OMICRON DELTA KAPPA, The National Leadership Honor Society at AU
ODK has been recognizing outstanding leaders at Auburn University since
receiving its charter on May 22, 1928. In 2008 we celebrated our 80th anniversary.
While junior and senior student leaders in any discipline are the primary
initiates, faculty, staff, community leaders, graduate students and alumni are
also initiated from time to time. Initiations are held in the fall and spring
of each year. Nominations for membership are solicited from Deans, Department
Heads, and others. These nominees are sent applications to be filled in and
submitted. They then are scored by an ODK student committee using a
predetermined point system. A ballot containing roughly twice the open spots is
then prepared from the highest- scored applications and a vote of the active
membership is used to select initiates. The VP is in general the one in charge
of the nomination process. Our Circle is the Omega Circle. It used to be one of twenty-plus circles in
Province XI, before that in Province VIII. In the latest reorganization, however,
our circle is now in Region III with over sixty other colleges/universities.
There is more about
Region III schools on the national homepage (see link near the
bottom of this page).
Current officers are: PRESIDENT: Clay Parker, Senior in Biomedical Sciences (Pre-Medicine). You can e-mail him by
clicking here. To see the latest
message(s) (announcements, etc.) from Clay, click ODK Messages and Announcements. VICE PRESIDENT: Josh Bierman, Senior in Human Resource Mgt.
SECRETARY/TREASURER: Danny Feltham.
You can e-mail him by clicking here. CHAPLAIN: Patrick Llewellyn.
You can e-mail him by clicking here. FACULTY SECRETARY: Dr. Dale A. Coleman, Associate Professor of Animal
Science. You can reach him on e-mail by clicking here. Dale has been Faculty
Secretary, the society's key on-campus officer who serves as a liason with the
national office, since late 1999. FACULTY ADVISOR: Dr. Susan Hubbard, Professor of
Human Sciences. She is the mother of two and the wife of State Representative
Mike Hubbard (R). You can reach Susan by clicking here. The national office of ODK
is in Lexington, KY. There are over 250 "chapters" (we call them
"Circles") at universities around the country. The society was begun
at Washington & Lee in Lexington, VA in 1914, with former AU President
Harry M. Philpott initiated there in 1938. AU's retired Dean Jim Foy was
Faculty Secretary at AU for many years and the Sportsmanship Trophy is
named in his honor. You can read about a major annual project of our Circle in a story currently on
the national web site. It is the traditional Cake Race .
The national newsletter is called, "The Circle," a copyrighted
name for many years. ODK's 2000 national convention was held at St Louis, MO.
The 2002 national convention was held in Lexington, KY. The 2004 convention was
held in Norfolk, VA. The 2006 convention was held in Washington, DC.
The most recent national convention was Feb. 28 - Mar. 2, 2008
at the Marriot Marquis Hotel in Atlanta. The 2010 National Leadership Summit and Convention
will be held in Houston, Texas June 24-27, 2010.
In February 1998, the national convention was in Knoxville with the theme,
Leadership, Teamwork, and Technology: A Winning Combination. The logo of that
conference highlighting this theme was developed here at AU and is displayed
bottom right on this web page. The 3-D logo at the bottom left is a variation
of an award winning logo that Dr. Cutchins developed for an engineering
honorary. The letters, ODK and their Greek equivalents, the words, "The
Circle", and the key shown above at the top right are all trademarks of
Omicron Delta Kappa. IMMEDIATE PAST FACULTY SECRETARY(1984-1999): Dr. Mac Cutchins, Professor
Emeritus of Aerospace Engineering. You can reach him on e-mail by clicking here. Dr. Cutchins served on the Board
of Directors of ODK-National for 2000-02, and completed four two-year terms as
Province Faculty Director. If you have comments or suggestions concerning this
homepage, please contact Dr. Cutchins. 
