History

The uniqueness of Alpha Phi is rooted in the spirit of innovation originated by Alpha Phi’s ten Founders in 1872. These enterprising women were the first to be

admitted to Syracuse University. Within a month of setting foot on campus, they decided that they were not satisfied with merely participating in the classroom. They wanted to participate in the men’s fraternities as well. Denied admission to these fraternities, our Founders chose to take matters into their own hands and create their own fraternity for women. They envisioned a far-reaching sisterhood form the outset, and dreamed of establishing chapters in the "unpeopled West" and at universities beyond the US borders.

Alpha Phi in Canada

It was not long before our Founders dreams were being implemented. In 1905, six forward-thinking young women at the University of Toronto formed a small club called Psi Delta and petitioned to become an Alpha Phi chapter. In 1906, Xi Chapter at U of T was founded and Alpha Phi became an International Women’s Fraternity. Alpha Phi’s Toronto chapter is the longest running NPC chapter in Canada. 

Alpha Phi @ U of Manitoba

Our chapter, Beta Eta, was the second Alpha Phi chapter in Canada. Founded at the University of Manitoba in 1928, we were the 3rd NPC group following the opening of Gamma Phi Beta (1925), Kappa Kappa Gamma (1928).  Other chapters that opened after us include Pi Beta Phi (1929), and Zeta Tau Alpha (1929), Alpha Gamma Delta (1930), Alpha Delta Pi (1930), Phi Sigma Sigma (1930), Delta Delta Delta (1931), Iota Alpha Pi (1932), and Sigma Kappa (1933).  

Some distinguished Canadian Alpha Phi's

Kaye Elizabeth Dunlop - Beta Eta-Manitoba: Order of Canada, Native Justice Lawyer

Monica Kennedy Monczka - Xi-Toronto: Alpha Phi International Executive Board

Jodi White - Xi-Toronto: Chief of Staff to Former Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell

Shirley Pugh McLoughlin - Xi-Toronto: First woman Liberal Party Leader in BC, elected May 1981

Carol Mahood Huddart - Xi-Toronto: Appointed in 1996 to the Court of Appeal of British Columbia, the highest court in BC

Above information courtesy Canadian Greeks

home