Category Archives: Colleges and Universities

Madelyn Pugh Davis, ΚΚΓ, and “I Love Lucy”

Watching reruns of I Love Lucy is a vivid memory of my formative years growing up on Long Island in the 1960s. My sister and I could recite dialogue. Decades later, I still say I’m “dauncy” when I am in … Continue reading

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“He Who Enters Selfishly Here – Endangers” Dean Maria Leonard on Fraternity Life, 1938

“He who enters selfishly here – endangers” is the quote from University of Illinois Dean of Women Maria Leonard which appears on a small card titled “A Code.” It was found in a 1938 scrapbook put together by a young … Continue reading

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(And a One, and a Two) Happy Birthday, Sigma Alpha Iota!

Sigma Alpha Iota, a social organization for women with a special interest in music, was founded on June 12, 1903, at the University of Michigan’s School of Music.  It was incorporated in the State of Michigan on December 1, 1904. … Continue reading

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And Then There Were Three – The Nearly Extinct Men’s Colleges

American higher education began as an all-male bastion in 1636 when Harvard College was founded primarily to provide the colonies with an educated clergy.  It was not until 200 years later in 1837 that Oberlin College in Ohio enrolled four … Continue reading

Posted in Alpha Phi Alpha, Beta Theta Pi, Chi Phi, Fran Favorite, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Hampden-Sydney College, Iota Phi Theta, Kappa Alpha Psi, Morehouse College, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Kappa Psi, Wabash College | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on And Then There Were Three – The Nearly Extinct Men’s Colleges

Happy Founders’ Day 2013, Alpha Gamma Delta!

Alpha Gamma Delta was founded at Syracuse University on May 30, 1904 at the home of Dr. Wellesley Perry Coddington, a Syracuse University professor.  The Alpha Gamma Delta Founders are Marguerite Shepard, Jennie Titus Smith, Georgia Otis Chipman, Ethel Evelyn … Continue reading

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On Memorial Day – WAVES, Smith College, Grace Coolidge, and a ΠΦ Connection

Seventy years ago, America was in the midst of World War II. Women had limited opportunities to be of service in the war effort. Some women became WAVES. Established by Public Law 689 on July 30, 1942, the official name … Continue reading

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5/25/1928 – The Rebirth of the Monmouth Duo Begins

Monmouth College, the birthplace of the women’s fraternity movement, is in Monmouth, Illinois, a small town about 15 miles from the Mississippi River in Warren County. The two organizations founded there – Pi Beta Phi in 1867 and Kappa Kappa … Continue reading

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Happy Founders’ Day, Alpha Delta Pi!

Alpha Delta Pi was founded as the Adelphean Society on May 15, 1851 at Wesleyan Female College in Macon, Georgia. In 1905, the Society changed its name to Alpha Delta Phi and installed its second chapter at Salem College in … Continue reading

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Grace Coolidge, Pi Beta Phi and First Lady, Speaks!

By now, readers of this blog know that Grace Goodhue Coolidge is one of my favorite First Ladies. She was a charter member of the Vermont Beta Chapter of Pi Beta Phi and the chapter was installed in the Goodhue … Continue reading

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Mary E. Gladwin, R.N., Winner of the Florence Nightingale Medal and a ΔΓ

In 1920, Mary Elizabeth Gladwin, an 1881 initiate of Delta Gamma’s Eta Chapter, was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal by the International Committee of the Red Cross “For great and exceptional devotion to the sick and wounded in peace and … Continue reading

Posted in Delta Gamma, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Notable Fraternity Women, Sorority History, University of Akron, Women's Fraternity History | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Mary E. Gladwin, R.N., Winner of the Florence Nightingale Medal and a ΔΓ