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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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| Contact: Executive Director Laurence A. Bolotin, CAE, Alpha Zeta (University of Florida) '01 | | April 18, 2016 | lbolotin@zbtnational.org; (317) 334-1898 |
ZBT to honor Dr. Robert E. Witt with Riegelman-Jacobs Award
The University of Alabama Chancellor also made honorary brother of Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — In a historic recognition for the interfraternal community, Zeta Beta Tau will honor Chancellor of The University of Alabama System Dr. Robert E. Witt with the Riegelman-Jacobs Award for Outstanding Interfraternal Service on July 23, 2016, at Zeta Beta Tau’s 2016 International Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Witt also recently accepted honorary brotherhood in Zeta Beta Tau, the world’s first Jewish Fraternity. |
“It is a great honor to be selected to receive the Riegelman-Jacobs Award and to be named an honorary brother of ZBT. I am proud of the leadership, service and many contributions of our country’s Greek organizations and particularly proud to be affiliated with ZBT at The University of Alabama,” Dr. Witt said.
Join ZBT in honoring Dr. Witt at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 23, 2016, at Zeta Beta Tau’s Grand Awards Banquet. Learn more about the event and how to register at zbt.org/atlanta. |
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Dr. Witt was selected to receive the award because his support of the Fraternity and Sorority community is unmatched. Under Dr. Witt’s guidance, the University of Alabama’s Greek community has doubled in size, becoming the largest community in the United States. He has championed housing reforms and diversity in organizations, among many efforts.
“I have known Bob Witt for over 10 years, and I am proud to call him my friend. As President of the University of Alabama, and then later as Chancellor, he was responsible for the entire Greek System having its greatest period of growth in numbers, influence and relevance. There was nothing he couldn't help you accomplish,” said Zeta Beta Tau Foundation President Bruce H. Weinstein, Psi (University of Alabama) ’70. “In particular for ZBT, he oversaw and spearheaded increasing Jewish enrollment, which was directly responsible for Psi Chapter doubling its size to over 100 brothers. He was recently made an honorary ZBT, and there is no one more deserving of this award than our new brother, Dr. Robert Witt.”
Currently, Dr. Witt serves as Chancellor of The University of Alabama System, which is Alabama’s largest higher education enterprise. Prior to his election as Chancellor, Dr. Witt served as President of The University of Alabama from 2003-2012. During his nine-year tenure, he spearheaded an ambitious plan for academic growth and achievement that has positioned UA as one of America’s fastest growing public universities. Earlier in his 35-year career, he served as President of the University of Texas at Arlington. Read more on Dr. Witt here.
“Zeta Beta Tau is glad to have Dr. Robert Witt, a long-time advocate for diversity and academic achievement, be a part of our Brotherhood,” said International President Matthew J. Rubins, Kappa (Cornell University) ’90. “He has promoted the Mission of Zeta Beta Tau throughout his career. We are grateful for his service to ZBT and to the Fraternity community at large, and it is our honor to present him with the Fraternity’s Riegelman-Jacobs Award.”
Zeta Beta Tau’s Riegelman-Jacobs Award commemorates two outstanding brothers of ZBT. Brother Harold Riegelman of Kappa Chapter at Cornell University was from the class of 1914. Brother Maurice Jacobs was from Pi Chapter at the University of Maine and from the class of 1917. Both served as President of the North-American Interfraternity Conference and one received the Conference's highest award, the Gold Medal. Brother Riegelman founded his own law firm and was a high ranking officer of the U.S. military. Brother Jacobs entered the field of publishing, owning his own publishing house in Philadelphia, and he was the first American to own and operate a Hebrew typeface font. It is fitting for the Fraternity to memorialize Brothers Riegelman and Jacobs with an award honoring outstanding service to the interfraternity community.
Gifts in honor of Dr. Witt’s recognition may be made to the Zeta Beta Tau Foundation’s two University of Alabama Scholarship Funds, the David R. Aresty Memorial Scholarship Fund and Jay R. Gotlieb Memorial Scholarship Fund, via zbt.org/donate. Learn more about the Zeta Beta Tau Foundation at zbt.org/foundation.
Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity was founded in 1898 in New York City as the world’s first Jewish fraternity. ZBT is a Brotherhood of Kappa Nu, Phi Alpha, Phi Sigma Delta, Phi Epsilon Pi and Zeta Beta Tau. ZBT is represented on more than 90 campuses across North America and has 130,000 undergraduate and alumni brothers throughout the world.
The Zeta Beta Tau Foundation is a nonprofit corporation exclusively committed to educational and charitable purposes that assist the brothers of Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity. The Foundation assists the brothers of Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity by funding scholarships and academic and leadership programs to maximize their personal development and prepare them to be leaders of society.
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