UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Amplify Development Company has made a contribution to the Timothy J. Piazza Center for Fraternity and Sorority Research and Reform to support research aimed at creating safer and more meaningful fraternity and sorority experiences.
The real estate development company’s portfolio includes a Greek housing platform, which emphasizes the property owner/landlord’s role in creating a safe and empowering fraternity or sorority experience. As the company grows in the student housing market to specifically acquire fraternity and sorority housing, Amplify is interested in investing in research that aligns with the company’s values.
“Amplify Development Company is proud to be a sponsor of such a worthy and necessary cause,” said Alec Paddock, managing partner at Amplify. “As fraternity members ourselves, as well as the owners/managers of multiple Greek housing properties across the country, we share the same core principles and beliefs embodied by the Piazza Center. We look forward to a long-term partnership and contributing in any way that we are able.”
According to the company, Amplify takes a top-down approach, beginning with the property owner/landlord, to oversee safety and success in the fraternity and sorority system. The company outlines clear guidance, including selecting the right chapter to lease the property, enforcing regulations and actively managing the property with the goal of creating a safe and sustainable fraternity and sorority experience centered around student success.
“Support from Amplify will help us research how to build stronger and safer fraternity and sorority life. When a chapter facility and the fraternity and sorority program are aligned, a home can contribute to the member experience,” said Stevan Veldkamp, executive director, Piazza Center.
The Piazza Center is a multidisciplinary research initiative whose mission is to uplift fraternity and sorority life. The center’s research agenda is based on a change model focused on a two-pronged approach to stronger and safer organizations.
- Stronger: Enhancing student learning, leadership and services; improving diversity, equity and inclusion; and increasing health and wellness.
- Safer: Focusing on campus prevention and intervention, including prevention of hazing, substance misuse and dangerous drinking.
The center produces actionable data to give practitioners, campuses and headquarters the evidence needed to enact significant change on their campuses for the over 750,000 Greek-life members across more than 770 campuses with fraternity and sorority life.
Amplify Development Company is a vertically integrated development company focused on acquiring, entitling and building quality mixed-use projects in the student housing, co-living and multifamily markets.
Penn State hopes to generate an endowment of $8 million to support the Piazza Center's research. Toward that end, the University has committed $2 million in initial funding and will match up to $3 million in additional endowment funds committed for this purpose. Through this opportunity, organizations, alumni, parents and friends can leverage their gifts to secure matching funds that double the impact of their generosity. To learn more about supporting the center and the goal that students in fraternities and sororities have a safe and enriching college experience, visit the Piazza Center website.
With the record-breaking success of “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” which raised $2.2 billion from 2016 to 2022, philanthropy is helping to sustain the University’s mission of education, research and service to communities across the commonwealth and around the globe. Scholarships enable Penn State to open doors and welcome students from every background, support for transformative experiences allows students and faculty to fulfill their vast potential for leadership, and gifts toward discovery and excellence help serve and impact the world. To learn more about the impact of giving and the continuing need for support, please visit raise.psu.edu.