Difference between pages "Gamma Pi" and "Gamma Phi"

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{{Infobox Fraternity
 
{{Infobox Fraternity
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|Name= Gamma Pi
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|Name= Gamma Phi
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|GreekSymbol= ΓΠ
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|GreekSymbol= ΓΦ
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|Image= [[File:Gamma_Pi.jpg|200px]]
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|Image= [[File:Gamma_Phi.jpg|200px]]
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|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1927|06|02}}
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|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1929|05|17}}
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|College= [http://www.ua.edu/ University of Alabama]
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|College= [http://www.smu.edu/ Southern Methodist University]
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|Location= Tuscaloosa, AL
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|Location= Dallas, TX
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|Homepage= [http://kkgalabama.com/ Gamma Pi Homepage]
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|Homepage= [http://www.smukappa.com/ Gamma Phi Homepage]
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|Media= [http://wiki.kappakappagamma.org/index.php?title=Category:Gamma_Pi Media related to Gamma Pi Chapter]}}
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|Media= [http://wiki.kappakappagamma.org/index.php?title=Category:Gamma_Phi Media related to Gamma Phi Chapter]}}
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'''Southern Methodist University established in 1911, Dallas, Texas'''
  
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'''University of Alabama established in 1831, Tuscaloosa, Alabama'''
 
  
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'''Founded May 17, 1929'''
  
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'''Gamma Pi founded June 2, 1927 - 14 charter members'''
 
  
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'''3,369 initiates (as of June 2018)'''
  
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'''3,406 initiates (as of June 2016'''
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'''Charter Members: '''
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'''Charter Members:'''
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Janet Andrews, Allie Angell, Nancy Ann Baker, Julia Bernice Ballard, Will Anne Ballard, Jane Etheridge, Martha Virginia Harrell, Virginia Haynie, Mildred Rancamp Iford, Joel Estes Lichte, Arlane Parker, Julia DeRoosette Presnall, Lo Rene Taliaferro, Louise Alice Williams, Alice Dolling Wrather.  
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Margaret Cora Allman, Alberta Inge Austin, Mildred Gaston Beale, Dorothy Ellen Curtis, Alexina Anderson Demouy, Ruth Judson Elliott, Alice Adeline Gardiner, Katie Nell Holmes, Ninette Huffman, Margartia Lopez-Trelles, Estella Keith Masters, Edna Lee McDonald, Mary George Smith Robinson, Susye Katherine Wilkins.
 
  
  
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'''Fraternity Officers:'''
 
  
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Jennie Miller Helderman, Vice President, 1988-1990, Director of Chapters, 1990-1992; Cynthia McMillan Lanford, Director of Membership, 1984-1988, Editor of The Key; 1988-1993’ Miriam Austin Locke, National Panhellenic Conference Delegate, 1951-1954, Fraternity Fellowship Chairman, 1954-1956, 1974-1985; Constance Schmid (Torre-Tasso), Field Secretary 1957-1959; Carolyn Carlisle (Phelan), Field Secretary 1966-1968; Margaret Hayes (Burnstad), Field Secretary 1972-1974; Leah Yelverton (Simpson), Field Secretary 1980-1982; Rev. Deanie Walburn (Strength), Traveling Consultant 1993-1994
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'''Fraternity Council Officers:'''
  
  
  
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'''Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:'''
  
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'''Fraternity Loyalty Award:'''
 
  
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Miriam Austin Locke, 1974
 
  
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'''Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:'''
  
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Ginnie Johansen Johnson, 1986; Entrepreneur; artist
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Jeanne Linder Phillips, 2006; Statesman/political ambassador
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Elizabeth Hemphill Wilson, 1994; artist, needlepoint expert
  
  
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'''Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:'''
 
  
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Jennie Miller Helderman, 2012, author of the award winning book, a true story, As the Sycamore Grows
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'''Additional Outstanding Gamma Phi Alumnae:'''
  
  
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==The Early Years (Excerpted from The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity: 1870-1976)==
  
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Gamma Phi Chapter began October 15, 1928, on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, when a group of three colonizers and 24 pledges became the local group, Gamma Kappa. The Dallas Alumnae Association was firmly behind the colony, and a number of its members assumed advisory board responsibilities.
  
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'''Additional Outstanding Gamma Pi Alumnae:'''
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Kappa Grand President Georgia Hayden Lloyd-Jones, Eta-Wisconsin, visited in January, 1929, and gave her approval. On April 15, word came from Clara O. Pierce, Beta Nu- Ohio State, "Charter granted, SMU. Congratulations."
  
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Annie Ragsdale (Parker), Graduate Counselor 1947-1949; Constance Schmid (Torre-Tasso), Graduate Counselor 1955-1957; Angelyn Sanders (Chandler), Graduate Counselor 1958-1958; Carolyn Hines (Mikell), Graduate Counselor 1979-1981; Lorrie Favret (Anderson), Graduate Counselor 1988-1989
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Gamma Phi was installed May 17, 1929, by Clara Pierce, Beta Nu-Ohio State, assisted by Beta Xi, University of Texas, and the Dallas alumnae.
  
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Southern Methodist University, which was opened to students in September, 1915, had been established by charter in April, 1911, under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
  
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At the time of the installation of the Kappa chapter there were 1,371 men students, 1,121 women students, and 152 faculty members. Thirteen fraternities had already been installed. The 11 buildings of 1929 had become 80 by 1973, and there were 8,000 students and 500 faculty.
  
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==The Early Years (from The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma 1870-1976)==
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The first 33 years of Gamma Phi were notable for student activities, honoraries, "overwhelmingly successful parties," and sweethearts and queens.
  
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On June 2, 1927, Gamma Pi chapter was installed at the University of Alabama with a charter membership of 14 and 11 returned alumnae initiated on June 3. Installing officers were Georgia Hayden Lloyd-Jones, Wisconsin, Grand President; Virginia Rodefer Harris, Indiana, Vice President; and Minnie Royce Walker, DePauw, president’s deputy. Beta Omicrons was the installing chapter, and alumnae and actives from other chapters assisted.
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Ruth Pollock (McCloud) was Southern Methodist University Sweetheart at the 1933 Texas Roundup, and the chapter won athletic trophies in basketball, baseball, and swimming and diving. In 1937 Florence Allen (Roseborough) collaborated on the script for the Southern Methodist University Pontiac Varsity Show coast-to-coast broadcast. Anna Ruth Baker (McCall) was named one of the five "most exotic girls on campus" in an all-school election in 1939, and the chapter float in the Homecoming Parade was named "most beautiful." Peggy Wallace (Reinke) received an "M" Award during the 1940-41 school year for being the co-founder of COGS, (College Organization for General Service), a group that claimed more significance and interest than any other on campus. The chapter sponsored informal parties for cadets at Hensley Field in Dallas, in keeping with wartime activities.
  
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A firmly organized local, Pi Alpha had, from its inception in June 1922, the goal of Kappa affiliation. A lone faculty wife, Aline Pelphrey Christian, Oklahoma, was a wise guide. With her help the Pi Alphas gained the interest of other Alabama Kappas. By 1926, this outstanding local, which had held the Panhellenic Scholarship Cap for three years, was allowed to petition formally. Among the first initiates of the chapter were eight  members of Phi Beta Kappa, and for 15 uninterrupted years, the Panhellenic Cup was a chapter achievement.
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During the decade of the 1940s, every outstanding organization at Southern Methodist seemed to have been headed by Kappas: Kirkos; COGS; YWCA; Zeta Phi Eta; the Rotunda (yearbook); and officers of the Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Classes. Jo Neal (Cleaver), chapter president and Mortar Board member, was chosen a Rotunda beauty by Cecil B. DeMille. Eleanor Maclay was one of the seven original members of the Southern Methodist chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
  
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Sponsoring the petition was Esther C. Freeman (Masters), Indiana. Her future mother-in-law, Estella Keith Masters, a law faculty wife, had become an active member of the petitioning group and had interested Esther in Pi Alpha. Estella Masters became a charter member of Gamma Pi, and later served as Finance Adviser and as house building chairman for more than two decades. Other faculty wives gradually arrived on the campus and formed the nucleus of the Advisory Board. Jessie McCulloch Kaufman, Pennsylvania, gave particular interest and inspiration. There were no Kappas among the townspeople at this period.
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Gamma Phi was second highest on the campus in scholarship in 1950-51, but the most important event was the groundbreaking for a chapter house. Sororities had at last been given permission to erect houses, and all eleven built simultaneously in the university's Georgian-style architecture. In December, the chapter was spotlighted in The Key.
  
