As part of our We Are Phi Delt campaign, we asked chapters to give us an insight into what it’s like to be a Phi on their college campus. We understand that no chapter experience is the same, and therefore we should share the unique aspects of our schools, cities, and brotherhood!

Chapters can complete this form for custom We Are Phi Delt logos and an opportunity to be featured online.

We Are Ohio Gamma at Ohio University

University location: Athens, Ohio

Number of undergraduates on campus: 20,000

Chapter size: 65

Year founded: 1868

Number of initiated members: 2,121

School mascot: Rufus the Bobcat. The name “Rufus” comes from the species name for the bobcat, Lynx rufus, and is also a reference to Rufus Putnam, a member of the first board of trustees.

School colors: Green and white

Number of Greek organizations on campus: Twenty-seven (ten NPC, ten IFC, five NPHC, two NMGC)

Library named after Ohio University’s fifteenth president Vernon R. Alden, Brown ’46

Favorite school tradition: Homecoming

Favorite chapter traditions:

• Going out to eat after initiation
• Big little night

Favorite restaurant near campus: Bagel Street Deli

Famous Alumni:

• Louis R. De Steiguer, 1887, Admiral US Battle Fleet during World War I
• George DeCamp, 1894, Chairman of Federal Reserve Bank
• Frank P. Crumit, 1912, Singer, composer, vaudeville, radio
• Fred H. Johnson, 1922, OU board of trustees chairman
• G. Merritt Preston, 1939, NASA, awarded Presidential Medal for Outstanding Leadership by President John F. Kennedy
• Charles Collett, 1942, Sports Editor Emeritus, Dayton Daily News, J.G. Taylor Spink Award recipient
• Martin L. Hecht, 1942, assistant to OU president, Ohio University vice president of development
• Bob Wren, 1943, OU assistant director of athletics, baseball coach, baseball stadium named in his honor
• James W. Crum, 1952, sportscaster for OSU basketball and Cincinnati Bengals
• Van Gordon Sauter, 1957, journalist, president of CBS News, and later Fox News
• Harry Houska, 1964, OU wrestling coach, inducted into MAC Hall of Fame
• John W. Miller, 1969, chancellor of UW-Whitewater, dean of College of Education at Florida State University, and president of Central Connecticut State University

The Schoonover Center, named for Steven L. Schoonover, Ohio ’67

Fun facts about your school:

• Ohio University was the first institution of higher education founded and nourished by an act of Congress in America; the first in the territory northwest of the Ohio River; and the first in Ohio.
• Robert Morrison attended Ohio University before moving to Oxford, Ohio.
• Vernon R. Alden, the fifteenth president of Ohio University was a Phi Delt at Brown University. The library on campus is named the Vernon R. Alden Library.
• There are two Phis working in the Sorority & Fraternity Life office: Jeremy Paul, Otterbein ’19, and Brandon Counts, Akron ’21.

Fun facts about your chapter:

• We are recognized as leaders on campus we consistently have involved members in campus organizations
• The Schoonover Center was named for Steven L. Schoonover, Ohio ’67

Fun fact about the city where your school is located: Athens is a qualified tree city

Top three things a visitor should do:

1. Go to Bagel Street Deli
2. Check out the college bookstore
3. Visit all four greens on campus

A unique feature of your chapter house: We have an accessible entrance to our house

Follow Ohio Gamma

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ou_phidelt

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/phideltou

Website: ohio.phideltatheta.org