WHO WE ARE Alpha Chi Omega is an organization about you: unique, talented, genuine women choosing a fun and meaningful way to enhance your college experience and building lifelong bonds that extend long into your alumnae years. It's about strength in numbers through the 240,000 real, strong women who stand by your side, cheer you on and lead you to a lifetime of growth and connection. It’s about wearing the lyre badge with pride during a Ritual ceremony, volunteering at a women’s shelter or networking with sisters across the country to land your dream job. It’s about the values you share with your sisters– wisdom, devotion and achievement – as you celebrate and support each other. Alpha Chi Omega is about empowering you to live as your true self, to reach your potential and to be the real, strong woman you are meant to be. VISION Alpha Chi Omega shapes the future through the powerful, transformative, and everlasting connections of real, strong women.
ALPHA CHI OMEGA IS AN ORGANIZATION BUILT BY AND FOR REAL. STRONG. WOMEN. Alpha Chi Omega was founded on October 15, 1885, at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. At a time when women were just beginning to occupy seats in college classrooms, seven female students were encouraged by Professor James Hamilton Howe, dean of DePauw’s School of Music, to form a women’s society within the school. Inspired, our Founders formed the tenth women’s fraternity in the country—the first to be in a music school. Sure they would be the last, the founders 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." Dedicated to advancing “the intellectual, social and moral culture” of its members, our Founders’ vision has grown to include our women’s Fraternity, the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation, National Housing Corporation, and Pearl Strone Partners. Together, they serve more than 230,000 members in more than 140 collegiate chapters and 200 alumnae chapters nationwide.