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The capable and helpful Hazel Scott Mauck, Indiana, was the first House Director, in a quaint, temporary rented house on Caplewood Terrace. It had a precipitous stairway and a sloping attic ceiling, which collapsed during the midnight solemnities of one Initiation. Its basement rooms, knows as “The Cavity” were accessible to both animal and human prowlers. These hazards must have influences the visiting young Executive Secretary, Clara O. Pierce, The Ohio State University, who decided that the chapter must have a house of its own. Later she admitted that she had been over-bold to launch a penniless chapter on a staggering building project.
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The year 1951-52 was the first in the new house, and the chapter achieved first in scholarship. The following year Gamma Phi was the installing chapter of Delta Psi, Texas Tech University, at Lubbock, and in 1954-55 members fostered the formation of Epsilon Alpha at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Members of Kappa and Sigma Alpha Epsilon were featured in a color picture on the fraternity-sorority title page of the yearbook. In 1958, the chapter won the Charlotte Barrell Ware Standard Cup at convention, and again was first in scholarship.  
  
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A handsome white Colonial house was built with $18,000 of borrowed money, and was semi-ready for fall of 1929. Some features had been economized on, and the President remarked that the columns needed fattening up on a cream diet.
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The years between 1962 and 1973 saw a re-examination of Greek life, and the future of the system looked rather grim. However, Gamma Phi members continue to achieve high scholarship, show interest in campus life and the community, and concern for each other. The chapter won the Standards Award again in 1970.  
  
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“Rushees” that fall were entertained in tea rooms, but by Founders Day, a formal dedication and a reception were held, followed by a tea dance during which the new floors were so marred that they required refinishing. At first, 20 members were accommodated; two more rooms were completed in 1937; and a new chapter room installed in 1941. Gamma Pi was first on campus to provide meals for all new members and others unable to live in, and this continuing practice helped build chapter unity.
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Gamma Phi has enjoyed a very friendly relationship with Dallas alumnae, who have always generously supported the active chapter with time and money.  
  
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Mildred Gaston Beale, president of Pi Alpha as a sophomore, was the remarkable first chapter President of Gamma Pi, and continued to hold office for four years, through her graduate year. To her strong leadership, perception and charm, Gamma Pi owes much of its early and continuing strength.
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Well-known Gamma Phi alumnae include: charter member Joel Estes Lichte Tate, wife of the chancellor of Southern Methodist University; Louise Little Barbeck, Kappa Fraternity president 1968-72; Gail Griffin Thomas, dean of the University of Dallas; and Mary Ellen Mitchell Jericho, voted the outstanding Kappa in the area at the Fraternity's Centennial year Founders Day banquet in Dallas.
  
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More than 60 members of Phi Beta Kappa and an even larger number of Mortar Board members attest to the chapter’s reputation for leadership and scholarship. During 1933-34, five of nine presidents of campus leadership organizations, and the Honorary Cadet Colonel, were members of Gamma Pi.
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==Highlights of the 1970s==
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If you wore a polo shirt with a floppy bow tie at the neck in the late 70s, then you know all about belties. Did you know, though, that the word belties was first coined by a Kappa from SMU? When not setting the tone for fashion, Kappas at Gamma Phi listened to Billie Joel, Hall and Oats, the Grateful Dead, and Bonnie Raitt. They cheered on the football team, fuelling Mustang Mania, which was just emerging at the time, while SMU also excelled in swimming and tennis.
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Very early, the chapter began to receive recognition at General Conventions: Fraternity Scholarship Award, 1934; first recipient of the Minnie Royce Walker Scholarship Award, 1936 and again in 1944; two-time recipient of the Clara O. Pierce Gracious Living Award; Georgia Hayden Lloyd-Jones Scholarship Improvement Award, 1958; Charlotte Barrell Ware Standards Award, 1968; and the Fraternity Appreciation Award, 1970. In 1937, one of the six newly established undergraduate scholarship came to Phebe Bibb (Thomas), and since then a number of members have held scholarship and fellowship awards.
 
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Gamma Pi was installing chapter for Delta Upsilon, Epsilon Eta and Epsilon Nu. It has assisted at Installation and Recruitment at Delta Rho and Epsilon Zeta. Annie Laurie Ragsdale (Parker) went to Georgia as a Graduate Counselor and helped establish the chapter there, serving as first President. Mary Constance Schmid (Cobb), Graduate Counselor and Field Secretary, established the nucleus for Epsilon Epsilon at Emory, and Angelyn Sanders (Chandler), also a  Graduate Counselor and Field Secretary, joined her the following year. Other Gamma Pi Field Secretaries have been Carolyn Carlisle Phelan and Margaret Hays, former chapter President and daughter of a chapter President. (Her two sisters were also Gamma Pis.)
 
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Gamma Pi entertained at the Province Meeting of 1931, 1941, 1945 and 1947 …  The House Corporation was set up during a visit from Rheva Ott Shryock, Pennsylvania, Grand President, in 1937. The Tuscaloosa Alumnae Club (now association) was formally chartered during the 1941 Province Meeting. Gamma Pi members have been active officers in alumnae associations from Philadelphia to Dallas and from Pasadena to Miami.
 
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Gamma Pi has maintained a strong Panhellenic spirit, lending its house to other groups for such occasions as installations and recruitment parties. For many years, all campus new members were entertained at an annual Halloween party. Starting in 1929, Christmas parties for underprivileged children were held. Later, patients from a local institution for disabled or troubled youth were entertained in a cooperative fraternity venture.
 
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The Gamma Pi pre-Christmas faculty reception was for many years one of the most heralded social events of the city. In later years, the chapter entertained alumnae and their children at a holiday party. Advisers enjoy many chapter courtesies. This has preserved and developed active-alumna relationships. For many years, parents have come from afar for the famous Parents Weekend, scheduled often to coincide with a special sport event or following Sigma Chi Derby.
 
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'''World War II Years'''
 
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During World War II, there was the USO entertaining and the visiting of wounded servicemen—there were nurse’s aide courses, blood drives, and house dances for service personnel enrolled on the campus. In 1945, Gamma Pi won a war bond drive by selling $23,000 of the $60,000 in bonds sold by the entire student body. During this same period, scholarship was above a B average, brining commendation from officials of the university and Fraternity.
 
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'''Housing Changes'''
 
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As the university expanded and the enrollment of women increased, the houses became inadequate and an impressive building program emerged in the 1950s. After long planning, saving and effort, Gamma Pi moved into a new, red brick Colonial style house during the icy January of 1963. Delays, disappointments and unexpected expenses had tried the wits and patience of the Housing Committee. Only Fraternity encouragement and the visits of the Kappa official architects, Herbert and Frances Sutton Schmitz, Michigan, enabled the local committee to realize its plans.
 
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The chapter had moved out of the old house the morning after fall pledging in 1961, and for a year and a half, 20 members  occupied a rented university-owned house with inadequate facilities, peeling wallpaper and leaky pipes. The entire chapter trudged a long distance to take meals together under conditions defying all rules for “gracious living.” Meals were served buffet style and trays were carried to empty spots. Recruitment in Alabama’s September heat in the Presbyterian Center next door did not daunt the good spirits or the ingenuity of the chapter, and the Recruitment season was unexpectedly successful—two pledges above the quota because of a Panhellenic computer error.
 
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Never were there such enthusiasm and such cooperation as in the Recruitment of 1962. Hiring a bus to carry the “rushees” was later imitated by other groups. Never were there happier girls than those who returned after Christmas to a beautiful new house—and never was there a wearier Housing Committee.
 
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Formal dedication was October 15, 1963, with Clara O. Pierce, Ohio State, Catherine Kelder Walz, Michigan, and Frances Schmitz, Michigan, present. In the fall of 1973, the last payment was made on the loan, and Gamma Pi burned the mortgage while receiving commendation from university officials for being the first group to remove indebtedness on a new house.
 
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The previous information was excerpted from The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, 1870-1976. The information that follows has been gleaned from available resources including Chapter History Reports, chapter meeting minutes, letters and comments from chapter members and alumnae, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity Archives, and The Key. Each chapter is expected to update its history record annually. Contact Fraternity Headquarters at kkghq@kkg.org with questions.
 
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==Highlights of the 1970s:==
 
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A major event of fall 1973 was the Cancer Run-a-thon with Kappa Alpha Fraternity in competition with Epsilon Eta Kappas and Delta Chi Fraternity at Auburn. Together, the group raised more than $25,000.
 
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Gamma Pi’s Miriam Austin Locke (affectionately known by many as “Doc Locke”) became well known as a Kappa leader and role model. Besides being Mu Province president from 1940-43, she served as National Panhellenic Alternate Delegate, 1947-51; National Panhellenic Delegate, 1951-54; Fraternity Fellowships Chairman, 1954-1985; Loyalty Award recipient, 1974 and in 1965, a faculty reception was given in her honor and a large silver tray was presented to her. It was announced at Convention in 1968 that a $500 graduate fellowship in her name would be given by Gamma Pi members from all over Alabama. Then at the Centennial Founders Day celebration at Gamma Pi, the chapter unveiled a life-size head-and-shoulder portrait of her to hang in the chapter living room. She had been chairman of the building committee for the chapter house that was occupied in 1963. Golden anniversary in 1977 …
 
  
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Positivity was a chapter focus during this time. Chapter members significantly improved their grades and worked on developing positive attitudes. Officers stressed open communication, even picking rooms that gave the President and Vice Presidents the most visibility for the rest of the members. Chapter meetings were streamlined, and the chapter developed a stronger Panhellenic spirit. And of course, the chapter celebrated its 50th anniversary on SMU campus.
  
