Our Founding

Alpha Chi Omega was founded on October 15, 1885, at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. Professor James Hamilton Howe, dean of DePauw's School of Music encouraged our seven Founders to form a women's society within the school. Anna Allen, Olive Burnett, Bertha Deniston, Amy DuBois, Nellie Gamble, Bessie Grooms, and Estelle Leonard came together to form the sixth women's fraternity in the country.

Our Founders, sure that this would be the first and last musical fraternity chose Alpha and Omega—the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet—to form their name, with “Kai” (meaning “and”) in the middle, later changed to the Greek letter Chi. Alpha Chi Omega now includes more than 200,000 members in 139 collegiate chapters nationwide. It is an organization built by and for real, strong, women.

For more information on our founders, visit the Alpha Chi Omega Headquarters website here.

Important Dates

Founders' Day

On October 15 of each year, Alpha Chi Omega recognizes its fraternity's fall founding at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. On Founders' Day, members wear their badges or letters and celebrate their sisterhood together!

Domestic violence awareness Week

Each fall, Alpha Chi hosts Domestic Violence Awareness (DVA) week to raise awareness and money for our national philanthropy, Domestic Violence Awareness and the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation. Chapters across the country hold different events, but you can learn more about ours, as well as the additional causes we support, here.

MacDowell Month 

During the month of February, Alpha Chi Omega members celebrate the fine arts background upon which their sisterhood was built. Most chapters will encourage their members to attend and perform in fine art events during this month. Epsilon Phi participates by hosting a talent show, holding sisterhood crafts and philanthropy projects, and attending a variety of cultural and artistic events both around campus and the city of Atlanta with our sisters!

Healthy Relationships week

Each spring, Alpha Chi hosts Healthy Relationships week during which they again raise awareness for their philanthropies across campus. Centered around Valentine's Day, members emphasize the importance of supporting one another and maintaining healthy relationships with those we love.

Epsilon Phi Founders' Day

Each collegiate chapter recognizes its own founding anniversary annually. February 22 is our chapter's birthday, and there's usually cake!

Hera Day 

On March 1 of each year, members recognize Alpha Chi's commitment to helping others by conducting service projects and offering assistance to others. We honor our sorority's patron Hera, goddess of women and Queen of Mount Olympus.

The National Convention

Members join together every other summer to conduct fraternity business, reunite with fellow Alpha Chis, and celebrate our sisterhood.

Every day!

Each and every day is important our sisters. We value our time spent together, be it spent studying in coffee shops, eating lunch in between classes, participating in marches in downtown Atlanta, going on late night slushy runs, attending concerts... You name it. We know that memories are made unexpectedly, and wholeheartedly embrace the bond we share and the community in which we are a part!

Background

Here at Georgia Tech, we face a unique issue. Women are certainly the minority of students on our campus. We have only been admitted since the Institute opened its doors to our first female students, Elizabeth Herndon and Diane Michel, in 1952. The first Panhellenic sorority was founded on our campus two years later.  

In 1975, our chapter of Alpha Chi Omega, referred to as Epsilon Phi, was the third Panhellenic sorority founded at Georgia Tech.  During the seventies, there were far more female students, especially in engineering programs, than there had been just two decades previously. However, women still only made up less than 10% of the Georgia Tech student population. 

The first member class of Alpha Chi Omega Epsilon Phi had 34 members. Today, fifty years later, we have 203 active members and thousands of alumni seeking the heights across the globe.

Since our founding, both our chapter and our school have made enormous strides to bridge the gender gap across campus. Our sisterhood has grown, and so has the community of which we are all a part. Today, 37% of all Georgia Tech undergraduate students, and 43% of last year's freshman class, are women. 25% of Georgia Tech students are involved in Greek Life, and around 80% of campus leadership roles around campus are held by Greek affiliated students. We are so excited to see these numbers grow each and every day, year, and decade.

It's only up from here, ladies.

For more information on Greek Life at Georgia Tech, visit http://www.greek.gatech.edu/

To learn more about the Georgia Tech Collegiate Panhellenic Community, visit https://www.gatechcpc.com/

OUR HOME

Our chapter's house, located at 741 Brittain Drive NW, has three floors that are always filled with activity. Our house is where we hold our chapter meetings, put on sisterhood events, and eat meals prepared by our in-house chef service. The front porch features cozy rocking chairs where sisters can study or chat, and our teal front doors are are always welcoming and well-known across campus.

For us, entering through these double doors is like coming home. In the entryway, we are greeted by the living and TV rooms, filled with both study tables, lounge chairs, and the friendly faces of our sisters. The first floor is also home to our sister's kitchen, where house girls can cook their meals, and the chapter room, where we hold our weekly meetings.

The second floor of the house has accommodations for 34 women with three communal bathrooms. This floor overlooks our back porch and back yard, where we have held everything from benefit concerts to Panhellenic block parties!

The basement of the house holds our dining room where meals are served. There is a craft room containing art supplies where sisters can work on various projects and de-stress. There is also a study room, a conference room, and even a media room fit with comfy couches and a large projector, perfect for movie nights with our sisters!

We cannot wait to show you our home and can't wait for you to love it as much as we do!