Kappa Alpha Theta

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Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority

ΚΑΘ

Motto: Sisterhood, Unity, Support
Nicknames: Theta
Image:Kappa Alpha Theta Crest.jpg

The Coat of Arms

Founded: January 27, 1870 at

DePauw University,

Founders:
  • Bettie Locke Hamilton
  • Alice Allen Brant
  • Bettie Tipton Lindsey
  • Hanna Fitch Shaw
Members 170,000 Alumni,
Official Philanthropy: Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)
Official Colors: Black and Gold
Official Flower: The black and gold pansy
Official Symbols: The Kite
Kappa Alpha Theta Website

Kappa Alpha Theta (ΚΑΘ) is an international women's fraternity founded on January 27, 1870 at DePauw University. The sorority currently has 124 chapters at colleges and universities across the United States and Canada with a total initiated membership of 170,000. Currently, it is one of the top five largest sororities.

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History

Kappa Alpha Theta, also known as Theta, was the first Greek letter organization founded for college women.

Kappa Alpha Theta was founded as a fraternity for women in 1870 and was established to give women a support group in the then mostly-male college world at what is now DePauw University. Indiana Asbury, as the university was known then, officially opened its doors to women in 1867, thirty years after the college was first established. Four women, Bettie Locke (Hamilton), Alice Allen (Brant), Bettie Tipton (Lindsay) and Hannah Fitch (Shaw), sought to create an organization for women that would provide the encouragement and support that would draw women to coeducational colleges and help them attain a degree. It was with these ideals in mind that the four women founded Kappa Alpha Theta, and believed in the Fraternity's strength through its members' lasting loyalty to each other and to the Fraternity ideals.

Kappa Alpha Theta, the first Greek-letter organization known among women, was based in part on two Fraternities with which Bettie Locke had contact; Beta Theta Pi, her father's fraternity, and Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji), her brother's fraternity. Bettie had many friends in Fiji, and when one asked her to wear his badge as a token of friendship, Bettie declined; because she did not know the secrets and purposes which the letters represented, she said, she could not wear them. Though there was some talk of initiating Bettie into the fraternity, they instead presented her with a silver fruit basket engraved with their letters. This ideal has been integrated into the current practices of Kappa Alpha Theta, as only initiated members of the Fraternity (who know the meaning of these letters) may wear Theta's letters.

Impressed with the fraternity ideals, Bettie searched for a women's counterpart. Finding none, she followed her father's suggestion to begin her own. And so Kappa Alpha Theta was conceived. Bettie and her friend Alice Allen together wrote a constitution, planned ceremonies, designed a badge, and sought other women on campus worthy of membership. The four foounding members initiated themselves on January 27, 1870, becoming the first Greek-letter fraternity known among women.

These four women proudly wore their black and gold badges to Asbury's chapel service on March 14. The Alpha Chapter at Asbury grew to 22 sisters. Soon Kappa Alpha Theta spread to other colleges with Bettie's establishment of the Beta Chapter at Indiana University in May of the same year.

Through the years, Kappa Alpha Theta has grown to its current size of 124 college chapters, 282 alumnae groups, and more than 170,000 members.

"Faith * Hope * Love", twin stars, a black and gold pansy, and the kite all represent the fraternity ideals of sisterhood.

The Founders of Kappa Alpha Theta

Image:Bettie Lock Hamilton.jpg Bettie Locke Hamilton Image:Alice allen brant.jpg Alice Allen Brant
Image:Bettie tipton lindsey.jpg Bettie Tipton Lindsey Image:Hannah fitch shaw.jpg Hannah Fitch Shaw
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Mission statement

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, Kappa Alpha Theta exists to nurture each member throughout her college and alumnae experience and to offer a lifelong opportunity for social, intellectual and moral growth as she meets the higher and broader demands of mature life

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Educational Foundation

The Kappa Alpha Theta Foundation, founded in 1960, is the philanthropic arm of the organization. It supports the Fraternity's educational programs as well as the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Theta's international philanthropy. The Foundation annually awards more than $400,000 in graduate and undergraduate scholarships to its members. Theta is among the top of the Greek community in supplying scholarship awards to collegiate members.

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Notable Thetas

Academics

  • Mary Ritter Beard - Noted historian, Campaigner for Women's Suffrage
  • Anna Dickinson - Abolitionist, 1st woman to speak before the United States Congress
  • Bertha Van Hoosen, MD - 1st president of the American Medical Women’s Association
  • Dian Fossey - Zoologist, first female Primatologist, wrote 'Gorillas in the Mist' recounting her years as a researcher
  • Molly Corbett Broad - Named president of the University of North Carolina, 1997
  • Matilda Moldenhauer Brooks - Biologist who discovered an antidote to carbon monoxide and cyanide poisoning - the methylene blue treatment
  • Anna Botsford Comstock - one of the 1st four women admitted to Sigma Xi national honor society for the sciences in 1888, named one of America’s 12 greatest living women in a 1923 League of Women Voters survey. She was inducted into the National Wildlife Federation’s Conservation Hall of Fame in 1988
  • Margaret Floy Washburn - the 1st woman to receive a Ph.D. in Psychology

Arts and Entertainment

Business

Politics

  • Tillie Fowler - United States Representative from Florida
  • Barbara Hackman Franklin - served as the 29th U.S. Secretary of Commerce and was one of the highest ranking women in the Bush Sr. administration, now CEO of Barbara Franklin Enterprises
  • Karen Koning Abu Zayd - Deputy Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Administration for Palestine Refugees
  • Frances Cleveland Axtell - One of the 1st two women elected to serve as Washington State legislators (1913 - 1915)
  • Midge Rendell - Federal Appeals Court Judge
  • Mary Louise Epperson Smith - the 1st woman to chair the Republican National Committee (1974-1977)
  • Mary Vance Trent - one of the 1st female Foreign Service Officers serving the United States Government

Sports

Miscellaneous

Media

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External links

Template:National Panhellenic Conference

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