Theta Phi Alpha

Theta Phi Alpha (), commonly known as Theta Phi, is a women's fraternity founded at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor on August 30, 1912. Theta Phi Alpha is one of 26 national sororities recognized in the National Panhellenic Conference. Today, Theta Phi Alpha has 54 active chapters across the United States. Theta Phi has alumnae clubs and associations in almost every major city. In 1993, Theta Phi Alpha adopted reducing homelessness as a philanthropic cause.

Although Theta Phi Alpha began as a sorority for Catholic women, the organization opened its doors to all women in 1968. From this need, he started the women's fraternity Omega Upsilon in 1909 for Catholic women. Several women students were originally very interested in joining, partly because Catholics were not always welcome in the other Greek-letter sororities on campus. By founding this new Greek letter organization, Catholic women had fraternity life open to them.

By the spring of 1912, Omega Upsilon was failing financially and membership was low. Father Kelly requested the assistance of Amelia McSweeney, who graduated from the university in 1898. Amelia and other alumnae of Omega Upsilon began actively to redesign the failing organization. Throughout the summer of 1912, the ten founders prepared for the new organization.</u>

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“Justice to each fellow man,

Wisdom in each deed and plan,

Loyalty to every friend,

Faith that sorrow can transcend.

Truth to God and truth to self,

Honor valued over wealth,

This is the creed that in us lies,

This is the creed of loyal Theta Phis”

"The white rose for its purity,

The sapphire blue for loyalty,

The compass for its needle sure,

That holds our course firm and secure,

The silver for a precious faith,

That knows no end not even death,

This is the creed that in us lies,

The creed of loyal Theta Phis"

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| source = ~ The Compass, <small>1921</small>

1950s

Theta Phi Alpha joined the NPC in 1951 along with ten other national sororities in the NPC's most recent expansion. Pi Lambda Sigma at the time of the merger had four chapters that joined Theta Phi Alpha: their chapters at Boston University and University of Cincinnati merged with the Theta Phi Alpha chapters present there; the chapter at Creighton University became Chi chapter of Theta Phi Alpha; and the one at Quincy College became Psi chapter. The fraternity initiated the national president of Pi Lambda Sigma at the 1952 convention and welcomed all Pi Lambda Sigma sisters to become Theta Phi Alpha sisters.

Dorothy Phalan

Dorothy Phalan (née Caughey) assisted in the founding of the sorority by providing the original meeting space to plan the reorganization of Omega Upsilon. Her daughter, Margaret, became the first legacy of Theta Phi Alpha to pledge. Alongside her sister, Dorothy Phalan, she supported the original meetings of Theta Phi Alpha. She believed that experience through adversity strengthened fraternal bonds. She was the primary writer of the creed and earned the distinction of the "Lifetime Keeper of the Ritual."

Selma Gilday

Selma Gilday was born on August 21, 1877, in Monroe, Michigan. She attended the University of Michigan and graduated with a degree in Latin and German in 1902. She was present at the first tea for Theta Phi Alpha and focused on securing alumnae support for the new organization. After founding Theta Phi Alpha, Gilday went on to teach German, Latin, and mathematics for 46 years in Toledo where she organized the Toledo-Monroe City Alumnae Association. She died on June 10, 1958.

Otilia O'Hara

Otilia O'Hara (née Leuchtweis) was an undergraduate founder and the first member to sign the record book. She became president of the Alpha chapter in 1912. She, along with Eva Bauer Everson, located and secured the home for the newest sisters of Theta Phi Alpha. She also managed the first recruitment effort which brought in ten members. After she graduated the following year, O'Hara remained involved in the fraternity, chairing the committee that selected the gift of silver flatware presented to Alpha at the 1941 national convention.

Amelia McSweeney

After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1898 as an alumna of Omega Upsilon, Amelia McSweeney became an important figure in education and civic life in Detroit. Blue represents the bond between sisters, while silver and gold represent endless faith.

Badges

The Theta Phi Alpha badge is a gold letter Θ set with pearls, superimposed upon plain gold letters Φ and Α. While the Theta Phi Alpha Foundation oversees national philanthropic causes, each chapter may also support additional philanthropic causes.

Hunger and Homelessness

Theta Phi Alpha adopted the philanthropic cause of providing shelter in an effort to reduce homelessness in 1993. Now over 30 years later, our philanthropic efforts continue to center around this cause. Rebranded to Hunger and Homelessness at our 2024 National Convention, our chapters strongly support this effort with their philanthropy and community service activities. The intention of the program is for our members in Theta Phi Alpha to work towards providing shelter and necessary care items for those who need it, as well as working to end food insecurity.

Membership

Notable members

Chapters

A chapter is a local Theta Phi Alpha organization at a single college or university. As of August 1, 2022, Theta Phi Alpha had 55 active collegiate chapters as well as 37 alumnae associations and clubs across the United States.

Chapters are named with Greek letters in order of their date of installation, with the first chapter being the Alpha chapter. If a chapter closes for any reason, no other Theta Phi Alpha chapter is allowed to utilize its Greek name designation until a chapter can be re-chartered or re-established at the same college or university.

