Omega Phi Alpha (???) is an American national service sorority. It was founded in 1967 at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Omega Phi Alpha, also known as OPhiA or OPA, currently has thirty active chapters in the United States.
Video Omega Phi Alpha
Purpose
The purpose of Omega Phi Alpha reads as follows:
- The purpose and goals of this sorority shall be to assemble its members in the fellowship of Omega Phi Alpha, to develop friendship, leadership, and cooperation by promoting service to the university community, to the community-at-large, to the members of the sorority, and to the nations of the world.
Maps Omega Phi Alpha
History
In 1953, the Zeta Kappa chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity, expressed interest in forming a group much like theirs to help them in their service endeavors. The brothers of Zeta Kappa formed interest groups for a new organization, and many of the attendees at these interest groups were women. The need for a female service sorority then became evident.
The two groups were to be alike in objectives--friendship, leadership, and service. A similar name--Omega Phi Alpha--was chosen for the new organization. Just as the Alpha Phi Omega chapter was limited to former Boy Scouts, the Omega Phi Alpha chapter was originally limited to former Girl Scouts and Campfire Girls. This limitation continued until 1958.
Two more Omega Phi Alpha groups were formed at Eastern Michigan University and the University of Bridgeport in 1958 and 1962, respectively. All three groups had the intention of becoming a national sorority together; however, it would be five more years before national status was reached.
In 1966, plans for a national convention, at which the three chapters could meet, were made. In the summer of 1967, the three groups met in Bowling Green for the first time and laid the foundations for what is currently Omega Phi Alpha. The Bowling Green group was given the title of Alpha Chapter, University of Bridgeport became the Beta Chapter, and Eastern Michigan was named the Gamma Chapter.
The Alpha, Beta, and Gamma chapters continued for several years as a national sorority until women at Texas A&M University formed the Delta chapter in 1970. Currently, there are thirty-one active chapters of Omega Phi Alpha. Additionally, there are ten inactive chapters and eight alumnae chapters.
Service program
Omega Phi Alpha has a diverse, flexible service program which allows each member to contribute to the world around her. Many chapters have ongoing projects that they have worked with for years.
Six areas of service:
1. Permanent Project: The permanent project is mental health. Mental health service projects are defined as any project that improves the well being of others, and these projects are typically hands on projects such as playing with kids in an afterschool program, playing Bingo at a nursing home, or serving meals at a soup kitchen.
2. President's Project: Each year at Omega Phi Alpha National Convention, the National President of Omega Phi Alpha presents the cause she feels is worthy of being the focus of OPA service nationwide.
- 1968-1969: Mental health
- 1970-1971: Ecology
- 1973-1974: Elderly
- 1974-1975: Muscular Dystrophy
- 1977-1978: Heart Disease
- 1979-1980: International Year of the Child
- 1980-1981: Hands Across the Ages- Working with the Elderly
- 1982-1983: Girl Scouts of the USA
- 1983-1984: National Head Injury Foundation
- 1984-1985: Alcohol Awareness
- 1990-1991: Environment
- 1991-1992: Cultural Diversity
- 1993-1994: AIDS education
- 1995-1996: Breast Cancer
- 1996-1997: Ronald McDonald House
- 2002-2003: Girl Scouts of the USA
- 2003-2004: Alcohol abuse prevention/Alcohol Awareness
- 2004-2005: Support your sisterhood
- 2005-2006: Education
- 2006-2007: Women's health
- 2007-2008: Domestic violence awareness
- 2008-2009: Women's cancer awareness
- 2009-2010: Literacy
- 2010-2011: Money Management
- 2011-2012: Archiving OPA
- 2012-2013: Community Inclusion
- 2013-2014: Empowering Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)
- 2014-2015: Physical Fitness and Healthy Living
- 2015-2016: Mental Health Matters
- 2016-2017: Chapter Choice
- 2017-2018: Childhood Obesity
- Past President's projects prior to 2002 include the environment, terminal illness, AIDS awareness and education, domestic violence, "Just Say No To Drugs", handicapped children, nursing, ecology, heart disease, children, the elderly, head injury prevention, Literacy, and internal organization keypoints.
3. Service to the University Community: Volunteering to help at a school event, holding stress relief classes, random acts of kindness
4. Service to the Community at Large: Local park clean ups, food banks, tutoring at a local school, Humane Society volunteering
5. Service to the members of the sorority: Alumnae, internal strengthening
6. Service to the nations of the world: UNICEF, AIDS Awareness, diabetes awareness (American Diabetes Association), breast cancer awareness (Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, among others)
Through these six areas of service, active and alumnae chapters plan a variety of service projects year each to carry out and make a difference.
Chapters
Active chapters
These are the current active chapters of Omega Phi Alpha. Generally, chapters of Omega Phi Alpha are named in Greek alphabetical order. The only exception to this is the Penn State chapter, which was founded from a local sorority named Theta Alpha Pi. This chapter was named Alpha Theta as a tribute to their founding organization.
