You can find this busy collegiette buzzing around the LC at all hours of the day. If she’s not in a meeting in the student space, you might find her pitching new event ideas at the Community and Leadership Office, or discussing last minute details over a quick meal in Bison with IFC President, JT Engels. Collegiettes, meet the president of Buknell Panhellenic Council, Erica Shartle!
Class Year: 2015
Major: Biology
Minor: Music
1. Can you tell us a little about your position as president of Bucknell Panhellenic Council? What are your responsibilities?
Panhellenic Council President is a unique role and every day there is something different to do. I had the opportunity to have a large part in planning programs for the Greek-letter community that can help to shape, or re-shape, our culture, work with the chapter Presidents, meet with administration to learn their point of view on our community, and even got to help new members find their home during recruitment. I have met so many amazing people through this experience and got to see all of the positive aspects of Greek-letter organizations that are not often discussed.
2. How is working with the rest of the Panhellenic Executive Council as well as the Interfraternity Council?
All of the women I worked with on exec are such strong, amazing women. I have been so inspired by all of them, and of course, entertained throughout the entire year. Everyone on Panhel got along so well which made it easy collaborate on projects. None of us knew each other when we began our positions and we are all very close now! It was also great to work with IFC. They always provided a different perspective to programs and in our discussions during meetings. It was so great to see the entire Greek community working together, both fraternity men and sorority women, to better our community.
3. What events have you planned for the Greek community and Bucknell community? Can you tell me a little bit about them?
Throughout my term I had the opportunity to plan the New Member Dinner, the Panhellenic Leadership Conference, No More Discussions, and the Dance Marathon. Each of these events was aimed to address a certain issue on our campus. The New Member Welcome Dinner’s goal was to change the mindset behind Welcome Night, which is the most dangerous night of the year. Instead of focusing on the alcohol and how many hookups you can secure, the dinner’s goal was to shift the focus towards joining a community, upholding our values and truly welcoming the new members.
The Panhellenic Leadership Conference was held in October for a group of Panhellenic Women to start a discussion about leadership and women empowerment. I think talking about leadership is so important for personal development and it is not a subject that is often discussed on our campus. I worked closely with Leanne Matullo, who formerly worked at the Career Development Center, to plan this conference around what it means to be a leader and how women could be perceived differently in the career force. We also were so lucky to have Assistant Provost Bridget Newell as a guest speaker.
I started to plan the No More Discussions in conjunction with the Women’s Resource Center. The ideology behind this program was to begin a conversation between men and women on campus in regards to sexual assault. Last year, the No More campaign t-shirts upset many men because they were not given the shirts, so I wanted to create a program that would extend this frustration into a more productive conversation. Molly Cantrell, the Vice President of Programming for Panhel, took over this program as the semester started.
The Dance Marathon was a last minute addition to our programming for the semester. JT Engels, the Interfraternity Council President, and I felt that our community was missing a philanthropy event that included everyone. We wanted to create an event to fulfill this need that was both fun and meaningful. The proceeds from the Dance Marathon benefitted the Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville. We hope that this is a program that will continue after we leave and only get better with time!
4. What are your hopes for the climate of Greek life at Bucknell?
There are so many amazing people that participate in Greek life at Bucknell that it is unfortunate that we treat each other so poorly at times. My main hope for our community is simply that everyone respects each other. I think this is one of the main contributors to many of the issues that exist in our community. It can be difficult to make ideological changes with such a large group of people, but you have to start one person at a time.
5. What are some of the biggest challenges you face as the president of Panhel?
Time management was absolutely a skill that I had to learn. With so many extra meetings and projects to work on, I found it was hard to balance my schoolwork, Panhel, and a social life. Also working with different personalities and learning how to take everyone’s suggestions into mind was difficult for me. I often have so many ideas that I had to learn how to listen to other people’s ideas because they have great ones, too.
6. What are some of your proudest accomplishments as the president of Panhel?
The entire council worked hard to make so many new programs this year that will hopefully be continued into the future. The New Member Welcome Dinner was one of my favorite programs because it was one of the first times our entire Greek community was brought together at one time. Writing the Fraternity and Sorority Community Promise along with the Panhel and IFC exec boards was such an honor. I hope to see this event become a tradition for years to come!
7. What are your plans for after graduation?
I’m currently on the job hunt!
Favorites:
- Spot on Campus: The Community and Leadership Office (aka the Greek office) on the 3rd floor ELC. I practically live there and Nancy always makes my day!
- Class at Bucknell: Leadership with Professor Gruver
- Freeze Flavor: I am unfortunately not a huge fan of ice cream, but I always get vanilla with rainbow sprinkles (I know it doesn’t get much more boring than that!).
- Three Fun Facts:1) I am originally from Texas2) I would marry Jimmy Fallon in a heartbeat3) I have a puppy named Tucker