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Kappas were also prominent leaders on campus. One member started a fundraising campaign to restore a historical SMU fountain that now features in all the school’s brochures, and among the Kappas were Homecoming Queen first runner-up, cheerleaders, Miss New Mexico, Miss Dallas, three yearbook beauties and a National Alumni Scholarship Winner.
  
 
==Highlights of the 1980s==
 
==Highlights of the 1980s==
  
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The Gamma Pi chapter remained one of the largest on campus. In 1985 the pledging of 47 women brought the chapter total to 142 Gamma Pi members. A huge success was the rising from 15th position scholastically in 1984 to number two in 1985. This resulted in a letter of congratulations from a faculty member which was published in the Crimson White newspaper.
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In many ways, the 1980s were the best of times and the worst of times for SMU. The university’s football team marked its most successful era from 1980 to 1985, posting a 55-14-1 record and winning three SWC titles. Kappas—preppy to the core in brown Topsiders, French braids or big hair and the obligatory strand of pearls—were among the sellout crowds cheering on the team at Texas Stadium, which was the former home of the Dallas Cowboys. Football, however, was cancelled for two seasons in 1986 and 1987 for NCAA violations, and Kappas turned to intramural leagues for the sports fix.
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Changes were afoot in concerns for the environment and awareness of the dangers of alcohol abuse and underage drinking. This led to challenges for the chapter in adjusting to these concerns.
 
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Gamma Pi took pride in leading other Greeks with such changes as the new drinking policies and in looking out for one another. They also set a successful goal of unifying the chapter through fraternity education and Kappa fun facts including extensive reviews of Kappa history. The pledges also participated by having weekly pledge tests.
 
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On campus Kappas were involved in student government organizations, honor societies and various other leadership positions.
 
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'''Convention Awards:'''
 
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Housing: Gamma Pi’s were proud of the changes to their house:  lovely new furniture for the den and living room, renovating the basement to make the study atmosphere more pleasant.  Thirteen houseboys helped serve at dinner and ate with the members.  
 
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'''Philanthropy:'''
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In 1987, the chapter won intramural soccer and tennis championships, while powder puff football games with other sororities raised money for various philanthropic causes. Gamma Phi members also hosted canned food drives, supported a halfway house for non-violent juvenile offenders in Dallas, helped children improve their reading skills in an inner city housing project, and raised money for the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Dallas.
  
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Gamma Pi noted an increase in participation in philanthropy projects. A traditional event was the annual Balloon Derby during Homecoming in October. In 1985 $5,000 was raised for the American Cancer Society. However, wildlife concerns were coming to the forefront at this time and the balloons were a problem so Gamma Pi looked for another fund raiser. Other philanthropies included trick-or-treating and bowling with the single-parent underprivileged children of Tuscaloosa, a Christmas party with the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity for underprivileged children, working at the “Hands On” Museum, participating in the campus-wide blood drive and helping with a tennis marathon for Tuscaloosa’s Soup Kitchen.  The members were especially proud of the pledges as they helped a needy family at Christmas time by collecting clothes, food and other necessities.
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Other notable events included chapter dinners at Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown Dallas, celebrating the 115th birthday of Kappa with Director of Chapters and future Fraternity President J. J. Wales, and hosting an inter-greek reception for the new university president, Dr. A. Kenneth Pye, in 1987. It was also during this time that the chapter began to follow the Celebration of Lights ceremony on campus with hot chocolate, cookies, a roaring fire and Nat King Cole at the chapter house.  
  
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The chapter continued to focus on academic excellence, holding a how to study seminar, and recognizing excellent grades with a weekly smart cookie award. Chapter meetings emphasized heritage and ritual, and members were encouraged to hang out at the house through monthly cookouts and holiday celebrations like Secret Santa gift exchanges. 
  
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Kappas regularly featured the Dallas Morning News for participating in the Idlewild Ball, Tyler Rose Festival and other prominent Texan debutant balls. And the Kappa Pickers, the chapter’s musical performance group, began to gain local prominence.
  
 
==Highlights of the 1990s==
 
==Highlights of the 1990s==
  
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During the nineties, Gamma Pi continued their tradition of outstanding Recruitment by consistently welcoming pledge classes of approximately 40 women. New members came from California, Texas, Virginia and obviously, many from the hometown of Tuscaloosa. In the mid-1990’s, Panhellenic incorporated new Bid Day policies that required the new members to do activities with their chapter until midnight of Bid Day. This turned out to be a wonderful experience for everyone as it allowed the new members to bond with their pledge class and get to know other members of their Gamma Pi chapter.
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Gamma Phi’s Kappa Pickers reached national prominence when they sang on CBS This Morning in Washington in 1991. They continued to perform throughout the 1990s, delighting audiences at parents’ weekend, Founders Day and many other Kappa and campus events.
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The chapter was very dedicated to philanthropy in these years. At least 10 to 20 members went to Traymore Nursing Home once a month to visit with residents, and in later years, the chapter would visit with patients at Medical City Hospital’s transitional care unit. Gamma Phi also helped out a shelter for runaway children, tutored students at an elementary school, sponsored blood drives, raised money for muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis. Other highlights included hosting a blood platelet drive to benefit Carter Blood Care for a Kappa Alpha Fraternity member who was diagnosed with cancer, sponsoring a Canadian Kappa alum through the Rose McGill Fund, and launching the very popular Carve for the Cure on Halloween.
  
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Gamma Pi members were active on campus and always participated in Homecoming and many other campus activities. In 1996 they took third in the Homecoming house decoration event and a group of actives took second place in the Road and River Race.
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SMU Kappas partnered with Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity on the annual Easter Egg hunt for children of university faculty and stuff, stuffing over 1,100 plastic eggs in 1995. Regular events included the Kappa Kountry Formal, Founders Day at the Dallas Country Club, and parents’ weekend with Sunday brunch. Special highlights included the chapter retreat at Camp John Mark and a visit to a ropes course to promote chapter unity.  
  
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Gamma Pi members were strong academically and continually had one of the highest All-Sorority G.P.A. on campus.
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Kappa exemplified its traditional of leadership on SMU campus in the 1990s. Gamma Phi hosted the first date rape seminar at SMU in 1991, and followed up with seminars on eating disorders and campus violence. In 1990, a Kappa chaired SMU’s Celebration of Lights, and in 1991 Kappas chaired Homecoming and won Homecoming Queen, which Kappas featuring in the Homecoming throughout the decade. Many chapter members attended Convention in 1990 when it was hosted in Dallas. The chapter received several honorable mentions for awards, and would go on to win the Fraternity’s Finance Award in 1996.  
  
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A consistent challenge during the 1990’s was participation. This was generally part of the chapter’s goal for the year. The officers came up with creative ideas each year to encourage members to participate and find the perfect balance of social, campus involvement and scholarship.
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==Highlights of the 2000s==
  
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The women of Gamma Phi chapter in the 2000s were intelligent and motivated to do their best in every aspect of their lives. Very involved on campus, the chapter enthusiastically supports it members, whether they are running for Homecoming Queen, launching a new philanthropy or playing on a sports team.
  
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'''Convention Awards:'''
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The chapter was supported by very active alumnae. They helped count votes for rush, plan the initiation brunch, decorate the house for the holidays, sell Kappa bracelets, and host alumnae events at the house. Their help and guidance was appreciated by chapter members, and inspired SMU’s Kappas to grow and continue their involvement in Kappa.
  
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1996 – Honorable Mention for Gracious Living
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One of the alumnae’s major projects was building a new chapter house, which the chapter moved into in 2006. This amazing new house, has been a home away from home for many members.
  
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Major events included Theta Province meeting in Dallas in 2005, when the chapter hosted a southern barbeque for the all the actives and alumnae that were in town. There was the annual Celebration of Lights, and another Homecoming Queen from Kappa in 2009.
  
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Philanthropy continued to be a major driver of events, with the chapter raising funds for Camp John Mark, Habitat for Humanity, Dallas Parkland Hopsital, Relay for Life, the Dallas humane shelter, and Dollars for Darfur. In 2006, the chapter published the Kappa Kookbook, which feature recipes from the SMU chapter, and raised money for the Rose McGill Fund.
  
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'''Housing:'''
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==Highlights of 2010==
  
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2010 was a fun and exciting year for the Gamma Phi chapter! We started the year off with a great recruitment week. During philanthropy day of recruitment, we shared a video about our chapter’s involvement in the Ugandan American Partnership Organization, a non-profit organization that aides struggling women and children in Uganda. The UAPO was founded by one of our own Kappa sisters and is very dear to each of our hearts. We strung necklaces with beads handmade by Ugandan widows, and new members sold the necklaces in the spring in order to send profits back to the widows.
  
