Austin Peay’s Lindsy Perry wins the prestigious Gayle Webb New Professional Award

By: Khatir Stewart November 9, 2023

Photo: Lindsy Perry at a recent Austin Peay event.

By Khatir Derrick Stewart, APSU student

Greek life has been a long-established part of not only Austin Peay but universities all around the country, helping students elevate their college experience.

For years, this process has benefitted from many significant figures, including Lindsy Perry, current coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs at Austin Peay.

Her contributions have not gone unnoticed either, receiving the prestigious Gayle Webb New Professional Award. This award was first established in 1990 and renamed for the AFA's Association of Fraternity/Sorority Affairs, first executive director, Gayle Webb.

The award recognizes the outstanding contributions to fraternity and sorority life by two professional members of the AFA in their first three years. This provides a testament to Perry's work on campus, being nominated for the award by students of Austin Peay.

"It honestly means a lot," Perry said. "I think often being an office of one here at Austin Peay. It feels like my work goes unnoticed. Things I do on this campus are having an impact on my students but also the greater good of the Austin Peay community."

Perry started her general passion for fraternity and sorority life during her years in college. As a first-generation college student at Illinois State, she joined a sorority, realizing the organization's value by the academic, social, and other accountabilities it provided her. She talked about how it'd provided her with experience to carry into the job market, preparing her for the real world.

"I don't think there's any other student experience like it in college, and I say this all the time, but without my sorority, I don't think I would be where I am today. I don't think I would have persisted and stayed in college. I think I would have been somebody that went one semester," Perry said. "So I think Greek life plays so much into the student experience, and there's really nothing else like it here at Austin Peay."