Not all Saturdays at Northwestern’s Alpha Phi sorority house are created equal.
On some mornings, sorority members wake up to a GroupMe notification and the smell of warm scones baked by House Director JoAnne Zunich, who’s been in her role for three years. She said she hears footsteps thumping down the stairs minutes after she sends the message.
“I love to cook, and I love to bake. It’s like my therapy,” Zunich said. “I’ve done that in every sorority I’ve worked at.”
Zunich, 67, was a member of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as an undergraduate and became the organization’s chapter adviser after graduating. Prior to becoming a house mom, she worked in insurance at a financial planning office in Champaign, Illinois.
A Chicago-area native, she said being a house director, informally known as a “house mom,” for A Phi is a way to live closer to her grandchildren after her two adult daughters moved out. In many ways, she is still a mother figure.
“I used to joke when people said, ‘Why are you doing this?’ and I said ‘Well, the baby birds left the nest, and I just filled it with 45 new ones,’” Zunich said. “They always think it’s crazy, but I like the activity. … I had a good time in college. I studied hard, but I also had a lot of fun. I want them to do the same.”
NU hosts eight Panhellenic sororities, most of which employ a house director hired through the chapter house corporation who lives with the members. No two organizations have the exact same rules or expectations for their house directors, but typical duties include working with vendors to maintain and stock the house, coordinating with the student housing executive and handling various administrative tasks involved with upkeep.
According to NU’s Student Affairs, the University “is making progress towards all chapters being required to have a house director.”
Kappa Alpha Theta Facility Director Megan Japczyk, 26, has served as a house mom at NU for three years. The bulk of Japczyk’s work is administrative, meaning she orders many of the supplies needed to keep the sorority running and manages the invoices that result from working with contractors. Nevertheless, she said she makes a consistent effort to build connections with students and vendors.
“I have a great rapport with all the girls in my house and the chef and the housekeeper, and so we all just work together to make sure the house is running smoothly,” Japczyk said.
Zunich agreed that having positive relationships with vendors is essential. She said NU is different from some other universities in that, as Greek life buildings aren’t privately owned, she works with multiple University vendors instead of solely third-party contractors.
She said she “couldn’t survive without (her) University plumbers.”
“They’re incredible, honest to gosh,” Zunich said. “They’re my favorite, ’cause when you need ’em, you need ’em. … I will always offer them, ‘Hey, you’re here and it’s almost lunchtime. Why don’t you join us for lunch?’ I want them to be so happy to come here to repair things.”
Zunich explained that in the pursuit of making all her members feel welcome, she conducts a survey at the start of each academic year to learn what holidays students celebrate. As the quarters progress, she hosts meals and parties, observing everything from Passover to Diwali.
She said she also asks students to share recipes or customs to make the house feel more like home.
Japczyk, who was in the Delta Phi Lambda Sorority, Inc. as a student at Loyola University Chicago, said her chapter didn’t have an official house, leading her to appreciate the sense of community fostered at NU all the more.
“As cheesy as it sounds, it is a sisterhood,” Japczyk said. “It does really feel like they’re that close.”
Japczyk may have her own room within the house, but she recalls hearing students “screaming karaoke in the living room” from time to time. Someone else might get annoyed; Japczyk, on the other hand, said that’s what college is all about.
She served as a residential assistant while in school and said Greek life culture presents a more robust environment for creating lasting friendships than the average dorm.
“There’s philanthropy, there’s socials, there’s even unprompted socials where they’re just watching movies in the living room or someone’s playing the piano and everyone’s just listening to them,” Japczyk said. “Cute, unprompted moments like that makes a community so special.”
As Zunich’s own children have moved out, she’s traded frequenting their extracurricular activities for supporting her NU “baby birds,” whether that be through showing up to a musical or attending an ice skating performance.
She said she enjoys watching them move in, adding that living together creates a lifelong bond.
“It’s different living in a fraternity or sorority house than a dorm in that, and I tell the young women that as they’re picking their bedrooms, it’s not the most important thing which bedroom you get, because you’re going to be living in the whole house,” Zunich said.
Communication sophomore Joyce Ma, who serves as vice president of housing for A Phi, said she appreciates the little things Zunich has done for her.
From signing off on a package when Ma couldn’t make it back to the house to leaving out a half-slice of lemon for her tea when she was sick, Zunich has proved herself to be someone that is “there for you and is trying her best,” Ma said.
“She’s honestly a great house mom,” Ma said. “I feel like she cares a lot about the house, the facility and all of our experiences. She’s just a caring, warm presence in the house.”
However, not all moms receive such glowing reviews.
Medill sophomore Gia Liu, a Delta Delta Delta member, has mixed opinions about her current housing director, calling her “a character.”
Liu said that while she appreciates their “casual” relationship and her director’s sense of humor, she feels the Tri Delt mom sometimes neglects certain areas of house maintenance, such as restocking toiletries.
“She’s on the younger side of house moms,” Liu said. “I feel like usually people imagine a really old lady who is almost like a mother, but if anything she’s like a weird, crazy aunt that just exists there.”
Weinberg first-year Sydney Chen, director of facility operations for Tri Delt, said the chapter has been searching for a new housing director for the 2026-27 academic year, as its current one is leaving to pursue another career. Chen, who meets weekly with the director as part of her role, said the outgoing mom has been communicative and understanding.
Choosing a director is not something a sorority takes lightly; their role is “integral” to what a sorority becomes, Chen said. The process varies by organization, but typically includes collaboration with the national chapter house corporation, panel interviews with final candidates and careful consideration of both their administrative skills and how well they’d fit in the house.
As Tri Delt proceeds with interviews, Chen said the members are prioritizing a few key elements to ensure they foster a positive environment.
“In our case, where we’re picking a new housing director, it’s really important for us to stress our priorities of what we’re looking for: communication, boundaries and someone who wants to be involved,” Chen said.
As Tri Delt finalizes their replacement, a new member will join the small community of campus house moms. Zunich and Japczyk both said they enjoy connecting with other directors outside of formal meetings. With all Panhellenic houses located in South Campus’s sorority quad, some moms have formed friendships due to their proximity.
Zunich said that belonging to a sorority as a student played a role in her desire to become a house mom. According to her, one never truly leaves their sorority.
“This is a lifelong membership,” Zunich said. “I want them to have such a good experience that their daughters might live in the house sometime.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the name of Delta Phi Lambda Sorority Inc. The Daily regrets this error.
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