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Dad’s Weekend was in the spring, and father-daughter pairs competed in the Kappa Klassic golf tournament. We got to spend quality time with our dads, and we were able to raise over $14,000 to help finish the UAPO’s construction of a new Vocational Center in a Ugandan village and provide medical supplies, school supplies and clean water to orphanages built by the UAPO. Over the summer, twelve of our sisters shared a life-changing experience on their visit to Uganda.
  
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'''Philanthropy:'''
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Other highlights of the year included Kickin’ It With Kappa and Kappacino Kafe, philanthropic events we hosted in the fall. Kappas danced the night away at our Victory, Monmouth, and Kite&Key formals, and we had fun dressing up for our “Jarty” and Woodstock themed date dashes! Trendy Kappas could be spotted about Dallas in over-the-knee boots, furry vests, sequin embellished dresses, stacks of bracelets and sky-high pumps!
  
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In the early 1990’s Gamma Pi created a Kappa Cookbook to sell. Proceeds from the cookbook were donated to the American Cancer Society. Gamma Pi’s also volunteered their time at organizations such as the Soup Bowl and Big Oak Boys and Girls Club. In 1996 they participated in a Walk-a-thon and the proceeds raised supported Child Abuse Prevention Service.
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Gamma Phi is a large and diverse chapter. Each individual brings new and exciting ideas to the table, but we also work well together as a team to accomplish goals during the year. Girls in our chapter care about their schoolwork, care about the community, are involved in other organizations at SMU, hold exciting jobs or internships, and above all, are Kappa krazy! We have girls who study corporate communications and public affairs, accounting, English, art history, and even chemistry! Many of our sisters are members of the Union, Student Foundation, Student Senate, Honor Council, and the University Honors Program.
  
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==Highlights of 2011==
  
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Our chapter is large and diverse, with girls from all over the United States and abroad. The 2011 pledge class even has girls from Bali, London, and Panama. This mix of diverse individuals enhances our chapter, as each member brings unique and exciting ideas to the table. We all work well together in order to accomplish goals throughout the year.
  
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==Highlights of 2000-2010==
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Many of our sisters in the Gamma Phi chapter are active and involved a number of other activities and organizations, both on and off campus. Our sisters participate in on-campus organizations such as the Union, Student Foundation, Student Senate, Honor Council, and the University Honors Program. Off campus, many of our sisters hold interesting and impressive internships and jobs, and care about and engage in different community service opportunities. Our sisters academic interests are varied, as we have girls who study Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Accounting, History, and even Biology!
  
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During 2003-2004 the chapter enjoyed participating in sisterhood events as well as activities on campus.  Homecoming was a main event on campus and Gamma Pi was proud as a peacock when their chapter president was elected Homecoming Queen. New members were involved with the parade, dance competition, and quad games. The chapter was also involved with Greek Week and the annual Beat Auburn Beat Hunger food drive.
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We had an exciting 2011. A fun and successful recruitment week started the year off right. During philanthropy day of recruitment, we continued the tradition of showing a video about the Ugandan American Partnership Organization (UAPO), which was founded by one of our Kappa sisters from the Gamma Phi chapter. We strung necklaces using the beads that Ugandan widows hand made, which the new members sold the following spring. The profits from the necklace sales were sent back to the widows to help them build a life of their own. The proceeds from our "Kappacino Kafe" philanthropy event also benefitted the UAPO.
  
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Maintaining high academic achievement became a challenge for Gamma Pi during this decade.  Historically, the chapter prided itself on maintaining one of the highest All-Sorority GPAs. In the 2003-2004 school year the new members met the academic challenge, ranking third highest out of fifteen sororities in grades.  
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This year we made an exciting change to one of our other major philanthropy events taking place in the fall, "Kickin' It With Kappa," an event benefitting Reading Is Fundamental: we hosted a frozen yogurt party outside on the boulevard on a beautiful afternoon in early September, to keep up with the recent trendiness and rising popularity of frozen yogurt shops in Dallas and nation-wide.
  
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Many Gamma Pi members were affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2004 since their homes were in New Orleans, Mobile, and Mississippi. Many members came together with other sororities, fraternities, and the Student Government Association to volunteer their time and supplies to hurricane evacuees located at the University of Alabama Recreation Center.
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Other highlights of the year included our parties and social events. Kappas had a great time dancing the night away at our Victory, Monmouth, and Kite & Key formals. We also had a blast dressing up for our 90s and Hunt or Be Hunted themed date dashes. Gamma Phi Kappas were as chic and trendy as ever this year, often spotted about Dallas wearing stylish over the knee boots, fur vests, sequin embellished dresses, and wrap bracelets.
  
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In 2007 president, Frankie Mohylsky, was voted as the best sorority president.
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We are proud of our chapter for many reasons this year. We were the recipients of the Risk Management Award at the Province meeting hosted in Fort Worth. In addition, we welcomed the chapter councils from Epsilon Alpha, Epsilon Upsilon, and Zeta Sigma, as we hosted the LEAD Seminar in the fall. We are also very proud and extremely excited this year because we won Homecoming! Our chapter united to support 2011 Homecoming activities, and it was a wonderful and rewarding feeling for the whole house when Grace Roberts won Homecoming Queen during halftime of the football game.
  
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Gamma Pi celebrated its 80th birthday in February 2008. Active and alumna members enjoyed the festivities. The chapter initiated in memoriam two new members, Virginia and Becca, who were tragically killed in a car accident in the beginning of the 2008 school year. It was an emotionally hard time for the chapter, but by honoring their memories, it helped unify the entire chapter.
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This year was extremely exciting at SMU, as construction on the George W. Bush Presidential Center, which broke ground in fall2010, continued and made considerable progress. Although construction is still a work in progress, the Presidential Center already seems a stunning structure. The Presidential Center will open in 2013. Also, this spring we celebrated the centennial of SMU’s founding in 1911, complete with fireworks and cake on SMU’s boulevard. This year was an extremely fun time to be an SMU student.
  
  
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'''Convention Awards:'''
 
  
  
  
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'''Housing:'''
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==Highlights of 2012==
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Gamma Pi was one of the largest sororities on campus with more than 200 members during this decade.
 
  
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2012 was a great year for The Gamma Phi Chapter.  We kicked off the year by continuing a philanthropy tradition that was started by SMU Kappa members.  During recruitment week on philanthropy day, we played a video about UAPO, an organization that was founded by one of our Kappa sisters.  The video featured Kappa members volunteering and making a difference in Uganda.  We hosted “Kappacino Kafe” as well as “Kickin’ it with Kappa.”  Both were successful events.  Kappa women also participated in SMU’s homecoming festivities.  The week was a success because of our hard work combined with our wonderful homecoming candidate, Anne McCaslin Parker.  During SMU’s Celebration of Lights, Kappa members participated with SMU Student Foundation and adopted elementary students for the evening.  This made the event very special for Kappa’s as well as the elementary students.
  
  
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'''Philanthropy:'''
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'''Campus:'''
  
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The chapter won a jean's sale in 2006 and were awarded $500 towards its philanthropy. During parent's weekend in 2007, the chapter held a charity walk/run. "Kappas for a Kure" raised more than $5,000 for cancer and in honor of a Gamma Pi member who passed away from cancer.
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SMU is located in the center of Dallas.  It’s a great location because of the easy routes to downtown, uptown, and other areas in Dallas.  The campus is beautiful and is surrounded by green grass and tall trees.  SMU is a friendly campus with small classes. The professors make the learning experience great.  They are available and willing to meet with students individually. SMU offers an atmosphere that’s exciting and thriving.  One of the 2012 highlights on campus is the construction of the George W. Bush Presidential Library.
  
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'''Chapter:'''
  
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We have a very diverse chapter consisting of ladies from different parts of the world and from all over the U.S.  The diversity allows Kappa’s to share different ideas and learn from each other.  Our members are involved in many different organizations and groups at SMU and outside of SMU.
  
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==Highlights of 2011==
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'''Chapter Challenges:'''
  
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In a year of discussion about global warming, blizzards and storms, April of 2011 found a tornado sitting down just five blocks from the Gamma Pi house. Members were shaken by the storm, had no electricity and classes were cancelled. Fortunately none of the members was injured and the house was secure.
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Our greatest challenge this year was accountability.  We do not fine members for not attending events.  Therefore, it is hard to hold members accountable for attending events.  To address this issue, we looked to motivation and a type of “punishment.”  The punishment involves making some events mandatory and if members do not attend, they are sent to standards. Usually the punishment would entail not being allowed to attend the upcoming formal.  The motivation and encouragement paid off and was a successful strategy.
  
