Dr. Phelps joined the staff of the International Headquarters in 2005. Prior to coming to Sigma Chi, and following 5 years as a web-application developer, he joined the staff of the Muskegon Country Historical Society in Michigan as the archivist in the Spring of 2003. Altogether, he now has more than 22 years as a Public Historian specializing in the care of historic artifacts and documents. Although his duties on the Foundation staff are many, his primary responsibility is as director of the Sigma Chi Foundation’s Historical Initiative to catalogue, preserve, and digitized the Fraternity’s history collections. In this role, he interacts with Fraternity’s History Commission and Monuments and Memorials Commission.  He is also the current (2020-Present) Monuments and Memorials Commission’s warden for the International Headquarters building.

In the course of his tenure at the International Headquarters, Noah has several significant accomplishments. As building manager for the J. Dwight Peterson International Headquarters building (2010-2023), he oversaw restoration of the International Headquarters building after a pipe burst in 2013 damaging one-third of the building. The flood also damaged part of the museum which previously resided in the basement. The management of the Sigma Chi Fraternity and Foundation decided to move the museum out of the basement and Dr. Phelps joined the Foundation’s 2014-2016 Museum Renovation committee, directed by 63^rd Grand Consul, Lee A. Beauchamp, Texas A&M-College Station 1975.  Working with Grand Historians Michael Codina, California San Diego 1993, William Fleming, Sam Houston 1964, Eric Hansen, Cincinnati 1989, and Douglas R. Carlson, Minnesota 1973, the committee planned and developed a new interpretive museum experience for its members. Noah also found a Sigma Chi Alumni exhibit builder, and hired a general contractor, then oversaw the alterations of the headquarters building.

A tour of the new Chuck and Kim Watson Museum of Sigma Chi can be viewed on the history pages on SigmaChi.org website.

As the Fraternity’s Archivist, Dr. Phelps has made significant headway in accomplishing the Historical Initiative’s main objective. To date, Noah and his staff have completed the cataloguing and digitization of thousands of historical documents in the Grand Chapter and Active Chapter collections.  The Initiative has also digitized thousands of items awaiting cataloguing, along with the complete run (1881-2025) of The Magazine of Sigma and its predecessor publications. The Magazine project included nearly 600 issues covering a historical span of 144+ years. 

For over ten years, Noah also designed, built, and maintained several web applications for both the Fraternity and Foundation.  These included the Fraternity’s Annual Report and Alumni Awards Nominations site, along with the Foundation’s website and Scholarship Application site.

In 2020, Noah began to step away from web-application development and building management. He is now semi-retired and devotes his full attention to the Sigma Chi Historical Initiative.

Noah holds a B.A. in History from the University of Cincinnati (1995); an M.A. in the Management of Historical Institutions (Public History) from Wright State University in Ohio (2000); and a Ph.D. in Urban History from Loyola University, Chicago (2017). His dissertation, “Transport for Early Modern London: London’s Transportation Environment and the. Experience of Movement, 1500-1800″ is available on Loyola E-Commons.

Noah is a member of the Phi Alpha Theta: National History Honor Society (1999) and a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity since 2008