Alpha Chi Omega was founded on October 15, 1885 at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.
Our founders 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.
(alphachiomega.org)