By Timothy Dashiell
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Donna Rovato expects to pack her bags after her final semester at Towson University and move to “The City of Brotherly Love” where she will work fulltime at the international headquarters for Delta Phi Epsilon, a sorority that she insists opened her eyes to life’s opportunities.
With such a bright future, Rovato reminds herself of the road she traveled to get to this spot. After graduating from a Southern Maryland high school where she was involved in multiple activities, Rovato arrived on Towson’s campus disappointed that her first choice, Temple University – the other TU – didn’t work out.
“Towson was the last place I wanted to go,” Rovato told The Baltimore Watchdog, “being so close to home and with my dad already an alum.”
Still, financial reasons pushed the dance major to Towson, the same place her father graduated from in 1996. Rovato arrived on TU’s campus with a passion for dance and a disinterest in sorority life.
As Rovato describes it, she was not feeling Towson, didn’t enjoy the idea of making connections with new Tigers like herself and she certainly wasn’t feeling the idea of getting involved in Greek Life. In fact, she hated her first year of college and couldn’t adjust well.
Eventually, however, Rovato embraced Towson, made friends that guided her through tough times, and looked for a sorority as her one last chance to get something out of Towson. In 2017, she joined Delta Phi Epsilon, a sorority that brags about having a global network of future women leaders. The motto: “To be, rather than to seem to be.”
“Spring recruitment is crazy, and I wasn’t like the other girls,” she said. “I didn’t have a preference, so I met with all 11 Panhellenic sororities. I just wanted a reason to stay here, and that reason became DPHIE.”
Delta Phi Epsilon is an international sorority founded on March 17, 1917, at New York University Law School in Manhattan. With international headquarters in Philadelphia, it is one of 26 social sororities that form the National Panhellenic Conference. The sorority currently has 109 total chapters with the Phi Phi chapter being Rovato’s home at Towson.
“I instantly connected with the girls in DPHIE,” Rovato said. “They weren’t fake and were really genuine with me. They were the type of girls I wanted to be around. I really felt the sisterhood.”
As her time in DPHIE grew, so did Rovato. She became Recruitment Coordinator, helping to sign up as many young women as possible during the spring semester following open houses in the fall. Other opportunities also opened as Rovato served as an Orientation Leader, SGA marketer and Director of Advertising for homecoming all through connections with her sorority sisters.
Her biggest opportunity came when she was recommended by Carly Heasley, director of Fraternity and Sorority Life at Towson, to apply for the International Leadership Consultant role with DPHIE’s international headquarters.
“I recommended Donna for the position because I knew she’d be great for it,” Heasley told The Baltimore Watchdog. “She’s always been a great representation of her sorority and I knew she would excel and help so many people when she got it.”
After filling out a multiple page application and excelling in both in-person and skype interviews, Rovato was named one of seven new International Leadership Consultants for Delta Phi Epsilon for the 2020-2021 school year. Officials said the job will enable her to specialize in retention, a key issue for sororities.
Rovato joins Julia Daniel also of the same sorority at Towson in Philadelphia.
“There have been times when I’ve wanted to disaffiliate,” said Rovato. “So I’m excited to do everything I can to make sure that I help the retention rate at these schools that are struggling to improve.”
Towson sorority sisters are excited about having someone they know at the international headquarters.
Rovato and Daniel start training in June.