Stacy Riddle Forum Dedication Set For Feb. 28

Baylor University's Stacy Riddle Forum will be officially dedicated during ceremonies at 2 p.m., Friday, Feb. 28, on the steps of the new building for Baylor's Panhellenic sororities.
The dedication is expected to draw an overflow crowd so parking near the facility will be limited. Shuttle buses will be available from the Ferrell Center to the Stacy Riddle Forum, beginning at 1 p.m. In case of inclement weather, a closed-circuit broadcast of the ceremony will be available in the suites on the first floor of the Stacy Riddle Forum.
Participating in the ceremony are Baylor President Robert B. Sloan; Jr., Dr. Dub Oliver, dean of student development; Cathy Pleitz, campaign coordinator; Susan Allison, Panhellenic Council president; and Janice Stewart, a Greek faculty adviser.
Baylor graduate Stacy Riddle Baumgartner, for whom the forum is named, will be present at the dedication ceremony along with her husband, Greg; her parents, Don and Jenny Riddle; and her brother and sister-in-law, Todd and Michelle.
A Houston native, Baumgartner earned her bachelor's degree in journalism in 1989 and was an active member of Kappa Kappa Gamma while at Baylor. After graduation, Baumgartner began her own business as a certified legal video specialist, videotaping depositions and courtroom presentations. In 1995, she married Greg Baumgartner, a trial attorney who practices law with her brother, Todd, and father, Don, a 1960 Baylor graduate, in the law firm of Riddle & Baumgartner. She and her husband have two sons and are active civic and professional leaders in their Klein/CyFair community in northwest Houston. Both are charter directors of The Riddle Foundation.
The Riddle Foundation, which contributed a major gift to the project, is a nonprofit charitable organization, based in Houston, dedicated to providing financial aid and assistance to a wide range of causes. Although the Foundation concentrates its philanthropy on providing college scholarships to underprivileged high school graduates, it has given several million dollars to various new construction efforts at Baylor, the largest recipient of foundation contributions. Other major recipients are Rice University, Texas A&M University, Make-a-Wish Foundation and The Ronald McDonald House.
Construction began on the $5.5 million facility following a ceremonial groundbreaking on Feb. 23, 2001. Baylor's nine Panhellenic sororities began moving into their individual suites in the building last month.
The two-story, 51,000-square-foot building contains nine sorority suites/meeting rooms, a computer lab available to all students, a chapel and prayer room, a Panhellenic office and an apartment for the resident manager. The Forum may be expanded to accommodate additional sororities. Construction of this building also benefits the entire university by resolving meeting space issues in other campus buildings and residence halls.
Charitable work is a big part of Baylor's Greek sorority system, which began in 1924 with the chartering of the first local women's social service club. Today, more than 1,600 Baylor female students are involved in National Panhellenic Council sororities and annually give more than 100,000 hours of service and approximately $60,000 to the community while maintaining an overall 3.26 grade point average.
Sororities that have suites in the building are: Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Delta Pi, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Delta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Pi Beta Phi and Zeta Tau Alpha.
For more information about the Stacy Riddle Forum, call Cathy Dunnam Pleitz at 710-8500 or Cathy_Pleitz@baylor.edu.