Fraternity and Chapter Operations, and have each individual leave with the same action item: guide but not decide.

This notion comes from Sanford’s Challenge and Support Theory. The long and short of it is the idea that challenging an individual too much may see them buckle under pressure, whereas overwhelming support results in minimal learning opportunities. Performance Coaches had several opportunities during the Servant Leadership Summit to discuss what that means and how to navigate tough coaching conversations.

Pirate analogies aside, here are some of the principles that we discussed with coaches. Our hope is that it can translate into your own situation, whatever shape or form that may take. Phi Kappa Theta wants to extend a challenge to you: can you identify a mentor or coach within your office, profession or community at large using these criteria?

1. Coaches in your community should first and foremost be accessible. They should want to speak with and listen to members within your chapter. They should be good listeners. In fact, some of the best mentors speak less and listen more. Find someone that will listen to a chapter's questions, goals, insecurities, ideas, etc. so that they can get a good idea of the executive board's strengths, weaknesses and desires.

2. Coaches used as sounding boards can be a great way for student leaders to “make mistakes” without making mistakes that have long-term consequences on the chapter.

3. Coaches should be the type of people who like to encourage others, especially coaches that identify with the mission/vision of Phi Kappa Theta. They also should be the type of individual who can gently but firmly tell someone an idea is bad without destroying creativity.

4. Coaches should have experience and wisdom (the two don’t necessarily always go together). That is, they should have learned from their own mistakes. Think of some alumni in your area who may have had leadership experience in your own chapter.

5. Coaches also should be willing to be “coached" by their chapter. Any manager, mentor or advisor should be willing to learn from others no matter how young, seasoned, educated — or not — someone is. Coaching is a two-way street: they coach members, and members coach them on how they want to be coached.

Interested in becoming a Performance Coach? Contact us.