When Mike Morris, Eastern Michigan ’65, first received word that he had been selected for Delta Sigma Phi’s Career Achievement Award, he was stunned.

“I was dumbfounded when they called,” Mike said. “To be the 25th recipient of this award with all of the successful Delta Sigs that are out there in the world is quite amazing.”

The Career Achievement Award, first presented in 1985, recognizes alumni who have reached the pinnacle of success in their professional fields. Past recipients include Pulitzer Prize winners, members of Congress, corporate leaders, and even a U.S. presidential candidate. For Mike, who went on to lead some of the nation’s largest utility companies, the honor carries not only personal meaning but also deep ties back to his Delta Sig experience.

Finding Delta Sig at Eastern Michigan

Mike’s journey with the Fraternity began in the late 1960s, when he was a freshman living in Buell Hall at Eastern Michigan University.

“We couldn’t pledge until second semester back in those days,” he recalled. “There were about ten of us in the dorm who didn’t know anybody, most of us had never even had a drink in our life—maybe a couple of beers in high school. One of our friends, Rick Barth, Eastern Michigan ‘65, had an older brother who was already a Delta Sig. So those connections, and the fact that a couple of the building advisors were big on fraternity life, pulled us in. They invited us to football games, just talked to us as regular people. It wasn’t a sales pitch. They were just good guys, and that’s how we got involved.”

That pledge class, 16 men strong, would remain a constant presence in Mike’s life for decades to come.

“Ron Harrold, Easter Michigan ‘65, my roommate and pledge brother, has been my lifelong friend. I’m godparent to his children and he’s godparent to mine,” Mike said. “Every year, we’d have a golf outing together. Those friendships were for life. Back then, you didn’t keep in touch by cell phone—you had to show up. I remember one Sunday night at 10 o’clock, Ron called me and said, ‘Brother, I’m two miles from your house on the freeway with a flat tire. Can you come help?’ And of course, I went. That’s what fraternity meant.”

A Career Path Shaped by Leadership

Though Mike had originally enrolled at Eastern Michigan with plans to become a biology teacher, his path shifted dramatically—thanks in part to ROTC, a stroke of good timing, and the leadership skills sharpened in his Delta Sig years.

“When I started student teaching, I realized the kids just didn’t care about biology,” he said with a laugh. “So I thought maybe I’d teach at a junior college where students actually chose to be in the class. That’s when I went back to the ROTC department. I’d done my first two years and asked if I could go into advanced ROTC as a grad student. They said yes—as long as I got into graduate school.”

Mike did just that, pursuing biology in graduate school while also commissioning as a second lieutenant. He married his college sweetheart, Linda—today his wife of 55 years—and embarked on his professional life at a moment when the U.S. was reshaping its environmental policies.

“President Nixon had just signed the Environmental Policy Act. For the first time, biologists, geologists, archeologists, climatologists—you name it—could actually get jobs in the real world. That changed everything for me.”

His first employer, a small engineering firm in Detroit, offered him both responsibility and an unexpected connection.

“At my six-month review, the owner told me, ‘You know why I hired you? Because of your ring.’ He was a Delta Sig from the University of Detroit. He said, ‘If you’ve been through that, I know you’ve got leadership skills.’ That really stuck with me.”

Mike’s Delta Sig leadership roles—rush chairman, social chairman, pledge master, and vice president—gave him practical skills in running meetings, building teams, and navigating responsibility. Those skills became essential as his career accelerated.

From that small Detroit firm, Mike was recruited to a larger engineering company specializing in energy projects. Soon after, he transitioned to American Natural Resources, a major natural gas pipeline operator. There, he met a mentor who would profoundly shape his path: Jim Cordes.

“People ask me, ‘Will you be my mentor?’ and I always say no. Your mentor will find you,” Mike explained. “Jim found me because of the work I did. Every time he got promoted, I got promoted. He taught me so much about the industry and about people. To this day, I call him once or twice a year just to thank him. I always say, ‘Jim, but for you, I’d still be writing environmental reports,’ and he just laughs.”

Mike rose quickly, eventually becoming president of an interstate pipeline company in Colorado. Later, he served as president and CEO at Consumers Power in Michigan, president of Northeast Utilities in New England, and finally chairman, president, and CEO of American Electric Power in Columbus, Ohio—the largest electric utility in the United States at the time.

“It was one incredible honor after another,” Mike reflected. “Lots of luck, lots of planes, lots of nights away from home. But I loved the work. The best way to get along, I learned, was to try to get along. Particularly with regulators—because they are your financial bloodline.”

He officially retired on November 11, 2011, stepping down at exactly 11:11 a.m.—a date and time he remembers with a grin.

Through all of his career moves, Mike never forgot the values of loyalty and integrity he had carried since his undergraduate days. That commitment to doing right by others, he believes, is central to both fraternity life and leadership.

Celebrating the Award Among Brothers

Though Mike couldn’t attend the 2025 Delta Sigma Phi Convention to receive his award, Executive Director Phil Rodriguez made a special trip to Detroit to present it. With help from longtime friends and brothers, Mike turned the moment into a reunion.

“We ended up hosting the ceremony at Eastern Michigan, in the very room where we held our Monday night fraternity meetings,” Mike said. “About 35 brothers came—pledge classes from 1963 to 1971. It was just incredible. Guys flew in from Florida and Arizona. Others drove five hours from northern Michigan. It was like no time had passed.”

Ron Meyer, Eastern Michigan ‘66, a pledge brother battling serious illness, coordinated much of the gathering, arriving in a wheelchair to take part. “I couldn’t thank him enough,” Mike said. “It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.”

Hopes for the Future of Delta Sig

Reflecting on the Fraternity’s future, Mike spoke with both nostalgia and conviction.

“I hope it continues to be successful in every way, because I do think it makes a difference,” he said. “We came from all backgrounds—farm kids, city kids, Catholics, Protestants, even a Jewish brother in our pledge class, which was rare at the time. It broadened our horizons and taught us what brotherhood is about.”

He paused, then added: “Phil said something that really rings true—young men today are searching for camaraderie. That’s what the fraternity gave us: people from all kinds of interests and perspectives, learning to live together, work together, and respect each other. That’s the gift I hope continues.”

A Life Well-Lived

From his roots as a small-town Ohio kid, to the friendships that began in a freshman dorm, to his rise as CEO of a major utility company, Mike Morris’s life is a testament to leadership grounded in loyalty, friendship, and integrity.

“The Fraternity taught me a lot,” Mike said. “About leadership, about responsibility, about caring for each other. Those lessons carried me through my whole career. And to be recognized for that now, by the same organization that helped start it all—it means more than I can say.”