- Alpha - Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio (1953)
- Gamma - Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan (1962, 1967 (formation of the national org) - 1974, rechartered in 1993)
- Delta - Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas (1970)
- Epsilon - Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, Tennessee (May 24, 1973)
- Mu - Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee (January 29, 1983)
- Nu - Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia (April 23, 1988)
- Omicron - Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama (April 4, 1992)
- Rho - Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky (December 4, 1993)
- Sigma - University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, Tennessee (December 5, 1993)
- Tau - University of Texas, Austin, Texas (April 30, 1994)
- Upsilon - University of Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana (April 19, 1997)
- Phi - Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona (1998)
- Chi - University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina (April 19, 1998)
- Psi - Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas (May 2, 1998)
- Omega - Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey (2000, rechartered in 2015)
- Alpha Alpha - Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona (2000)
- Alpha Beta - University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi (January 25, 2003)
- Alpha Gamma - Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma (January 17, 2004)
- Alpha Delta - Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia (April 8, 2006)
- Alpha Theta - Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania (May 6, 2006)
- Chapter letters given out of order to honor the name of the local which joined, Theta Alpha Pi
- Alpha Epsilon - Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, Louisiana (June 11, 2006)
- Alpha Zeta - Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia (October 15, 2006)
- Alpha Iota - Notre Dame of Maryland University, Baltimore, Maryland (May 16, 2009)
- Alpha Kappa - University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas (February 27, 2010)
- Alpha Lambda - North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina (April 10, 2010)
- Alpha Mu - Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts (September 10, 2011)
- Alpha Nu - Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas (January 19, 2013)
- Alpha Xi - University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (March 15, 2014)
- Alpha Omicron - University of Florida, Gainesville, FL (October 25, 2014)
- Alpha Pi - West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV (November 15, 2014)
- Alpha Rho - Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (March 25, 2017)
Inactive chapters
These are the current inactive chapters of Omega Phi Alpha
- Beta - University of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, Connecticut (1958 - )
- Zeta - Wayland Baptist College, Plainview, Texas (October 6, 1974 - 1992)
- Eta - Amarillo College, Amarillo, Texas (1974 - 1983)
- Theta - West Virginia Institute of Technology, Montgomery, West Virginia (1975 - 1978)
- Iota - Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan (1978 - 1983)
- Kappa - Capital University, Columbus, Ohio (1978 - )
- Lambda - University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut (1981 - 1988)
- Xi - University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama (1990 - 1996(?))
- Pi - Teikyo Post University, Waterbury, Connecticut (1993 - )
- Alpha Eta - University of South Carolina Aiken, Aiken, South Carolina (March 3, 2009-2015)
Alumnae chapters
- Omega Alpha - Connecticut (inactive)
- Omega Beta - Michigan (inactive) (Provisional group reactivating)
- Omega Gamma - Greater Atlanta
- Omega Delta - Greater Nashville
- Omega Epsilon - Chattanooga (restarting)
- Omega Zeta - Austin
- Omega Eta - Knoxville (inactive)
- Omega Theta - Acadiana Louisiana
- Omega Tau - Houston Area (Name assigned out of order to honor this long-running group, previously named the Texas Alumnae Chapter.)
- Omega Iota - Phoenix
- Dallas / Fort Worth Provisional Alumnae Chapter
- Kansas City Provisional Alumnae Chapter
Convention
Omega Phi Alpha holds one national convention each year. The national conventions provide a forum for making sorority-wide decisions like aligning on a budget, electing national officers, or changing the national policies reflected in the constitution and by-laws. Each active chapter in good standing has two votes to use in deciding sorority issues. Active chapters who are not in good standing have only one vote. There are also alumnae delegates who represent each of OPA's four districts. For every three active votes, alumnae get one vote.
OPA national convention locations include:
Districts
Omega Phi Alpha has eleven districts of active chapters. Each district meets at least once a year to hold a district summit, which includes service projects, workshops, and sisterhood activities. Alumnae ties were removed from districts and changed to regions at Convention 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- D1 - Liberty District
- Alpha Theta (Penn State)
- Alpha Iota (Notre Dame of Maryland)
- Alpha Pi (West Virginia University)
- D2 - Bluegrass District
- Epsilon (Tennessee Tech)
- Mu (Middle Tennessee State)
- Rho (Western Kentucky)
- Sigma (University Tennessee Chattanooga)
- D3 - Azalea District
- Nu (Georgia Tech)
- Omicron (Auburn)
- Alpha Zeta (Kennesaw State)
- D4 - Cajun Country District
- Upsilon (Louisiana at Lafayette)
- Alpha Beta (Ole Miss)
- Alpha Epsilon (Southeastern Louisiana)
- D5 - Lonestar District
- Delta (Texas A&M)
- Tau (Texas at Austin)
- Psi (Texas A&M Corpus Christi)
- Alpha Nu (Texas State)
- D6 - Cactus Pine District
- Phi (Arizona State)
- Alpha Alpha (Northern Arizona)
- D7 - Founding District
- Alpha (Bowling Green State)
- Gamma (Eastern Michigan)
- D8 - Blue Ridge District
- Chi (South Carolina)
- Alpha Lambda (North Carolina State)
- Alpha Rho (Virginia Tech)
- D9 - Heartland District
- Alpha Gamma (Oklahoma State)
- Alpha Kappa (Kansas)
- D10 - Peaches and Beaches
- Alpha Delta (Georgia Southern)
- Alpha Xi (University of Central Florida)
- Alpha Omicron (University of Florida)
- D11 - Colonial
- Alpha Mu (Boston University)
- Omega (Rutgers University)
Regions
Omega Phi Alpha has four regions of alumnae. Alumnae regions are drawn on state lines and are based on population distribution of OPA alumnae. Each alumnae region sends a specific number of delegates to OPA's National Convention every year; this number is based on the number of active votes possible at that year's Convention. Alumnae representation makes up 25% of the total representation at any given Convention.
- West Region
- States: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, International locations
- Midwest Region
- States: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin
- South Region
- States: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee
- East Region
- States: Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia
References
External links
- Omega Phi Alpha National website
- BGSU Omega Phi Alpha Website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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