Alpha Phi was founded on October 10, 1872 at Syracuse University by ten of the first nineteen women admitted to the newly opened university.  Our founders were women with brave hearts that were filled with a noble purpose and with eyes that saw clearly into the future.  These were the Original Ten, the Founders of Alpha Phi.  Pursuing their studies in a thoroughly male-dominated environment, these women had a pressing need for friends who could sympathize with each other's problems and support each other's aspirations.  On September 18, 1972, these then women initiated themselves into Alpha Phi.  In our 135 years of sisterhood, we have grown to include over 150 chapters throughout the United States and Canada.

OUR TEN FOUNDERS

1. Kate Hogoboom Gilbert

2. Martha Foote Crow

3. Florence Childester Lukens

4. Clara Bradley Burdette

5. Clara Sittser Williams

6. Rena Michaels Atchinson

7. Ida Gilbert Houghton

8. Jane Sarah Higham

9. Elizabeth Grace Hubbell Shults

10. Louise Shepard Hancock

OUR PURPOSE

"The objectives of our Fraternity are the promotion of

growth in character; unity of feeling, sisterly affection, and

social communion among our members.  In all that we do, we try to

obey God's principles of justice and right.  We have banded ourselves

together to improve our minds and hearts, and we seek to aid

each other through a constant WatchCare always given in love.

We believe ourselves to be sincere searchers for truth

We seek the highest ideal of womanhood, and we try to

gain this ideal by cultivating not only the power and passion for

seeking intellectual development but, also, the spirit of love and charity.

And we who are thus united are under a solemn pledge to lend a

helping hand to one another."

FIRSTS

~Alpha Phi was the first women's fraternity to occupy a chapter house in 1886 at Syracuse University, New York; Alpha chapter built the first sorority house in America.

~Alpha Phi, in 1902, called an inter-sorority meeting, which resulted in the founding of what is now the National Panhellenic Conference.

~Alpha Phi was the first sorority to publish a book-length history in 1902.

~Alpha Phi was the first fraternity to have a visiting delegate-forerunner of the present day field representatives and district offices.

~Alpha Phi was the first women's fraternity to use Greek Letters as it's emblem and badge.

ALPHA PHI CREED

I believe in my fraternity.

I believe in its friendships formed in the springtime of my youth.

I believe in its high ideal, which lift me up beyond myself.

I believe in its earnest drive for good scholarship, moral character and genuine culture.

I believe in it as a shire of international sisterhood wherein I may find love and loyalty, sympathy and understanding, inspiration and opportunity.

I believe in it as a creator of good citizenship, helping me to do my work well, to live in harmony with others and to serve my country and to trust in God.

I believe my my fraternity.

I believe in Alpha Phi

                                                                             ~Annette Holt Hitchcock

                                                                                                          Pi, 1912

Why Are We a "Fraternity"?

Before women's organizations existed, men's organizations took on the name "fraternity" which means "brotherhood."  When the first women's society developed they took on the same term because there was no other.  Later the term "sorority" was coined after the Latin work "soror" which means "sister."  The term "fraternity" was kept, although the term "sorority" is also used.

To learn more you can always visit the Alpha Phi International website!

www.alphaphi.org