The Wisconsin Chapter of Acacia Fraternity was founded on May 22, 1906. Since that day, over 1150 college men have joined the men of Pythagoras. The story of our chapter is best told in two parts: before the rechartering of 1988, and after.
When our alumni board purchased our current chapter facility at 222 Langdon street they compiled the history of the chapter before 1965. Read about it here!
After the current chapter facility was purchased in 1965 we attempted to colonize twice in 1965 and 1979 before an attempt was made in late 1985. Kurt Grutzner and William Woods led the alumni effort to gather interest in the chapter and over the course of the next year 15 young men would come together and activate on October 24, 1986 at the Memorial Union. This group ran the undergraduate chapter for the next 15 months before February 6, 1988.
Our chartering banquet was held at the historic Edgewater Hotel, on Langdon. It was attended by members of the National Council and at the ceremony, Scott Minor and Kurt Grutzner each received the Order of Pythagoras.
Since then the Wisconsin Chapter of Acacia has continued to thrive in Madison and after a housing renovation in 2008 the chapter facility is well equipped to hold up to 36 undergraduate brothers. The future is bright and the active chapter looks forward to writing the next chapter in the illustrious history of the fraternity.
The position of Venerable Dean is one of high honor in our fraternity. The Venerable Dean serves as the president to our active chapter and ensures that our organization stays in good relations with our community, university, and national chapter. Listed below is a brief history of all the Venerable Deans since our re-chartering in 1988.
1986+1987: Scott Minor
1987: Adam Pergament
1988: Tom Heeter
1988+1989: Nick Vlietstra
1990: Curt Waltz
1991: Tom Wilhelm
1992: John Gray
1993: Eric Gassman
1994: Joel Rogers
1995: Matthew Zorn
1996: Jeffrey Carlson
1997: Jay McCarthy
1998: Phil Bartelme
1999: Eric Rosiejka
2000: Joseph Rhodes
2001: Jamie Curtin
2002: Matt Anderson
2003: Matt Dunning
2003: Chris Beck
2004: Mike McLean
2005: Kevin May
2006: Steve Zelaznik
2007: Joe Kelm
2008: Jon Fenton
2009: Michael Steininger
2010: Christopher Strommen
2011: David Engeldinger
2012: Mike Steipel
2013: Alec Repasy
2014: David Pearson
2015: Paul Hurlbut
2016: Jake Nelson
2017: Michael Foy
2018: Marshall Budin
2019: Michael Luberto
2020: Brennan Flaherty
2021: Xander Allison
2021: Kian Soheili
2022: Mika Cavanagh