When Annie Carlson@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Annie+Carlson@@ tells people she is the Fraternity and Sorority adviser at the University, she most frequently is asked, “So, you help plan parties?” She often responds with, “No I did not get a masters’ degree to plan the next kegger.” Many people don’t realize this is a difficult job not every adviser would want to take on.
Carlson went into her senior year at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign with the mindset that she wanted to be a museum curator after she graduated. After talking one day with her own Greek adviser, who suggested Annie pursue a career in fraternity and sorority advising, she reconsidered. As a community-minded person, she wanted to bring a bigger perspective to the potential that Greek Life could have on the community. In August 2009, she took her first job as the University’s Fraternity and Sorority Life adviser. After three years of work, Carlson was awarded for her innovative advising techniques.
She is a big-picture thinker and believes that Greek Life here has so much more to offer.
“I believe in the experience of being a Fraternity and Sorority member,” she said, “and so I’m going to find every strategy I can to make sure that experience is the best it can be so it never goes away. Because it has the potential to be the best experience on a college campus. It also has the potential to be the most damaging experience on a college campus, so trying to move it in a different direction is a good thing.”
This January, Carlson won the Gayle Webb New Professional Award, which recognized her for being the Outstanding New Professional of the Year.@@http://www.afa1976.org/AssociationBusiness/AwardsRecognition/GayleWebbNewProfessionalAward.aspx@@ She recalls how honored she was at the award ceremony when she heard the quote from Lambda Chi Alpha’s adviser Steve Swafford.
“I am a huge fan of Annie Carlson. However, I don’t throw around the word ‘fan’ casually like a sports team, a Facebook thumbs up or favorite restaurant. I’m a fan of Annie because of her passion for students (and advisers) to achieve their greatest potential,” Swafford said.
Carlson believes the Chapter Growth and Development Plan@@http://greeklife.uoregon.edu/resources/standards@@ is the greatest achievement she has helped students accomplish since she started advising. The CGDP was created to reward fraternity and sorority chapters for their accomplishments over a 10-year time span. Chapters are rewarded based on five categories: life-long connections, effective leadership, inclusive environments, responsible citizenship and values/ethics integration. It is a way to reward, motivate and separate those chapters who have significantly improved.
She has many more goals — or, as she calls them, themes — for the University’s Greek Life. Her theme for this year is leadership. She wants the Interfraternity and Panhellenic councils@@http://greeklife.uoregon.edu/about/faqs@@ to promote things such as academics and community involvement. She hopes through leadership the community will embrace the influence that Greek Life could have to make changes on campus and in the community.
Over the past three years, Carlson has combined her advising experience along with her personal experience during her college years of being in the sorority Pi Beta Phi to work on changing what FSL is known for. She feels self-fulfilled through advising.
“I need to be needed. I need to matter to others and (know) that my presence matters and that I’m making a difference within that, and for me, since I am so goal-oriented, that needs to be a significant difference,” Carlson said.