Chapter History

You have to know where you’ve been to know where you are going. Kappa holds a special place in its heart for Fraternity history, but every chapter of our organization has unique beginnings of its own. Each plays a part in shaping us today. Read more about our chapters’ histories in Kappa's digital archives.

On April 24, 1959 Epsilon Delta Chapter at Arizona State University became the first Kappa chapter to be installed at a Province Convention.

The story of the chapter really began 12-years earlier when Cleo Hedde Woodall, Cummard (Barlow), Hillsdale, a former member of the Arizona State faculty was asked by the university administration to present the possibility of colonization to Kappa Kappa Gamma. Marjorie Miller Hoar, Arizona, Province Director of Chapters, reported findings to the Province Convention, and in 1948 the application was presented to the Extension Committee.

The committee decided not to colonize at that time but to place Arizona State on the approved list and bring it before the next biennial convention.

The campus was closed to further colonization in 1949 and was not reopened until 1956 when Mrs. Cummard had a request from Dean Catherine Nichols asking Kappa to reconsider. The Scottsdale alumnae voted unanimously in favor of the move, and later the Phoenix alumnae gave approval.

At the 42nd Biennial Convention in 1958, it was unanimously voted to colonize at Arizona State. Alphonsine Clapp Howard, Nebraska, was appointed local colonization chairman. There were months of preparation. Members of the Arizona Chapter came by bus for the last two parties and February 15, 1959, 29 girls received pledge pins.

Epsilon Delta received its charter at the Fraternity Province Meeting in Tucson. Formal installation and initiation of 28 pledges took place in the Mountain View Presbyterian Church. The chapter's first full year began with 21 members living together on the third floor of C Wing, Palo Verde Hall. The chapter furnished and maintained a kitchen, chapter room, and pledge room, and the university furnished the bedrooms. Here fraternity life developed, and scholarship took precedence over all.

For more about the history of the Epsilon Delta Chapter visit our chapter's Kappapedia!