Kevin Kozak
| Kevin Kozak | |
 | |
| Name | Kevin Kozak |
| Chapter | Delta Psi University of Texas at Austin |
| Date Inducted | Fall 2007 |
| Roll Number | |
| Alumni Chapter/Assoc | PSPACT (unofficial) |
| Honorary Member | |
| Major | Electrical and Computer Engineering |
| Birthdate | 11/17/1986 |
| Spouse | |
| Nicknames | |
| Awards | Mr. PSP (Delta Psi award, Fall 2009 and Spring 2010) |
Kevin Kozak (born 17 Nov. 1986) is a Region Consultant for the Lonestar, Mid-South, Southeast, and South regions and is an Alumnus of the Delta Psi Chapter at the University of Texas at Austin.
Contents
Early Fraternity Life and Career
Life Before Phi Sigma Pi
Kevin graduated from Saint Augustine High School in May 2005. As an aspiring music producer, he attended Columbia College in Chicago, IL for 1 year. The introductory course on music business persuaded him to change major to Audio Arts and Acoustics. Shortly thereafter, he transferred to the University of Texas as Austin to study electrical and computer engineering. Kevin tried organizations like golf club, Acacia (was inducted into a Greek Fraternity, briefly), Texas Ballroom, and Pi Sigma Pi (engineering fraternity for minorities), but none of these filled the void. Salvation came when he received an email to rush Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity.
Collegiate Years at Delta Psi Chapter
Rush: Fall 2007
After receiving the mass email rush invitation, Kevin attended information sessions and decided to rush the Delta Psi Chapter at UT. The process was disheveled at best, but he decided this was the group of people he wanted to befriend. The Chapter had quickly grown in size - there were growing pains to say the least.
1st Active Semester: Spring 2008
During his first semester as an active, he was nominated for the position of Webmaster. He was hesitant to take on that responsibility until his big, Michael Kitchens (events chair at the time) said "you can't be President until you serve 1 semester as an officer." This was reason enough to accept the nomination, make a speech, and ultimately take on that role.
Year as Webmaster: Fall 2008 to Spring 2009
With his Big, Michael Kitchens as President, Kevin served as webmaster from fall 2008 to spring 2009 to create and maintain the Chapter's Blackboard site and first ever Delta Psi Chapter Website. The 2009-2010 webmaster Brock Weaver added the key functionality of having the Brothers Only section. In this section, the Chapter posted minutes and rosters. The 2010 - 2011 webmaster Thomas Preli added the PayPal Donation functionality. Thomas regularly maintains the site and is currently working with Kevin Kozak to create an interactive website to help track alumni and Chapter requirements.
As webmaster, Kevin worked closely with the Executive Board to help give meetings structure. Using the Fraternity's ideals, he created the meeting script that is still used to this day. The first time the Chapter used this script, President Kitchens was astonished at how it quieted the Chapter down and helped maintain order. The President and Vice President worked with Kevin to create a functioning Executive Board for the first time in known Chapter history. Over the year, the Chapter gained greater organization and stability, but still had a ways to go. Chapter apathy was a rampant problem, but the President and Vice President had great goals to help overcome apathy.
The 2008-2009 President Michael Kitchens and Vice President Chance Young created the family structure to overcome the problems the Chapter was having with Big/Little accountability. Two members of each Executive Board served as the family heads. Public Relations Chair Laislee Salazar and Kevin Kozak formed the Salazak Family (now known as Flanagan, after Beecher Flanagan). The family structure helped create pride in the Chapter and helped people build stronger connections. The sheer size of the Chapter made it difficult to get to know every Brother well - families help bring close ties to personalize each Brother's experience with the Chapter.
The Kitchens-Young power-duo also created the Chapter's first ever Officer Retreat in spring 2009. This retreat helped bond the Executive Board and sparked a new passion and excitement for the Fraternity. The Board was unified in a way that it had never been done before. The Chapter was gaining momentum.
First Semester as President: Fall 2009
Second Semester as President: Spring 2010
Alumni Years to Present
Summer after Graduation
- 3500 mile road trip from Austin, TX through California and back
- 2 weeks in Barcelona, Spain
- Phi Sigma Pi Staff Training
- Side trips to New York and Philadelphia
- National Convention - Harrisburg, PA
First Semester as Region Consultant
- Chapter visits
Second Semester as Region Consultant
- Chapter visits
- Regional Conferences
National Involvement
- WICKED 2008 (Lubbock, TX)
- Chapter Hop (Delta Kappa - Denton, TX)
- WICKED 2009 (Denver, CO)
- Mardi Gras 2010 (New Orleans, LA)
- National Convention 2010 (Harrisburg, PA)
- Lonestar Regional Conference 2011 - "Texas Throwdown" (Epsilon Mu - San Antonio, TX)
- Mid-South Regional Conference 2011 - "Dirty South" (Epsilon Nu - Kennesaw, GA)
Bigs and Littles
- Big: Michael Kitchens
- Delta Psi no longer does Bigs and Littles - Families instead
Family
From 2008-2009, the "Salazak" family was lead by Laislee Salazar and Kevin Kozak. From 2009 to present, the name was changed to "Flanagan" after Beecher Flanagan. Members:
- 1
- 2
Further Resources
Other Interesting Facts
Interests in image, video, and audio processing. Likes acoustics and sonar-y things. Musician at heart, scientist by nature. Ben Franklin changed my life. Life doesn’t have a README.txt, but thankfully there’s Google!
