Alpha Gamma Delta History
Alpha Gamma Delta was officially founded on May 30, 1904 at the home of Dr. Wellesley Perry Coddington, a professor at Syracuse University who was instrumental in the early development of Alpha Gamma Delta. Each of the Fraternity's 11 founders were progressive women who selflessly contributed to the foundation and growth of Alpha Gamma Delta. Since the founding, collegiate chapters have been installed at 184 colleges and universities across North America and more than 155,000 women have become Alpha Gam sisters. Guided by our Purpose, Alpha Gamma Deltas are impacting our communities and contributing to the world's work
Beta Eta Chapter History
In 1923, the first local sorority was organized at SIUC. The chapter was called Epsilon Beta and was the forerunner to the present Beta Eta Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta. Soon after its founding, Epsilon Beta moved into its chapter house at 800 South University. This remained the chapter house until the group moved into 104 Small Group Housing, Stein Hall, in 1960.
In 1928, Epsilon Beta petitioned the national group Delta Sigma Epsilon for membership, and during that next year became the Alpha Delta chapter of Delta Sigma Epsilon. This was the first national sorority at SIUC.
In 1956, the national group Delta Sigma Epsilon merged with the NPC sorority Delta Zeta. The chapter on Southern's campus petitioned to be released from this merger, and the Alpha Delta Chapter of Delta Sigma Epsilon became a local group called Nu Delta Sigma. This group remained on campus for the school year 1956-1957.