Colleen Tobin, '14

Colleen Tobin, '14

May 1, 2014
After helping to establish University of Richmond's Delta Sigma Pi chapter, senior is named DSP Regional Collegian of the Year

When Colleen Tobin, ’14, graduates in May, she will be able to look back on a legacy of perseverance. Less than a year after she aided in the establishment of the University of Richmond’s Rho Omega chapter of Delta Sigma Pi (DSP), a professional business fraternity, she brought home the award for Regional Collegian of the Year for the Mid-Atlantic.

“I really wanted to win an award for the chapter. We’re so new, and I wanted to show our members that if we work hard, we could make a name for ourselves on campus,” she said. “Because the members nominated me for the award, I wanted to bring it home for them, so I put everything I had into the application. I didn’t expect to win, but I tried my best.”

Tobin was presented the award at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference in March. “In the middle of chewing my food, I heard them announce my name!”

Bringing DSP to the Robins School of Business was not a simple process—another professional business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi was already on campus. “We like the idea of healthy competition, so we went before a panel of deans across the school to state our case. Because we now have two business fraternities competing for membership, we push each other to continuously improve every semester. It’s a friendly rivalry, and in the end everyone benefits.”

After deciding to introduce DSP to the campus, Tobin and a group of founding members went to work to meet the installation requirements. Hosting 14 recruitment events ranging from professional speaker events to community service gatherings in a matter of two weeks in February of last year, Tobin marveled at the level of dedication shown by the members.

“It’s one thing to plan the events without knowing who might show up, but all of our members came, and we had really promising potential member turnouts because our members worked hard to spread the word,” said Tobin.

After submitting a lengthy application containing biographies for each member, event details and letters of recommendation, the group waited on the vote from the DSP national headquarters. In the spring semester the group had enough members to get their charter and received the official letter of approval. “We ended up with 30 members on the day of our installation, and the Grand President and a group of national officers traveled to Richmond to initiate us. It was really special,” she said. 

“We’re small, so we had a lot of room to grow,” explained Tobin. At the beginning of fall 2013, DSP counted 27 members. They now have approximately 70 members. “We’re growing faster than we expected, but we like that. I finished my presidency in December, and it’s been great to see the organization double in size while growing more cohesive everyday. I love the group and the environment we’ve been able to build together. Most of our members are involved in multiple organizations, and I don’t think we would have been successful if our members hadn’t shown their dedication to DSP by attending the events. The students here are so involved, and that’s what I love about the Robins School. The students seek out the opportunities to go above and beyond and then work tirelessly to rise to the occasion. I know DSP will be in good hands because of that.”

Tobin looks to the future as graduation approaches. She will be working at Veris Consulting in the forensic accounting group but has plans to visit the friends she has made during the process. “I know I’ll continue to be involved with DSP in any way I can. It’s invigorating to see how much the chapter’s grown. I’m really going to miss it. I have a lot of great memories with DSP.”