Marcus Ansley

Marcus H. “Marc” Ansley Marcus H. “Marc” Ansley, 53, who was a Senior Structural Engineer with the Florida Department of Transportation, died Wednesday, June 16, 2010, following a sudden heart attack in Waynesville, North Carolina.

The service will be at 3 p.m. EDT Monday, June 21, 2010, at Faith Presbyterian Church, Tallahassee. A reception will follow in the church fellowship hall. Memorial contributions may be made to Faith Presbyterian Church, 2200 North Meridian Road, Tallahassee, FL 32303.

Marc was a native and lifelong resident of Tallahassee. He was a
graduate of Leon High School and received bachelor and master’s
degrees from Georgia Tech, where he was a member of TKE social fraternity. Marc was head of structural research at Florida DOT, where he served for more than twenty years. He was also instrumental in the activities of several state and national structural engineering organizations, and served as an adjunct professor at the FAMU/FSU College of Engineering. He was an active member and Elder at Faith Presbyterian Church. Marc’s quiet resolve and leadership will be deeply missed at both Faith Presbyterian and Florida DOT.

Survivors include his wife, Leigh H. Ansley of Tallahassee; two sons, Matt Schmidt (Katie) of Keene, NH and Harrison Ansley of Tallahassee; his mother, Kay Ansley of Tallahassee; his brother, David Ansley (Donna) of Tallahassee; two grandchildren, Madison and Skylar Schmidt, both of Keene; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death in 2002, by his father Gus Ansley.

Committee of Five Culprits Finally Come Forward

Well, some of us have know about it for a long time, especially if you’ve paid attention to the walls at the Teke House!

Congratulations, fraters, for finally being recognized for one of the most amazing stunts ever pulled at (on?) Georgia Tech!

New TKE HQ Building, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Grand Council of Tau Kappa Epsilon has purchased a new headquarters for the organization. Located approximately three miles away from the current facility, the new building is three-stories, 26,500-square feet, was constructed in the early 1990s and renovated in 2004.

TKE Chief Executive Officer Kevin Mayeux stated “This is an exciting new era for Tau Kappa Epsilon. The new headquarters will meet our needs for years to come, with improved office space, several conference and training rooms, space to form a working TKE heritage center to display our historical documents and archives, and put a positive public face on TKE today.  Our new headquarters will be a welcoming, professional and functional space for everyone in the TKE Nation to visit and call home.”

Click here to read the whole story!

Andrew Fritchley has created a website for coordinating block seating and tailgating for Tekes at football games:  http://tkeblock.com/.

And a group of young(ish) alumni (perhaps the same) have formed a Facebook group for tailgating: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/home.php?filter=lf.  You must log onto Facebook to see the page.

This notice is perhaps a little late for the 2009 season but may be useful for next year.

http://combier.smugmug.com/Events/TKE-Homecoming-2009

This performance took 2nd place. Although tastes in “music” definitely change, the chapter retains that skill at choreography and dance that it has had for decades.

The chapter took 1st place in the homecoming banner competition.

This group was created because initiates and alumni occasionally are looking to find or dispose of extra tickets. The alumni general lists are not intended for this use but, still, it’s needed. Therefore–a list for this specific purpose. (This is not a BS list.)

This will likely be a little slow to start because, to be useful, we have to have a lot of members. So, if you believe that you will ever be interested in this service, even if that day is not today, consider joining the list.

Registration is open:  Homecoming Reception Page

Catering will be by Wolfgang-Puck and we will have access to the “Indian” viewing area.

Date: Friday, October 16
Time: 7pm - 11pm
Location: Georgia Aquarium (Oceans Ballroom)
Price: $25 per person (includes food and parking onsite near the ballroom)
Full cash bar available
All ages welcome!

The Pacific Reception Area at the Georgia Aquarium

Pride in our House and our Fraternity - Undergraduates Paint New Letters on the Balcony

Just in time for fall rush, contractors are finally leaving the property and the undergraduates are finishing the work and cleaning up.  The last six weeks have been a time of many changes at 159 5th Street.

Basic infrastructure items that had worn out have been replaced or repaired including plumbing, fixtures, sheetrock and HVAC units.

The treads in the old stairwells have been repaired after 37 years of continuous (ab)use.  The social quarters has been repainted inside and pressure washed outside.  The conference room is stunning.

The changes to the kitchen are transformational and will be described later.  Suffice it to say for now that Reagan has been heading that up and he thinks that everyone should eat good meals and know how to cook them themselves.

The good-hearted attempt but not well-measured letters that adorned the balcony that overlooks the volleyball court have been redesigned and replaced by the undergrads themselves…and it looks sharp.

Work Week 2009 - Yeah Baby!

Why all this when we intend a major renovation soon?

Because TKE at Georgia Tech is fundamentally a residential experience and we must provide a high-quality facility at all times if we expect undergraduates and alumni to support that.  To maintain our facilities, the BOT has taken on many responsibilities that rested with the undergraduates.  However, we are formalizing the responsibilities that remain with them in a program called “Two-a-Week” that will be rolled out early in the fall.

It has been said, “If you can’t change the people, change the people.”  Well, we’ve done some of both and that will probably continue until both undergraduate and alumni organizations are ready for the Big Project.  It is plain to see, however, that we have already come a long way.

TKE Beta-Pi Undergraduates Celebrate at The House of Blues in New Orleans during Conclave 2009

The Chapter was well-represented in New Orleans during Conclave 2009.   Trustees Michael A. Smith and John Reagan attended as did alumnus and former TKE Educational Foundation member Russ Heil and chapter adviser David Adcock.

John’s wife Clare came to keep John from getting out of line but also made sure he got out in town to sample some of the finer cuisine.

Smith was the voting delegate for our chartered alumni association.

Brendan Patterson, Nathan Raines, Matthew Biggers, and Jeremy Ku represented the undergraduate organization.

During the first session of the Grand Chapter, Steve Forbes was inducted as the 250,000th initiate of the Fraternity.   Frater Forbes also spoke at the Life Loyal Teke reception.

Beta-Pis at the End of Conclave 2009 in New Orleans (L-R) Dave Adcock, Matt Biggers, John Reagan, Michael Smith, Brendan Patterson, Nathan Raines, Jeremy Ku

Smith, who is also the GPA (Grand Province Advisor) for North Carolina, helped with the educational programming, meeting with delegates from his province to do goal setting for the coming year.

Adcock, Smith and the undergraduates participated in the Conclave Service Project Saturday morning at City Park, clearing brush along Bayou St. John and spreading mulch along paths in Couturie Forest.  The effort was covered in an article in The Times-Picayune.

Legislation that would have made it easier for chartered alumni associations to conduct honorary initiations and that would have increased the voting power of alumni associations at Conclave was defeated in the Grand Chapter.  However, these issues will be revisited in coming Conclaves.

One undergraduate was arrested for “petting a policeman’s horse” but we suspect there is more to the story than that and it wasn’t one of our undergraduates anyway.  Everyone made it safely back home, the alumni to our jobs and the undergrads to a fall workweek already in progress.

Next Conclave … San Antonio in 2011!