Installing Officer:
Grand President
Mary Loy Tatum, Oklahoma Beta
Philanthropic Events:
Pi Phi Gives You Wings and Pie a Pi Phi
Installation of Maryland Gamma
On Friday, November 19, 2010, the women celebrated with a Cookie Shine and parents from as far away as California visited to support the women with installation. On Saturday morning, November 20, Grand President Mary Loy Tatum, Oklahoma Beta, initiated 61 New Members, including one legacy and five alumna initiates. Before installation activities began, every New Member was given a pink flower. She then shared her favorite Pi Phi memory and added her flower to a bouquet. That flower arrangement was present at all installation events, representing the diversity of the group. The Initiation Ceremony took place at the Doubletree Inn at The Colonnade. The installation banquet was held at The Glass Pavilion on the Homewood campus. The charter was received at convention in Orlando, Florida, in 2011.
Living at Maryland Gamma
At Johns Hopkins University, the fraternity and sorority communities do not live in houses, but that doesn’t impact the sisterhood Maryland Gamma shares! Weekly chapter meetings are held on or around campus. Maryland Gamma occupies a storage unit which is maintained and operated from Pi Beta Phi Headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, by the Fraternity Housing Corporation (FHC).
Even though Maryland Gamma does not have a house, there is a tradition. After women are initiated, the women sign the tapestry on which they sit during a Cookie Shine. Usually women sign near their big’s name so that family clusters are visible throughout the tapestry
The chapter also has a “loving cup” that was given to the chapter from Maryland Beta’s Sally Hueble Moran. The cup says “Pi Beta Phi Maryland Beta June 17th 1944, 1959”. Even though the Loving Cup Ceremony is no longer a Pi Phi ceremony, Maryland Gamma members like having a piece of Pi Phi history as part of the chapter.
Panhellenic Groups on Campus
Alpha Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Phi Mu and Pi Beta Phi
Philanthropic Service
The chapter’s fall philanthropy event is “Pi Phi Gives You Wings” for which members sell tickets to students to come and eat an assortment of chicken wings. Maryland Gammas also host a wing eating contest with a representative from each of the fraternities, sororities and sporting teams, so all of their friends come to cheer them on (and enjoy wings themselves).
The spring philanthropy event is “Pie a Pi Phi” during Hopkins’ Spring Fair weekend. At America’s largest student-run weekend festival, thousands of people come through campus to enjoy food, carnival rides, vendors and activities hosted by student groups. Visitors can make a donation to “Pie a Pi Phi” with whipped cream.
