Fraternity
Director, Information Management
(847) 425-4420
Dr. Phelps joined the staff of the International Headquarters in 2005. Prior to coming to Sigma Chi, 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 20 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 Department of Information Management. The department runs the Historical Initiative to catalogue, preserve, and digitized the Fraternity’s history collections; acts as staff liaison with the Fraternity’s History Commission and Monuments and Memorials Commission; and oversees the maintenance, repair, and upgrades of the J. Dwight Peterson International Headquarters and the Founding Site in Oxford, Ohio. 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. In 2013-2014, he oversaw restoration of the International Headquarters building after a pipe burst 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 Museum Renovation committee directed by 63rd 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. As the building manager, 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.
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 stepped away from these duties to devote full-time 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.
Department of Information Management
The Sigma Chi Foundation’s Department of Information Management oversees the acquisition, preservation, storage, and dissemination of information, both operational and historical, throughout its life cycle. Information Management is the home of the Foundation’s Historical Initiative and provides facilities management for the Peterson HQ building, Manor Annex, and the Founding Site in Oxford, Ohio.
Historical Initiative
Synopsis: The Historical Initiative is responsible for coordinating the activities of the Fraternity’s historical programs while providing oversight of Sigma Chi’s historical assets—including documents, photographs, electronic media, 3-D artifacts, and real property—currently under the care of the Sigma Chi Foundation. This coordination and oversight is essential to assure proper acquisition, analysis, care, and preservation of Sigma Chi’s historical collections in order to properly interpret the history of the Sigma Chi Fraternity for its 230,000+ living members.
Duties include:
Foundation Information Management
Synopsis: Information Management is responsible for storage and distribution of both corporate and historical data and consults with the Foundation on software solutions for Foundation operations.
Duties include:
