"To surpass in mere numbers of chapters is not our aim. That would be unworthy.
Let us be known as a fraternity satisfied with only the highest attainment of
character and scholarship."
--- Jennie Titus Smith Morris
Alpha Gam Founding Member
Alpha Gamma Delta is an international women’s fraternity founded on May 30, 1904 at Syracuse University by eleven pioneering women seeking an organization based on academic excellence, leadership development, high ideals, and sisterhood. Unlike other organizations that served as literary societies or local groups, Alpha Gamma Delta was founded to become a national women's “fraternity” rather than “sorority”. The origin of this derived from an early advisor who noted that soror is a Latin word with no connection to the Greek traditions cited by many collegiate social groups like Alpha Gamma Delta. Alpha Gamma Delta was the first Greek organization formed with the intent of being a national organization, the first of the National Panhellenic Council to adopt a specific international philanthropy, and the first Greek sorority to colonize in Hawaii. Today, Alpha Gamma Delta has grown to be an international organization with 184 collegiate chapters and 250 alumnae chapters, clubs, and Junior Circles. Across North America, more than 155,000 women have become Alpha Gam sisters.
The Gamma Alpha Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta was installed at the University of Georgia in 1923 and is the third oldest sorority on campus. After more than eighty seven years on campus, the ladies of Gamma Alpha continually strive to uphold and surpass the principles of sisterhood set forth by their eleven founding members through community service, scholarship, and sisterhood.
The Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation, created in 1962, allows women of all ages to make positive differences on their campuses and in their communities. Annually, the Gamma Alpha Chapter raises money for the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation which funds diabetes research, treatment, and education. Diabetes was chosen as our international philanthropy as diabetes continues to affect our members as well as our friends, families, and acquaintances.
Back on a May evening in 1904, eleven young women pledged their faith, loyalty, and dedication to an organization that they called Alpha Gamma Delta. Today, over one hundred years later, the Fraternity is a living, breathing entity composed of the memories, experiences, and stories of more than 155,000 Alpha Gamma Delta sisters.