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Our History

INTERNATIONAL GAMMA PHI BETA HISTORY

We, as members of the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, are beyond proud of our rich and well accomplished history. During an era when women were discouraged to attend college, our four bold and courageous founders once friends came together to form the first women's society. Through the hardships and the adversity they battled, the four women succeeded by creating one of the ten oldest women led organization. Now, more than 140 years later, we celebrate the vision and dedication of those women whom the word "sorority" was first coined- and all who have come since. 

 

Gamma Phi Beta was founded on November 11, 1874, at Syracuse University in New York by four inspirational women; Helen M. Dodge, Frances E. Haven, E. Adeline Curtis and Mary A. Bingham. Our four founders joined together with courage and built what is now one of the largest and well respected sororities in North America. The sorority has chartered 187 collegiate chapters across the United States and Canada, and has more than 200,000 collegiate and alumnae members worldwide with the headquarters located in Centennial, Colorado.

Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, one of the 10 oldest women’s organizations in North America and the first to be called a “sorority,” was founded November 11, 1874, at Syracuse University in New York.

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Mission:  "To Inspire the Highest Type of Womanhood"

 

Core Values:  Love, Labor, Learning & Loyalty

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Symbol:  Crescent Moon

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Flower:  Pink Carnation

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Colors:  Brown & Mode

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Open Motto:  Founded on a Rock

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Philanthropy:  Building Strong Girls

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University of Northern Iowa Chapter:  Gamma Psi

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Nickname: Gamma Phi

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CHAPTER HISTORY

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Gamma Psi Chapter was installed at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on November 23, 1968.

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Former members of Delta Delta Phi local sorority, along with their alumnae, were welcomed to Gamma Phi Beta on April 28, 1968, bringing with them a heritage of 60 years on campus of the University of Northern Iowa. Colonization was under the direction of Director of Expansion Elna Erickson Simons (Birmingham-Southern), assisted by Marilyn Bachnik Callahan (Wisconsin-Oshkosh) and Mary Walstad Hoffmann (North Dakota State), field secretaries*, who stayed with the girls during their new member period. Conducting the ceremony was Omega Chapter (Iowa State). Mary Babbitt Bilby (Arizona, 1941), the new director of expansion, was in charge of installation on November 23, 1896, with the Initiation of 70 chapter members and 37 alumnae by Rho Chapter (Iowa). At the banquet that evening, Grand President** Barbara Burns Hiscock (University of Washington, 1939) presented the Gamma Psi charter to Chapter President Carole Baumgarten Yost (Northern Iowa).

Gamma Psi's chartered members in 1968

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