Greek adviser off to Carlow

Christopher Meaner has come to the end of an era.

Meaner, the coordinator for fraternity… Christopher Meaner has come to the end of an era.

Meaner, the coordinator for fraternity and sorority life at Pitt for three years, has taken a job at Carlow College as the Director of Student Activities.

In this position, Meaner acted as the liaison between greek organizations and the University. He also served as Pitt’s fraternity and sorority adviser for the Inter-Fraternity Council, Pan-Hellenic Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Council.

But Meaner’s relationship with Pitt goes back much farther than three years.

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Meaner came to Pitt as an undergraduate in 1997 and quickly got involved in many campus organizations. As a freshman, he helped to start Pitt’s chapter of Habitat for Humanity and became its president in his junior year. Meaner also worked as a Pathfinder, helped found Pitt Start and served as a Freshman Peer Counselor, eventually taking over that program.

He later received a master’s degree in Public Administration from Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

Pitt was actually Meaner’s last choice on a list of colleges, which included Georgetown and Penn State. However, he claims he was quickly “sucked in” and loved his time as a Pitt student.

“It’s probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Meaner said, adding that he hasn’t missed a Pitt football game in 20 years.

Meaner joined Pi Kappa Phi the first semester of his sophomore year in order to make more friends at Pitt, something he found difficult to do as a commuter student living in Greensburg. His experiences in the fraternity would lead him to pursue his position as coordinator for Pitt’s fraternities and sororities.

He spoke highly of Pi Kappa Phi, which helped him adjust to college life.

“I had no idea what it meant to be in college,” Meaner said, a first generation college student in his family.

“I owe a lot to my fraternity brothers,” who acted not only as friends, but also as study mates and fellow volunteers, he said.

Meaner praises greek organizations as strong social institutions for students and as service organizations. He said he feels that fraternities and sororities offer deeper social communities than dorm floors and RAs can provide. He also commends them for providing students with the chance to do volunteer work.

“If you look at the creeds of any fraternity or sorority, you’ll find brotherhood and sisterhood, scholarship and service,” Meaner said. Though busy with his new job, he has made time in the last two weeks to come back to Pitt to help with sorority recruitment.

At Carlow, Meaner serves as the director of student activities. Officially starting last week, his duties include running student orientation and leadership programs and administrating the student government association and the campus activities board.

According to Meaner, Carlow is a very different place from Pitt. It is a smaller school and provides for a much more intimate relationship with the students, he said. After only four days, many students walking around the campus already knew his name.

Meaner’s new job at Carlow raises him “two steps up the ladder from his job at Pitt and puts him closer to his goal of eventually becoming a dean of students. He also wants to stay involved in non-profit organizations. But whatever he does in the future, Meaner knows he wants to work in higher education.

“I love working with students. It’s one of my favorite things in the world to do.”

Though excited for his new position, Meaner said he misses working at Pitt.

“Pitt had been my home for 10 years. I feel like, or at least I hope, I’ve made my mark here.” Meaner said the most rewarding thing about his job at Pitt was seeing where the students he knew ended up after graduation, but at the same time, the hardest thing was watching them leave.