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With technology changing the world, Gamma Pi decided to change the way it supported Kappa’s national philanthropy, Reading Is Fundamental. In 2011 for the first time they decided to use frendo, the first-ever fee-free donation platform because it is the only online platform for donors, fundraisers and charities that eliminates all fees to charities. 
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==Highlights of 2013==
  
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Gamma Pi furthers the ideals of RIF by frequently visiting Mathews Elementary, an elementary school in Tuscaloosa. Gamma Pi Kappas participate in service activities at Matthews through tutoring, live reading, and in an after school mentoring program. They participated in school supplies and book drives for Mathews, and encourage other sororities and fraternities to do the same.
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2013 was a great year full of memories, accomplishments, and sisterhood for The Gamma Phi Chapter. We kicked off the year in January with a successful Recruitment Week. The four days of Open House, Philanthropy, Skit, Preference Morning and Bid Night were hard work but will always be remembered as a bonding experience for our chapter. Philanthropy day was extremely special because our philanthropy, The Akola Project, is a non-profit organization that was founded by one of our very own SMU Kappas. We played a video that featured Kappa members volunteering and making a difference in Uganda. Bid Night was also a highlight to the start of the year 2013. We welcomed 54 excited new members. They had a retreat that night at the Kappa house with Chapter Council members, which included playing games, eating good food, and learning the traditions and rules of Kappa.
  
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In 2011 Delta Kappa Epsilon and Kappa Kappa Gamma began the first annual Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Kick off for a Cure. Delta Kappa Epsilon and Kappa Kappa Gamma organize this event to raise money and awareness for JDRF in the Tuscaloosa community.
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The next couple months continued with fun, memorable events for the new members. Key Sis week was one of the best weeks of the Spring semester. The bigs had surprises for their littles every night, and the last night was the Big Little Reveal. The girls were so excited to finally be a part of a “Kappa family.” The next major event was Initiation. Inspiration Week was a time for our chapter to reflect on why we went Kappa and what Kappa means to each of us. Sisterhood and the traditions of Kappa were built stronger that week, and the new members got to be exposed to the true meaning of being a sister. Initiation was followed by Mom’s Weekend festivities. Mothers and daughters had a lovely brunch at the Dallas Country Club. The next day was an open house at the Kappa house and an Akola Project trunk show for the mothers to enjoy. The spring semester also consisted of Kappas going on spring break together and our fun social formals, Victory and Monmouth. Selected Chapter Council members attended Kappa Province in Lubbock, TX and were proud to come back with the award “Outstanding Performance in Risk Management.”
  
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Kappa for a Kure is an annual fundraiser that raises money for the American Cancer Society. This philanthropy was created in honor of a member, Carleton Parnell. The event is held every spring during parent’s weekend.
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The spring semester ended, and summer came around with lots of opportunities for our SMU Kappa members. Kappa sisters took summer school, studied abroad, and also worked incredible internships all over the country. Fifteen SMU Kappas studied in Innsbruck, Austria for six weeks together traveling to different countries every weekend. Another group of five Kappas  studied in Madrid, Spain. Other Kappas were sprinkled out over Europe studying in Italy, London, and Paris.  
  
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Gamma Pi hosts a cookout each fall in honor of two members, Virginia Gray Bailey and Rebecca Bettis. This cookout raises money for a scholarship that goes to a member who exemplifies the outstanding qualities of Virginia Gray and Becca.
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School started back in August, and all our Kappa members became extremely busy with academics, preparing for Recruitment, philanthropy events, and SMU football games and boulevards. Our first philanthropy event was “Kappacino Kafe” and was held on the lawn with little sweet treats and frozen yogurt. We successfully raised money for The Akola Project. The next philanthropy event we hosted, Kickin’ it with Kappa,” was even more successful raising money for RIF. It was a workout out class for the girls in SMU’s Dedman athletic center. Philanthropy donated the rest of the philanthropy budget to The Kappa Foundation at the end of the term. Kappa members also participated with Homecoming week. We painted a banner with our theme and also a wooden Peruna (our mascot).  
  
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We participated in Canstruction, Rock the Vote, field day, and building a float. This week was hard work, but we loved coming together as a chapter to support our wonderful homecoming candidate Mackenna Scripps. Kappas continued to enjoy having a tent on the boulevard each game day and supporting the Mustangs at the SMU football games. SMU Family Weekend was a fun weekend for Kappa moms and dads to meet each other and enjoy SMU’s campus and Dallas. We enjoyed our two social events of the semester Pick a Mister for your Sister date dash and Kite and Key formal. A few Kappas also participate in SMU Student Foundation and put on the Celebration of Lights, which is always a special night that the school comes together to celebrate the Holidays right before final exams.We finished the year strong academically. We were also awarded the “Outstanding Member” award by SMU Panhellenic for Lexy Hammesfahr’s incredible performance in SMU, Kappa, and her career. At the end of the semester, we slated for new Chapter Council positions, and our chapter was excited about the new leaders in the house.
  
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==Highlights of 2012==
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SMU is located in the center of Dallas.  It’s a great location because of the easy routes to downtown, uptown, and other areas in Dallas.  The campus is beautiful and is surrounded by green grass and tall trees.  SMU is a friendly campus with small classes.  The professors make the learning experience great.  They are available and willing to meet with students individually. One of the 2013 highlights on campus was the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library. SMU also built new dorms, tennis courts, cafeteria, and band room. SMU offers an atmosphere that’s prestigious and thriving, and Kappas are excited for the new students each year.
  
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'''Events:'''
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We have a very diverse chapter consisting of ladies from different parts of the world and from all over the U.S. The diversity allows Kappas to share different ideas and learn from each other.  Our members are involved in many different organizations and groups at SMU and outside of SMU.
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'''Kappa Kappa Gamma Leadership Day'''-
 
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January 2012: Each year the outgoing and incoming Chapter Council Officers and the advisory board host Leadership Day at the Kappa house. This is a whole Saturday dedicated to the betterment of our chapter and development our council members. Leadership exercises, goal setting, recap meetings, are a few of the many important agenda items each year. Each year our chapter invites a guest speaker to lead a discussion on ways to improve our chapter from an external point of view. This program has received recognition from the Fraternity nationally. Because of this events great success, our agenda and materials from our 2012 Leadership Day were sent out to Kappa chapters around the country for them to emulate the structure.  
 
  
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April 2012: Our chapter celebrated the retirement of Gamma Pi alumnae Dr. Kathleen Cramer from the University of Alabama Office of Student Affairs. Dr. Cramer served as president of Gamma Pi as a sophomore and has never ceased to support our chapter in all of its endeavors. The students were always her first priority, especially members of Gamma Pi. It is because of her mentorship and guidance that our chapter is where it is today. She has helped remind our current chapter members of our rich legacy and guided us in a way that will help us continue that legacy. During her time at Alabama, Dr. Cramer served our campus in multiple facets and won countless prestigious awards. Because of her selfless nature, she has made a lasting impact on our chapter that will last for many years to come.  We continue to look back at our chapter’s past outstanding achievements as we continue to build our chapter’s legacy on campus.
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Our greatest challenge this year was accountability. We do not fine members for not attending events. Therefore, it is hard to hold members accountable for attending events. To address this issue, we looked to motivation and a type of “punishment.”  The punishment involves making some events mandatory, and if members do not attend, they are sent to standards.  Usually the punishment would entail not being allowed to attend the upcoming social events.  The motivation and encouragement paid off and was a successful strategy.
  
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'''Philanthropy:'''
 
  
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Nationally, Kappa Kappa Gamma’s philanthropy is Reading Is Fundamental. RIF works to build a literate nation by helping young people discover the joy of reading. Locally, Gamma Pi furthers the ideals of RIF by frequently visiting Mathews Elementary, an elementary school in Tuscaloosa. Gamma Pi Kappas participate in service activities at Matthews through tutoring, live reading, and in an after school-mentoring program. We participate in school supplies and book drives for Mathews, and encourage other sororities and fraternities to do the same. The past year and a half has been an exceptionally exciting one at the Kappa house and it started in the middle of the summer. After the April 27th 2011 tornado, we realized the abundance of helping opportunities at hand.
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==Highlights of 2014==
  
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Since our national philanthropy is Reading Is Fundamental, it seemed only appropriate to look first at the elementary schools in the Tuscaloosa area. One of these schools, Alberta City Elementary, was completely destroyed in the tornado. We felt that this was the perfect place to begin. Alumni helped us coordinate with Jack Summersell, president of Educator’s Resource in Mobile, and so our adventure began. Mr. Summersell helped us to gather and spread the word that we were raising money to help Alberta Elementary. In no time, $4,000 had been donated and we were able to purchase a large amount of school supplies from Educator’s Resource. Some of our other events include our annual cookout in honor of Becca Bettis and Virginia Gray Bailey; during this event money is raised and donated toward a Kappa scholarship fund in honor of the two former members. Kappa for a Kure occurs every year during parents weekend in which money is raised in support of the American Cancer Society, this event is also in memory of a former Kappa, Carlton Parnell.
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2014 was a great year for the Gamma Phi Chapter at SMU. This year, our chapter saw incredible academic performance improvement, successful new social activities, and a remarkable Recruitment. In the summer of 2014, the Gamma Phi Chapter received the prestigious “Panhellenic Award” at the Kappa Kappa Gamma Convention in Houston, TX. This award recognized our chapter as the Kappa chapter that nationally best exemplified true Panhellenic leadership and relations in the college campus community. The Gamma Phi Chapter also received “Honorable Mention” for “Finance Award”, “Recruitment Award”, and “Advisory Board Award.” During the fall semester on game day weekends, we invited the gentlemen of a different fraternity every week to join us for a favorite Kappa tradition – Friday brunch at the Kappa house.
  