To become a chapter, a group begins as an emerging chapter. An emerging chapter is a group of women working together to complete the requirements to become a chapter of Theta Phi Alpha. Once established, an emerging chapter is expected to fulfill nineteen requirements or "pearls." Once these requirements are fulfilled, the emerging chapter goes through installation where its members become fully initiated into the fraternity. As of August 1, 2022, there are no emerging chapters.

Governance

National convention

The supreme governing body of Theta Phi Alpha is the national convention which happens once every other year. The national convention is held in even-numbered years while a complementary Leadership Conference is held in odd-numbered years.

National structure

The Grand Council is composed of seven officers who are elected at the National Convention. The Grand Council manages the affairs of the Fraternity between conventions by holding four meetings a year. The board of trustees is composed of five members who are elected at the Convention for a four-year term. The National President serves as an ex-officio member. Three of the trustees must have been previous national officers. The board of trustees advises on national policy, coordinates the awards and elections program, oversees the selection of the Siena Medal recipients, and appoints the other national officers. Another award, the Senior Service Award, is given on Founders' Day to a collegiate senior whose scholarship, leadership, character, and service to fraternity and school have been commendable. The past recipients of the Siena Medal are:

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! Year

! Recipient

! Accomplishment

| 1937

| Agnes Regan

| First executive secretary to the National Council of Catholic Women and supporter of education for all regardless of race or sex

| 1938

| Mary Merrick

| National Christ Child Society founder and lifetime director

|1939

| Agnes Repplier

| Essayist known for contemporary commentary

| 1940

| Jane M. Hoey

| director of the Public Assistance Bureau of the Social Security Board

|1941

| Anne O'Hare McCormick

| first woman recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism

|1942

| Anne Sarachon Hooley

| National Council of Catholic Women president

| 1943

| Katharine Drexel

| founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians & Colored People

| 1944

| Helen C. White

| president for the American Association of University Women and the American Association of University Professors

|1945

| Alleta Sullivan

| mother of the Sullivan brothers who were lost in the sinking of the USS Juneau off Guadalcanal

| 1946

| Frances Parkinson Keyes

| novelist and biographer

|1947

| Mary Teresa Norton

| United States Congresswoman from New Jersey 1925–1951; chairman of the House Committee on Labor

|1948

| Madeleva Wolff

| educator, poet, and author, president of St. Mary's College, and president of the Catholic Poetry Society of America

|1950

|Loretta Young

| actress known for The Loretta Young Show, The Stranger, and The Bishop's Wife

| 1960

| Mary Ellen Kelly

| founder of the League of Shut-In Sodalists as an immobilized arthritic

| 1962

| Maria Augusta Trapp

| leader of the Trapp Family Singers

| 1964

| Irene M. Auberlin

| World Medical Relief founder and president

| 1966

| Dorothy Julia Willman

| co-founder of the Summer Schools for the Christian Apostolate and associate editor of Directions magazine

| 1968

| Rosemary Kilch

| Women in Community Service president

| 1976

| Hattie Larlham

| Hattie Larlham Foundation co-founder

| 1986

| Candy Lightner

| Mothers Against Drunk Driving founder

| 1988

| Anne M. Burke

| Special Olympics founder

|1990

| Helen Thomas

| first woman member and President of the White House Correspondents Association

| 1992

| Eileen Stevens

| founder of the Committee to Halt Useless College Killings after the death of her son Chuck Stenzel

| 1994

| Linda Caldwell Fuller

| Habitat for Humanity International co-founder

| 1996

| Nancy Goodman Brinker

| Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation founder

| 1998

| Barbara McKillip

| founder of the Libri Foundation, an organization that provided children's books to rural libraries

| 2000

| Kay Redfield Jamison

| advocate in her field of manic depression illness

| 2002

| Pamela Martin

| Homeward Bound executive director

| 2004

| Susan Davenny-Wyner

| Soprano solo singer and conductor

| 2006

| Andrea Cooper

| mother who shared the story of her daughter's rape and subsequent suicide with college students.

| 2008

| Diane Straub

| U.S. Paralympic team gold medalist and world record holder for swimming.

| 2010

| Emily Elizabeth Douglas

| founder, at the age of 11, of Grandma's Gifts in memory of her grandmother, Norma Ackison.

|2012

| Elizabeth Smart

| activist for sexual predator legislation and the Amber alert system

|2014

| Rachel Simmons

| author of Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls, and The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence

|2016

|Terry Grahl

|Enchanted Makeovers founder and CEO

|2018

|Ginny Carroll

|Circle of Sisterhood founder and executive director

|2020

|Nikole Collins-Puri

|TechBridge Girls founder

|2022

|Dolly Chugh

|Award-winning professor at the New York University Stern School of Business and author

|2024

|Kristin Smedley

|Activist and educator about blindness (mother of two blind children). Has nonprofit thrivingblindacademy.org