With Alpha Chi Omega, you get an organization built by and for real, strong women.

Alpha Chi Omega was founded on October 15, 1885 at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. That’s about 70 miles southwest of our current headquarters in Indianapolis.

Back when America was getting used to the notion that women belonged in college at all, the dean of DePauw’s School of Music, Professor James Hamilton Howe, invited seven of his female students to form a women’s society within the school.

Our founders took Professor Howe’s suggestion a step further and formed a women’s fraternity, only the sixth of its kind in the country. They were the first such group in the music school and believed they’d be the last. So they chose as their name the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet—Alpha and Omega. They put the word “Kai” (and) in the middle, and later changed it to the Greek letter Chi.

Our founders wanted Alpha Chi Omega to advance “the intellectual, social and moral culture” of its members. It worked. Today, our women’s Fraternity, the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation and our National Housing Corporation serve more than 200,000 members in more than 130 collegiate chapters and 200 alumnae chapters nationwide.

Our Symbols and Traditions

Our Lyre In honor of our founders’ musical roots, the symbol of Alpha Chi Omega is the lyre.

Our Colors Our colors are scarlet red and olive green, in honor of our autumn founding.

Our Flower Our flower is the red carnation.

Our Coat of Arms Our coat of arms is pictured to the left. It includes our open motto, “Together let us seek the heights.”

Our Badge Our badge is a golden Grecian lyre, alluding to our musical heritage.

Our Philanthropy In 1992, Alpha Chi Omega decided to make supporting victims of domestic violence its primary philanthropic focus. The month of October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Hera Day Alpha Chi Omegas everywhere celebrate March 1 as Hera Day. Hera Day is a day of service to others. Many chapters volunteer at women’s shelters or participate in some other type of service project.

MacDowell Month February is MacDowell Month. Named for the MacDowell artists’ colony in New Hampshire (Alpha Chi Omega’s first philanthropic project), this month also honors our founders’ heritage as musicians. During MacDowell Month, our members are encouraged to attend exhibitions, see plays, take in concerts, and otherwise celebrate and patronize the arts. To learn more about the MacDowell Colony, go to macdowellcolony.org.