Pre 1980's

Tau Kappa Epsilon at Towson's story begins in Fall 1970 when a group of men decided to form a new local fraternity.  They wanted to form a fraternity that was different than those were around at the time.  They wanted one that stood for every man and diversity.  To stand apart from other fraternities of the time they chose a four greek letters to represent their chapter - Beta Sigma Tau Epsilon or Beta.  The chapter soon began to grow.  They held true to their mission of diversity and refused to deny membership to men because of race, creed or color. 

Over the next 10 years, Towson would begin tightening their rules on Greek Life and the men of Beta knew the would not be able to survive forever as a local fraternity.  Therefore they began their search for a national organization to affliate with.  They found a fraternity that was founded on similar principles to their own - "Not for wealth rank or honor, but personal worth and character". 

For a complete history on Beta Sigma Tau Epsilon please visit their site.

1980's

The TKE colony at Towson State University was orginially founded in the early 1980's. At the time, a colony had to prove that it was worthy to become a full fledged chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon before anyone was initatied into the fraternity. This meant that the men of this colony needed to prove that they were more than capable of the ideals of TKE. That they were able to excel in scholarship, recruitment, athletics, community service, fraternity operations, and brotherhood.

Finally, on May 10, 1985, TKE headquarters granted the Towson State colony full chapter status. For the first time the men who had been working for years toward an ultimate goal signed the scroll creating the Pi Upsilon chapter of TKE.

Unfortunately, the attitudes of university officials were changing towards greek life in the late 1980's. The Dean of Students wanted to make an example of a chapter to prove to everyone that the "animal house" sterotype would not be tolerated at Towson. With no proof of a bogus charge, after months of meetings, against TKE National's wishes,and finally threatening to expel every member of the chapter from school the university revoked Pi Upsilon's charter.

The chapter was closed and would remain in the dark for 10 years.

1999 - Present

In the Fall of 1999, there men came together with the thought of starting a new fraternity at Towson University. These two sophmores and one freshman had heard stories from a friend who had joined a fraternity at York College in PA. The members of York College's chapter of TKE had welcomed the three over the summer to several gatherings and had been rushing them without realizing it. At the start of that fall semester, those three men, Jake Zerbe, Chuck Yanney, and Joe Webb III set out to start a chapter of TKE at Towson University.

After contacting TKE HQ about it they were told the minium standards they needed to form a colony. One of those would be to have at least 20 members in the interest group. So there it was - their first task to becoming a fraternity - RUSH. It wasn't long before those three men had grown to more than 20. In November 1999 they called HQ and told them their status. HQ was impressed and sent the infamous Dennis "Buckwheat" Perry down to teach them what TKE was about.

Buckwheat told them the story of TKE's rich history the first night he was there. By the end of the meeting he had lit a fire under them. They were ready to continue to the next step of moving from interest group to TKE colony. On December 2, 1999, Buckwheat and our new Big Brother Chapter, York College, initiated 22 men into Pi Upsilon for the first time in 10 years. Towson TKE was back.

The chapter took the next semester to grow inward before taking a pledge class. They had to form the structure of the fraternity before they could grow outward. By fall 2000 however, they were ready. That semester they took their first pledge class - alpha class - and initiated 9 more members into TKE. They also had the birth of the Families of Pi Upsilon: Patriot, Alcoholic, Flask, Wanger, Volpe, Shady, Disappearing, Food, and Bozak. One more family, the Zerbe family,would pop up a year later but would be short lived.

The colony spent the next year an a half meeting the goals HQ set out for them to become a fully chartered chapter. Like with every new organization they had growing pains, but in March of 2002 word came down that their charter petition had been approved. In honor of the orginal founding fathers, the rechartering ceremony was held on May 10-11, 2002 - the same weekend they had originally chosen. Grand Epi Prytanis Mark Romig and Regional Director Todd Farmer came to Towson to reinstate the chapter. In the banquet room of the Mt. Vernon hotel Pi Upsilon chapter was restored.

Over the next few years, Towson had it's pit stops but they always seemed to make the chapter stronger. Today the chapter has become a leader and model fraternity among the other chapters on campus. They are leaders in the greek community and in TKE Nation in Rush and leadership. The chapter has one the Towson President's Cup (best fraternity) several times and the Interfratenrity Council even created a Life Time Achievement Award for Zack Gutin who accomplished a lot during his days at Towson.

With continued alumni support the chapter is continuing on it's path to "world domination".

Past Prytani

Spring 1986- Fall 1986 - Brian Powers
Spring 1986 - Fall 1987 - Gregory Ruland
Fall 1999-Spring 2000 - Jake Zerbe
Fall 2000 - Jack Krabbe
Spring 2001 - Jake Zerbe
Fall 2001 - Mike Hwang
Spring 2002 - Fall 2002 - Zack Gutin
Spring 2003 - Fall 2003 - Joe Webb III
Spring 2004 - Fall 2004 - Alex Stipa
Spring 2005 - Spring 2006 - Kirk Mavroulis
Fall 2006 - Spring 2007 - Bruce Stahl
Fall 2007 - Greg Day
Spring 2008 - Fall 2008 - Jon Kolhbauer
Spring 2009 - Fall 2009 - Jordan Jankowski
Present - Bryan "CT" Sartory

The Families of Towson TKE

Family Name/Founders/Colors

Patriot - Joe Webb III (Refounding Father) Zack Gutin (Alpha) / American Flag Foreground / Red background
Alcoholic - Adam Renninger (Refounding Father) John Ziembicki (Alpha) / Green and Yellow Plaid on yellow background
Flask - Jono Krall (Refounding Father) Steve Reamy (Alpha) / Royal Blue on Gold
Wanger (deceased) - Mike Hwang (Refounding Father) Matt Butler (Alpha) / no family letters
Volpe (deceased) - Steve Volpe (Refounding Father) Matt Zeller / No Family Letters
Food - Craig Franzblau (Refounding Father) Mike Annesse (Alpha) / Black Shirt, Silver Outline, Maroon Letters
Shady - Sean Defeo (Refounding Father) Moe Oviessi (Alpha) / Black shirt, Red outline, Silver letters

Disappearing - Chuck Yanney (Refounding Father) Mike Robertson (Alpha) / Black on Orange
Bozak - Chihauhau (Disaffiliated) Will Farneth (Alpha) / Black on Red background, black shirt
Zerbe (deceased) - Jake Zerbe (Refounding Father) Skeletor (Disaffliated) / No Family Letters

Awards and Recognition

Presidents Cup
2002

President of the Year
2002 - Zack Gutin

Greek Man of the Year
2009- Bryan "CT" Sartory

Lifetime Achievement Award
2002 - Zack Gutin 

Most Improved Chapter
2007

Top Teke Chapter (Best in Nation)
2009
2008

Chesapeake Cup (Best in Province)
2009
2008

Chapter Assessment Program (CAP)
Silver Wreath 2008-2009

Greek Sing
2000 - 2nd Place
2005 - 3rd Place
2006 - 3rd Place
2007 - 2nd Place
2008 - 1st Place
2009 - 1st Place

Greek Week
1986 - 1st Place
2009 - 1st Place

Excellance in Rush
2002
2003
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

Outstanding Risk Management Award
2006

Chapter Advisors

Brooks Shuemate - 2000-2001
Scott Straw - 2001-2002
Steven Reamy - 2004-2006
Josh Barley - 2006-Present