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Gamma Phi Kappas also enjoyed our inaugural Sapphire Ball for Kappas and their dates, during such a special formal night to remember in November. Also during November, a group of Kappa members hosted a Reading is Key event, while we read to underprivileged elementary school children and donated hundreds of books for the children to take home. Furthermore, in the fall semester, we invited the SMU campus and Kappa alumnae for our first ever spirit event before the SMU season opener basketball game, called Kappa Kappa Gameday. In December the semester concluded with our successful inaugural philanthropy event. Our “Kappa Holiday Bazaar” brought all types of vendors to a shopping event for Kappas, to raise money with a portion of all profits to be donated to RIF. In total, we raised over $2,700 in support of Reading is Fundamental. The Akola Project, the non-profit philanthropy that our chapter always supports, was also in attendance at the bazaar and sold a great amount of jewelry to help raise additional funds for their causes. The chapter is also proud to have a Kappa member represent the chapter as Emily Provost was elected to serve as the 2015 SMU Panhellenic President. We are very proud of all of our accomplishment
  
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'''Other Awards/Achievements:'''
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This year, Southern Methodist University has continued its celebration of our centennial. Panhellenic had the most number of girls ever sign up for rush with numbers topping 600 girls. This allowed the Gamma Phi chapter to welcome a higher than usual new members to our 2015 pledge class. The Gamma Phi chapter continues to strive for excellence and improvement creating a sense of drive and determination throughout our chapter. Our chapter's outlook on the 2014-2015 Gamma Phi year is hopeful and ambitious as we continue our tradition of excellence in leadership, campus involvement, academics, and sisterhood. 
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• 2012 Active Hallie Majure Phillips, Order of Omega Most Outstanding Junior
 
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• 2012 Active Laura Ying, Vice President of Order of Omega
 
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• 2012 Actives Natalie Coleman, Hallie Majure Phillips, Laura Ying, and Kara Galloway, Order of Omega Honor Society
 
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• 2012 Active Hallie Majure Phillips, Blue Key Honor Society President
 
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• 2012 Actives Hallie Majure Phillips and Ellie Friedman, Mortar Board Society
 
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• 2012 Actives Ellie Friedman and Hallie Majure Phillips, Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society
 
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• 2012 Gamma Pi had 11 members of Homecoming Executive Board and Committees
 
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• 2012 Actives Natalie Coleman and Hallie Majure Phillips, recipients of the Miriam Locke Scholarship
 
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• 2010- 2012 National Kappa Kappa Gamma Recruitment Award
 
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• 2012 Academic Improvement Award for Xi Province from the National Fraternity
 
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• 2012 Alumni Support Award for Xi Province from the National Fraternity
 
  
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We also had members on the Executive Council of Order of Omega and Blue Key Honor Society, as well as members of Mortar Board, the Alabama Panhellenic Association Executive Council, Omicron Delta Kappa, and many more prestigious organizations.
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We hold chapter meetings in our chapter house on the North edge of campus, owned by our chapter. The chapter-owned house we currently have was built in 2008. It is the second house in our chapter's history. It houses 40 of our Kappa sisters, mainly upperclassmen and we are so lucky to have the wonderful Jill Rusher as our house mother. We are thankful to our Alum and House Board for helping our incredible in-house experience run smoothly.
  
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'''Chapter Goals, Challenges, and how they were overcome:'''
 
  
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Our chapter faced some complications accommodating for our largest pledge in history but we were so thrilled to have so many new members who would contribute only the best to Gamma Pi; therefore, the officers on Chapter Council came together to help each other do whatever needed to be done to be sure that the needs of every member in the chapter was accounted for.
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==Highlights of 2015==
  
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'''Changes on Campus:'''
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2015 was a great year for the Gamma Phi Chapter at SMU. This year, our chapter saw incredible academic performance improvement, successful new social activities, and a remarkable Recruitment. In the spring, we gained 58 new members. We enjoyed a fun-filled and celebrated Bid Day in January and officially initiated our new members on March 21, 2015. The week of February 22nd, we enjoyed a week-long visit from our leadership consultant and learned of ways we can improve our chapter and heard of things we were doing well. On March 30th, we had our first Easter event with the Wesley-Rankin after school program with the men of Pi Kappa Alpha. We had an Easter egg hunt, played games, and had a cookout for the kids, and it was a tremendous success. We had another successful Monmouth formal with Pi Beta Phi on April 18th and enjoyed the traditional formal that is a rich part of our history. This fall, we had many new and exciting changes and activities at the Gamma Phi Chapter. We continued our tradition last year of having “Brunch with the Boys” where one Friday a month we invited a different fraternity to have brunch with us at the house. A new tradition that we have not practiced in over 10 years was a candlelight celebration during which we celebrated one of our senior members who got engaged in June. In October we also participated in a Halloween service event at Wesley-Rankin’s after school program again with the men of Pi Kappa Alpha. We played games, spent time with the kids, helped them with homework, and ate LOTS of candy! November was an incredibly busy month for the Gamma Phi chapter. For the first time ever, the entire Gamma Phi chapter celebrated the 145th Founders Day with the Kappa Dallas Alumnae Association at the Dallas Country Club. We were honored to be included in the celebration and meet Kappas who have been dedicated to our chapter for many years. On November 15th, we had our second annual Holiday Bazaar to raise money for Reading is Fundamental and enjoyed huge success with the event. The Akola Project, the non-profit philanthropy that our chapter always supports, was also in attendance at the bazaar and sold a great amount of jewelry to help raise additional funds for their causes. On November 22nd, we hosted our second annual Kappa Kappa Gameday event in which we celebrated the start of the SMU basketball season with a gathering outside of the gymnasium. We are incredibly proud of the success our chapter has had this year and look forward to an outstanding 2016.
  
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Our University and Greek community are expanding greatly and so is our chapter. With strong participation and attendance at chapter meetings and programs, our chapter is in need of more space to accommodate its growing number of women. Ritual and sacred ceremonies that take place in our chapter house are of the upmost importance to us. Keeping the sisterhood of Kappa Kappa Gamma alive through ceremonies that were conducted by our founding sisters 142 years ago is one of the most cherished traditions of our fraternity. New member classes are only going to get larger from here. It is very important that we have enough space to conduct our initiation ceremonies in the future when pledge classes are over one hundred women. We are so appreciative of the overwhelming amount of alumnae support that our chapter receives, especially for events such as recruitment and initiation. In recent years we have actually had to limit the amount of alumnae that can attend because our facility cannot currently hold everyone who would like to be in attendance. We are hoping to have renovation and expand our house by the year of 2014.
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This year, Southern Methodist University finished its four-year long centennial celebration. Panhellenic had the most number of girls ever sign up for rush with numbers topping 600 girls. This allowed the Gamma Phi chapter to welcome a higher than usual new members to our 2015 pledge class. The Gamma Phi chapter continues to strive for excellence and improvement creating a sense of drive and determination throughout our chapter. Our chapter's outlook on the 2016 Gamma Phi year is hopeful and ambitious as we continue our tradition of excellence in leadership, campus involvement, academics, and sisterhood
  
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'''Overall Nature of the Gamma Pi Chapter:'''
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Chapter Philanthropy:
  
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“Aspire to be.” That is the motto of Kappa Kappa Gamma. The Gamma Pi Chapter strives more and more every year to give back to our sisters and to our community. We aspire to grow in our friendships and leadership through our chapter programs and sisterhood activities. We aspire to make the community around us a better place through our philanthropic efforts. Below we highlight some of our annual programs and service projects.
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What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?
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==Highlights of 2013==
 
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The year of 2013 proved to be another successful year for the Gamma Pi chapter. We have several members that hold leadership positions and are in honor societies on campus.  Increased involvement of our members on campus is a goal for our future.
 
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In January, we hosted our annual Kappa Kappa Gamma Leadership Day, a day where incoming and outgoing officers and advisers set goals for the new year and sought to make improvements where needed.  Our slogan for this year was “Let’s Get R.E.A.L!”  Each letter in the word “REAL” stands for something: “R” for recruitment, “E” for effort, “A” for academics, and “L” for leadership.  At this meeting we planned to devote the most attention to these four areas for the upcoming year.
 
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In February, we had eleven members of chapter council attend the Xi Province Meeting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Our members were very excited to have the opportunity to meet other Kappas from around the country.  Our chapter won two awards, one for academic improvement and the other for outstanding support from the Tuscaloosa alumni.
 
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In August we worked very hard to pledge our largest pledge class yet with 117 incredible new members!  We had the best return rates we have ever had and were very pleased to add such an outstanding pledge class.
 
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Throughout the year, Kappa participated in and held several philanthropy events.
 
