Alpha Xi Delta

SDSU grad Evink heads Alpha Xi Delta national council

Perseverance and chance both played a role in connecting Michele (Herbst) Evink with Alpha Xi Delta, a women’s fraternity for which she now serves as national president.

Evink, a 1989 pharmacy graduate, developed an interest in sorority life when she was in elementary school in Ames, Iowa. Her father, Lloyd Herbst, did maintenance repairs at the Delta Zeta house at Iowa State and Evink would tag along. Even as an outsider, she gained a sense of the connectedness among sisters.

When she enrolled at State in fall 1984, she didn’t make contact with anyone in Greek Life. In fact, she didn’t realize SDSU had a Greek system.

But the Briggs Scholar was involved in Staters for State, the student chapter of the Alumni Association. In that role, she attended a national meeting of student alumni association members. Her roommate was a member of Tri Delta and raved about the benefits of a sorority, encouraging her to find an organization at SDSU.

With more motivation, Evink found Alpha Xi Delta, which at that time had a house at 12th Avenue and Eighth Street.

She joined in fall 1985 as a sophomore and was initiated in January 1986. Evink would become a tenant at that house, serve leadership roles and be selected for the Outstanding Greek and Campus Involvement Award in her junior year. The relationships she developed through Alpha Xi Delta made her want to continue in the organization as an alumna.

Involvement continues after college

Her first job took her to Sioux City, Iowa, and Evink assisted at the nearest chapter, the University of South Dakota.

From 1992-95, when Epsilon Eta, the Brookings chapter, was without an adviser, Evink stepped in as a long-distance adviser. “Then the national fraternity called me and asked me to be a regional volunteer, helping with academics,” said Evink, noting that she assisted chapters with academic programming, such as establishing required study hours and academic rewards.

Then she led a team of regional volunteers that oversaw all aspects of chapter management.

She then got involved with the Alpha Xi Delta Foundation and in 2003 joined the Alpha Xi Delta delegation to the National Panhellenic Conference, an umbrella organization for 26 national sororities. From 2007 to 2011, Evink served as the Alpha Xi Delta voting delegate to the National Panhellenic Conference.

From 2011 to 2015, she served as a national vice president with Alpha Xi Delta, which elects a total of six national vice presidents.

Presidential agenda

Evink stepped into the organization’s top office at the July 2015 national convention in Boston.

Her objectives as president:
•    “Maintain services to an organization
that is growing so fast.” Alpha Xi Delta
has 20 chapters less than 5 years old
and membership nationally has been
growing 6 to 10 percent annually in the
past decade;
•    “Make sure our chapters are recruiting
the leaders of tomorrow;”
•    “Strengthen our relationship with our
national philanthropy partner Autism
Speaks.” Alpha Xi Delta has raised $4
million in the last six years through
events coordinated by Alpha Xi Delta
chapters. The SDSU chapter sells
football game programs and raises
$3,000 to $4,000 annually; and
•    “Make sure all of the chapters who
need a physical facility of any sort have
the right type of facility.”

Becomes a lifelong sisterhood

There are 125 chapters nationwide with 168,000 members plus 97 active alumnae associations. As president, she is on hand for major events, such as when Alpha Xi Delta colonies at Texas Tech and Kennesaw State transitioned to chapters in February and the centennial celebration of the Albion (Michigan) University chapter in April.

Among the current vice presidents is Andi Fouberg, chief executive officer and president of the SDSU Alumni Association.

Evink is director of pharmacy services at Clarke County Hospital in Osceola, Iowa, and another vice presidents is a lawyer with the National Atmospheric and Space Agency and a development director with the YMCA. “We help shape the future for this organization of more than 160,000 women,” Evink said.

After 30 years in Alpha Xi Delta, she remains as committed as ever to the group that “provides a collegiate experience that turns into a lifelong sisterhood.

“I lived on third floor Brown for two years before I moved into the Alpha Xi Delta house. Those I met at Brown I no longer have contact with, but with my Alpha Xi Delta sisters, it’s just an instant bond. I moved from Sioux City, a town of 100,000, to Osceola, a town of 5,000, and found two other Alpha Xi Delta members.

“Neither were from SDSU, but we had an instant bond. One was 92-year-old woman. In what other situation would someone care? Right away, we have an instant connection.”

Dave Graves