Katie High didn't have to look very far for a new Coordinator of Greek Life and Student Organizations. In fact, he was only down the hall.

Louis Ragsdale, the then interim, beat four other finalists for the position two weeks ago after an extensive search process.

He graduated from the UTM with a bachelor of sciences degree in Business Administration and has worked as an office manager in accounting at Universal Graphics, also of Martin. He has also worked as an assistant to the director at UTM Sports Information.

His Martin ties go even further, being an alumnus of the campus chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha. During the interview forums, he assured those in attendance that he would be fair to all organizations.

In fact, unity, especially among greeks, is one of his top priorities.

"The greek community at all times does its best to promote leadership, campus and community service involvement," says Ragsdale. "We are constantly working together to accomplish and strengthen this objective."

He is working toward having all three governing councils of the greek system - National Pan-Hellenic (NPHC), National Panhellenic (NPC), and Intra-fraternal (IFC) - become better informed and more involved in one another's activities.

Ragsdale stresses the need for both greek and non-greek organizations to do more for the community.

"One of the major things that greeks and student organizations do constantly is community service projects," says Ragsdale. "Some of the more recent projects have been buying tickets for area children for [this weekend's] Chinese Acrobat show.

"I hope to see sometime in the spring at least one community service project that all greek and student organizations are involved in."

As his title indicates, the interest in the "get involved" message doesn't stop on fraternity and sorority row.

"One thing that I have tried to do is to get students involved in campus organizations by finding out what they are interested in," says Ragsdale. "Once I find out their major interests, I am able to direct them towards a student organization that fits those needs."

Ragsdale can be reached through the Office of Student Life at louisr@utm.edu or extension 7527.