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In January we supported the Big Brothers/ Big Sisters organization of West Alabama with their Tuscaloosa Krispy Kreme Challenge.  This event consisted of a 2.5-mile race where participants received a dozen donuts halfway through the race. On our leadership day, the CEO of Big Brothers/ Big Sisters West Alabama came to speak us about leadership. 
 
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During our annual Parents Weekend in March, we hosted a cookout at the Kappa house with barbecue and a piano band.  There was a five-dollar donation given by everyone in attendance.  The proceeds went to the Cystic Fibrosis foundation. 
 
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In September the Kappas helped with the Thomas Plott Foundation’s annual golf tournament to raise awareness and funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  We focus several of our philanthropy efforts towards cystic fibrosis because one of our current members suffers from it.
 
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In October, we held our first annual Kappa Karnival to serve the underprivileged children of our Tuscaloosa community and to collect books benefitting our national philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental.  We first asked other sororities and fraternities to donate books for our cause.  We then hosted a carnival for underprivileged children in the Tuscaloosa area.  We had a great time with the children and felt good about the impact we had on our local community. 
 
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In November we held our annual Virginia Gray Bailey/ Becca Bettis Memorial Scholarship fundraiser in conjunction with Alumni Weekend.  Alumni and actives gathered on the Kappa lawn to enjoy live music, eat hamburgers and hotdogs, hear about the plans for the new Kappa house, and support the cause.  The scholarship goes to a deserving active of Gamma Pi who exemplifies the ideals of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
 
  
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There have been several changes on campus this year. 
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We traditionally raise money for Reading is Fundamental and our local chapter philanthropy, the Akola Project. For service hours, we have become very involved in the local Wesley-Rankin after school program over the last several years.
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The fall of 2013 proved to be a time of great controversy for the Greek community.  National attention was focused on the campus and its lack of diversity within sororities.  Panhellenic worked with the administration of the University of Alabama to implement Continuous Open Bidding (COB) whereby all Panhellenic sororities were encouraged to recruit new members throughout the year. Bids were offered, and we were fortunate to pledge several new members at different times during the year.
 
  
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One of the areas we continue to focus on improving is academics.  Every year we strive to increase our sorority’s academic average, and this year we were successful in doing so.  We are proud of the improvements that we continue to make, and we hope to continue our efforts to become an even stronger chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
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Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?
  
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Reading is Fundamental is our national philanthropy and one that the Gamma Phi chapter holds dear. We are fortunate to attend such an outstanding university and wish to promote the love for learning and reading by hosting book drives and raising money for RIF. The Akola Project was started by a Gamma Phi alum and seeks to promote female empowerment and business leadership in impoverished countries such as Uganda through its jewelry business. We believe in our alums and providing a helping hand to women who seek to empower their communities in places that usually do not value women or see them as world changers. The Wesley-Rankin after school program aligns with our mission of spreading the love for reading and learning is working to make a impact on the youth of south Dallas. We have loved the kids we mentor, tutor, and love on their and hope to continue our partnership going forward.
  
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==Highlights of 2014==
 
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In the past year the Gamma Pi Chapter has achieved many things. Throughout the year, many members of the Gamma Pi chapter have been involved in not only sisterhood events but academic events and achievements as well. Many of the members have help leadership positions and are in honor societies on campus at the University of Alabama. We continue to strive for goals such as increasing involvement on campus, academics, and sisterhood.
 
  
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In January, we hosted our annual Kappa Kappa Gamma Leadership Day. This day is where incoming and outgoing officers and advisers meet and set goals for the new year and discuss areas which need improvement. The slogan for this year was “ REAL. Bold the A”. Each letter in slogan represented a different word from our previous years’ Leadership Day. The main point was to place emphasis on the “A”, which stood for academics, accountability, and appreciation, all areas our chapter needed improvement on.
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==Highlights of 2016==
  
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In August we had another outstanding rush, with yet another, outstanding large pledge class of 115 incredible new members. Gamma Pi, once again, has the best return rates throughout recruitment. With our increasing numbers, we were pleased to add a unique and outstanding pledge class.  
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2016 was a year of tremendous growth for the Gamma Phi Chapter at SMU. This year, our chapter saw incredible academic performance improvement, outstanding community service involvement, a successful recruitment, and new social activities. In Spring 2016, our chapter GPA rose above the All-Sorority Average and we ranked fourth out of eight Panhellenic chapters on campus. Outside of academics, we completed over 950 hours and raised money for our philanthropies, the Akola Project and Reading is Fundamental. In addition to serving our philanthropies we also participated in numerous fundraising events on campus. Kappas participated in SMU’s annual Relay for Life which took place on April 8th as well as participating in Dance Marathon which is a fundraiser for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals that SMU had the pleasure of hosting for the first time. In February, March, and August, we enjoyed week-long visits from two leadership consultants where we evaluated the strengths of our chapter as well as areas for improvement. In the spring, we gained 55 new members who were offically initiated on April 16, 2016. A few days later on April 18th we had another successful Monmouth formal with Pi Beta Phi and enjoyed the traditional formal that is a rich part of our history. This fall, we had many new and exciting changes and activities at the Gamma Phi Chapter. We continued our tradition last year of having “Brunch with the Boys” where one Friday we invited fraternity members to have brunch with us at the house. We also participated in the Homecoming festivities including building a Nevada-themed float and supported our wonderful homecoming candidate, Anna Hugg. On November 7th the chapter celebrated our Founders Day where we had a history presentation while enjoying themed treats. Chapter Council was invited to celebrate the 146th Founders Day with the Kappa Dallas Alumnae Association at the Dallas Country Club. We were honored to be included in the celebration again and to witness Kappas getting their 50 and 65 year badges. This fall semester we also had two successful panhellenic events. The first was a Yogurt & Yoga event which we hosted at the Kappa Kappa Gamma house and invited the sisters of Alpha Chi Omega. The other panhellenic event was an Ice Cream Social with the sisters of Delta Gamma. We also spent time with the sisters of Kappa Alpha Theta when we had our annual Kite & Key formal on November 12th. Two days later on November 14th we had our first ever Fall Fest with the men of Sigma Alpha Epsilon which raised money for The Akola Project. The gathering included fall-themed games and treats such as corn hole and apple cider. On November 20th, we had our second annual Holiday Bazaar to raise money for Reading is Fundamental which was a huge success. The Akola Project, the non-profit philanthropy that our chapter always supports, was also in attendance at the bazaar and sold a great amount of jewelry to help raise additional funds for their cause. We are incredibly proud of the progress and achievements our chapter has had this year and look forward to an outstanding 2017.  
  
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During the year we had had many members attend different conferences and events hosted by Kappa Kappa Gamma. Two of our members attended convention and one member attended leadership academy.  
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This year, Southern Methodist University Panhellenic had the most number of girls ever sign up for recruitment with numbers topping 617 girls. This allowed the Gamma Phi chapter to welcome a more new members to our 2016 pledge class than usual. The Gamma Phi chapter continues to strive for excellence and improvement creating a sense of drive and determination throughout our chapter and in our community. We are proud of the events we hosted and participated in on campus with other sororities and look forward to continuing these strong relationships in the future. Our chapter's outlook on the 2017 Gamma Phi year is positive and ambitious as we continue our tradition of excellence in leadership, campus involvement, academics, and sisterhood.
  
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Throughout the year, Gamma Pi help and participated in several philanthropy events around campus.  
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We traditionally raise money for Reading is Fundamental and our local chapter philanthropy, the Akola Project. In addition, our chapter participated in fundraising events for numerous other oganizations such as Relay for Life and Dance Marathon.
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Reading is Fundamental is our national philanthropy and one that the Gamma Phi chapter holds dear. We are fortunate to attend such an outstanding university and wish to promote the love for learning and reading by hosting book drives and raising money for RIF. The Akola Project was started by a Gamma Phi alum and seeks to promote female empowerment and business leadership in impoverished countries such as Uganda through its jewelry business. We believe in our alums and providing a helping hand to women who seek to empower their communities in places that usually do not value women or see them as world changers.  
  
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In January, we were involved in the Tuscaloosa Krispy Kreme Challenge, helping Big Brothers/ Big Sisters organization of West Alabama. This event is a 2.5- mile race where participants run a little over one mile to pick up a dozen donuts, then run back to the start of the race. The catch here is, the participants must eat the entire dozen donuts before returning to start to win the race. Throughout the year, the CEO of Big Brothers/ Big Sisters of West Alabama came to speak to our chapter.
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We hold chapter meetings in our chapter house on the North edge of Southern Methodist University campus. Our house was recently redecorated and remains under the ownership of our chapter.
  
