UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State's Timothy J. Piazza Center for Fraternity and Sorority Research has been awarded $70,000 to study student learning outcomes from fraternity membership. The study, sponsored in part by the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), will examine the potential impact of fraternity involvement on the development of critical thinking, intercultural knowledge and leadership skills.
“As a first-generation college student, I witnessed firsthand the academic benefits of belonging and competency education that fraternities provide,” said Stevan Veldkamp, executive director of the Piazza Center. “Students who value their organizations learn, lead and intervene in each other's lives, and they are then recruited for jobs and become community leaders.”
The Piazza Center study will investigate whether participation in fraternal organizations leads to increased skills related to core competencies. The second phase of the study will involve five geographically dispersed and diverse-size colleges that have agreed to collect data from their campus organizations. In collaboration with Penn State, Franklin College, Grand Valley State University, Kansas State University and the University of Central Oklahoma will participate in the study.
The NIC is a trade association that represents national and international men’s fraternities, including a diverse range of culturally and religious-based organizations, on campuses in the United States and Canada. The NIC is committed to supporting opportunities for young men to seek and form positive, enriching fraternal bonds.
The Piazza Center, a unit in the division of Student Affairs, is a national research hub that is committed to preventing hazing, reducing substance misuse and enhancing students’ well-being in fraternity and sorority communities and all campus student groups. The Piazza Center equips professional staff and volunteers with research, tools and best practices to foster safer environments for students.
Support for the Piazza Center advances the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.