About
On November 20, 1962 the Beta Chapter was officially created at Purdue. There were 112 members at the time of the charter instantly making Beta Chapter the largest charter at the time. Unfortunately, poor record keeping has prevented us from knowing the names of all charter members. We do know that in the following years, the Beta Chapter was a prominent group in Aviation technology. There have been a variety of events hosted by the chapter throughout the years. These events include speakers, aviation open houses, the aviation spectacular and many others.
Though we are the Beta Chapter, we are not the second charter issued. The original Beta chapter was the University of California at Los Angeles, which lasted only a few years before becoming defunct. When Purdue applied for its charter, they were then granted the Beta Chapter. Officially, Purdue was granted the 24th Chapter of Alpha Eta Rho. In January 2000, Alpha Eta Rho was deactivated by the university. There is a possibility that the fraternity was deactivated prior to this, but the only documented dates are from early 2000. The exact reasons are unclear and an attempt to reactivate the chapter in January 2001 was unsuccessful.
In early 2002, Paul Lucas found a professor willing to be an advisor and began taking steps toward reactivating the chapter. The initial callout had approximately 20 people in attendance. The first few meetings involved discussing what actions needed to be taken to reactivate the group and deciding what the purpose of the group would be. It was decided early on that to be more efficient in the reactivation process, officers would need to be elected.
The officers were:
| Chief Pilot | Dustin Wilcox |
| Worthy Navigator | Paul Lucas |
| Courier | Maryssa Shettel |
| Master of Communications | John Racanelli |
| Pledge Master | Stacy Lutes |
| Dispatcher | Joe McNamee & Jennifer Helm |
| Air Marshall | Neal Lunch |
The primary goal of the group was to rewrite the Beta Chapter constitution and bylaws. There were two lengthy group meetings held along with discussion in meetings and some individual work to get the constitution and by-laws finalized. The finalized constitution and by-laws were submitted to the Dean of Students for approval and on March 12, 2002, the Beta Chapter was reactivated at Purdue University. On April 15, the first pledge class post reactivation was initiated. The 18 members of the Alpha Class consisted of those students who worked tirelessly to ensure the Beta Chapter would continue.
The primary goal of the group was to rewrite the Beta Chapter constitution and bylaws. There were two lengthy group meetings held along with discussion in meetings and some individual work to get the constitution and by-laws finalized. The finalized constitution and by-laws were submitted to the Dean of Students for approval and on March 12, 2002, the Beta Chapter was reactivated at Purdue University. On April 15, the first pledge class post reactivation was initiated. The 18 members of the Alpha Class consisted of those students who worked tirelessly to ensure the Beta Chapter would continue.