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 2003 we had our 75th 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 are links to all Region III schools off a link on the national homepage (see link near the bottom of this page). In fact there is a clickable map on the national homepage so that one can reach any school nationally with an ODK Circle.
Current officers are:
PRESIDENT: John McIntosh, Senior in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science. You can e-mail him by clicking here. To see the latest message(s) (announcements, etc.) from John, click ODK Messages.
VICE PRESIDENT: Brad Smith, Senior in Pre-Medicine/COSAM.
SECRETARY/TREASURER: Kristy Cottrell, Junior in Accounting.
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 Nutrition & Food Science and the mother of two. Susan is 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.
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. 
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. To the right is a photo of the poster sent from AU to VaTech soon after April 16, 2007. This has appeared in two national publications.
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.
