Special to the Daily

Greek members will be wearing blue ribbons coupled with pin attire to symbolize the greek community’s pride in academic achievement as part of the Day of the Scholar celebration.

Today, the greek community will celebrate the Day of the Scholar, which lauds greek academic achievement. A reception held tonight will individually honor about 500 sorority and fraternity members who made the Dean’s List for the fall 1999 semester.

This year’s event is the first time Day of the Scholar and the Dean’s List reception have been held on the same day.

Chapters will receive academic awards in categories such as Most Improved GPA and Highest GPA.

“Individuals as well as chapters will be awarded for their academic excellence in the greek community,” said Mike Morman, vice president of Educational Programming for the Interfraternity Council.

Morman, junior in architecture, said the day used to be for sorority members only.

“Now it is encompassing everyone, and it is a greek day,” he said.

This year, both events are joint sponsored by the ISU Panhellenic, Interfraternity and National Pan-hellenic councils.

Coeli Monnig, Panhellenic Council director of scholarship, said the “strong support system” in the greek community facilitates members’ academic achievement.

“Academics are the foundation of almost every chapter,” said Monnig, senior in management. “Many require a minimum GPA and have programs to help struggling members.”

Monnig said almost 20 percent of greek members making the Dean’s List illustrates how important academics are in the greek community.

“Almost one in five greek members made the Dean’s List,” she said. “It shows how we strive to have high scholarship.”

Supplemental Instruction Coordinator Kari Hensen will be the presenter at the reception.

“I will be talking about how they can use their academic potentials to assist other students at Iowa State,” she said.

Hensen said she also plans to touch on what achieving “Dean’s List status” will mean to potential employers. As an alumna of Delta Zeta sorority, she congratulated the greeks for leading the way in academics and leadership.

“She will be speaking about how to use your strong beliefs and emphasis on academics to help others,” Monnig said.