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At our annual Parents Weekend in March, we held a cookout at the Kappa House with a barbecue and a band. There was an offer to give a five-dollar donation for everyone in attendance, where the proceeds went to the Cystic Fibrosis foundation. 
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==Highlights of 2017==
  
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In March during spring break, a group of Gamma Pi members travelled to Haiti for our first ever Spring Break mission trip to Haiti. Kappa collected over 500 t-shirts to send with the members who went to Haiti for the children. We also collected other supplies and funds that the members needed for the trip and to give to the Sozo Children of Haiti. This is new a tradition that is continuing on for many more Spring Breaks to come.  
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This year, we placed a high focus on academic performance, Panhellenic relations, and
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volunteerism on campus. We have greatly improved our academic performance to an overall
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chapter GPA of and multiple chapter members received merit based awards from the University.
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We drastically increased the number of girls with 4.0 GPAs and started “Academic Spotlight of
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the Week” for members who exhibited strength in academics or unique academic interests.
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Additionally, there were multiple girls who received academic excellence awards.
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Our chapter improved its Panhellenic relations by holding an event for the whole Panhellenic
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community - mental health and domestic violence awareness night as well as several socials with
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houses we haven’t mixed with in the past year. We also supported other house’s philanthropy
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events, including playing in the Gamma Phi Beta Moonball tournament.
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Our chapter’s average volunteer hours per member drastically improved in the Spring and Fall
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semesters to 8.6 and 8.4 hours, respectively. With the addition of our Hurricane Harvey Relief
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efforts, we raised $2,000 with the help and support of the brothers of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.
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We also brought a new fundraising event to our campus called “Kappa Karnival” which raised
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about $1,000 for Reading is Fundamental. Finally, our other great pride was hosting the Girl’s
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Academy weekend-long retreat for middle school girls.  
  
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In October, we held our second annual Kappa Karnival to serve the underprivileged children of our Tuscaloosa community. This events helped us collect books benefiting our national philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental. We asked other sororities and fraternities to donate books for a cause. Afterwards, we hosted the carnival for the children in the Tuscaloosa area. This was Halloween themed since it was around Halloween and in October. The kids had many games and activities to participate in, including a bounce house, pumpkin painting, and different carnival games. We had a wonderful time with the children and felt great about the imp at we had on our local community.  
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Our Panhellenic community is about to increase due to the highest number of girls signed up for formal recruitment in our University's history.  The Gamma Phi chapter looks forward to welcoming new members into the Panhellenic community so that we can share our love of Greek Life with the rest of the SMU campus.
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Historically, our chapter has raised money for Reading is Fundamental and our local chapter philanthropy, The Akola Project. Additionally, we participate in on-campus philanthropy events such as the SMU Dance Marathon and Relay for Life.  This year our chapter chose to hold our very first Girls' Academy.
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Reading is Fundamental is KKG's national philanthropy which we look forward to supporting each year because as college women, we understand the importance of education and the great opportunity we have been given to attend such an esteemed university where we feel we can learn to thrive.
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The Akola project is another philanthropy that we cherish not only because of its mission but because it was founded by our very own Brittany Underwood, a Gamma Phi alum. She began this foundation in hope of transforming the lives of impoverished women and families of Uganda through training, employment and holistic care.
  
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In November, we head our annual Virginia Gray Bailey/ Becca Bettis Memorial Scholarship fundraiser in conjunction with Homecoming and our Alumni Weekend. Alumni and actives gather on the Kappa lawn and driveway to enjoy live music, have a cookout, and head about the plans for our new Kappa house while supporting the cause. A donation of five dollars a person was taken for the Scholarship fund in honor of two of our kappa sisters who died a few years ago. This is not only a great way to support our sisters in need of a scholarship but to show support to our actives who were sisters to and friends of Virginia Gray and Becca. This scholarship goes to a deserving active of Gamma Pi who exemplifies the ideals of Kappa Kappa Gamma.  
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Each year our chapter has a Kappa team that takes part in the Dance Marathon to support Children's Health and Children's Miracle Network in greater Dallas. Additionally, Relay for Life is another organization that we hold dear. One of our chapter members was honored as one of the top participants.  WE will participate in this again this April.
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In conclusion, our chapter hosted our first Girls' Academy at a local school in Dallas. Girls Academy is a week-end long program designed to teach, motivate and empower middle school girls to be proud of who they are and comfortable in this won skins which is a cause that our chapter women really identified with and enjoyed volunteering in and putting on the event.
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We meet in the dining room of our chapter house on the SMU campus.
  
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==Highlights of 2018==
  
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Throughout the year, Gamma Pi members have improved in the area of academics, sisterhood, and involvement around campus and within Kappa. We hosted many events for actives to bond more with their sisters, including Zumba for all grades on Monday nights twice a semester, ice cream get-togethers, movie nights, and pizza parties. We also had bible studies for members who wanted to come together and worship God. Many of our actives are on the Dean’s List, President’s List, and many different academic honor societies. We have many members of Gamma Pi in leadership positions of SGA at the University of Alabama. We are proud of the improvements that we continue to make, and we hope to continue our efforts to become an event stronger chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
 
  
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After finally being lifted from probation we have been making an effort to boost the morale and ensure that everyone is enjoying their time in the chapter.  With the new academic standard Kappa has set, we have been trying to work with the chapter to try to ensure a fair GPA is set, we concluded for a 2.5 for actives and 2.7 for new members.  We also held a Founders Day event in which Kappa's from 50 and 70+ years came and enjoyed an afternoon with our chapter and sharing stories from their past.  We also won the Chapter and Advisory Board Relations award at Convention, a huge honor after coming off of probation win which we were constantly praised for our improvement and commitment to betting the Gamma Phi chapter's name as well as community service efforts.
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No recent changes on campus, Panhellenic Board has created different guidelines and mandatory events for Greek life and our chapter has made an effort to comply with all decisions they have set.
  
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==Highlights of 2015==
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Our chapter supports the Akola and Dallas Genesis Women's Shelter.  At Kappa Karnival with SAE we raised $1560 for both the Dallas Genesis Women's Shelter(which we chose because it is local charity that provides support to domestic violence victims) and Akola Project(chosen because it was started by an SMU Kappa alumna and promotes female leadership/entrepreneurship)
  
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The year of 2015 proved to be another successful year for the Gamma Pi chapter at the University of Alabama. We have had several members that have held leadership positions and are in numerous honor societies on campus. We continue to strive for increased involvement of our members on campus now and in the future.
 
  
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In January, we hosed our annual Kappa Kappa Gamma Leadership Day. This day is where incoming and outgoing officers and advisers come together and set goals for the new year. This is also a time where previous plans are reviewed and areas are looked at for where improvements could be made. We continue to have an action plans of focusing on Recruitment, Effort, Academics, and Leadership.
 
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In February, we had numerous members of chapter council attend Kappa Kappa Gamma Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. Our members were very excited to have the opportunity to meet with other Kappas from around the country.
 
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In April, we held a memorial weekend and ground breaking ceremony for our new Kappa house. The event was filled with hundreds of alumni and actives at the Kappa house to walk through the old house and share memories from years of Gamma Pi members. The ceremony also was a ground breaking event for our new house, where we shared plans of the future of Gamma Pi.
 
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In August, our current members worked very hard to pledge our largest pledge to date. The pledge class had 140 incredible new members! We, yet again, had the best return rates we have ever had and were very excited to add such an amazing pledge class.
 
  
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Throughout the year, Kappa participated in and held several philanthropy events.
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==Highlights of 2019==
  
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In January, we supported Big Brothers/ Big Sisters organization of West Alabama with their annual Krispy Kreme Challenge. This event consisted of a 2.5 mile race where participants received a dozen donuts halfway through the race. In order to win the race, participants must eat all of the donuts before finishing the race. On our leadership day, the CEO of Big Brothers/ Big Sisters West Alabama came to speak to us about leadership.
 
  
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In April, we held our annual our annual Parents Weekend, we hosted a pancake breakfast at the Kappa House. There was a five-dollar donation given by everyone in attendance. The proceeds went to the Cystic Fibrosis foundation.  
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The previous calendar year, 2019, was an eventful and special time for the Gamma Phi Chapter. We experienced many special events that further bonded us and supported Chapter Council's goal to make our chapter more connected as a whole. To start, we were able to host many formal events thanks to the help from our incredible Event Chair, Taylor Nielson, and Risk Management chair, Corina Gonzalez-Molina. Some of these were formal parties paired with other sororities on campus, and others were "date dashes," where members dress in costume according to a given theme.
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We also participated in the homecoming parade, where we nominated our Treasurer, Sarah Anania, to represent our chapter. We paired with SAE in the parade, and we had a lot of fun building our float together.
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Additionally, one of our member's hard work in the classroom paid off. Elizabeth Kelley, our New Membership Chair, is the first recipient to be awarded the Wendy Weber Smith scholarship, a scholarship honoring Wendy Weber Smith, an SMU Kappa almuna. Our chapter was able to properly thank the scholarship donors by inviting them to our Founder's Day celebration and thanking them in person.
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Regarding philanthropy, our Philanthropy Chair, Katie Skillman, organized two events where our chapter raised $3197. Our chapter members thoroughly enjoyed coming together to support others and give back to our community. 
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Lastly, the Gamma Phi Chapter made eco-friendly strides regarding the consumption of styrofoam in the house. With 40 girls living in Kappa and styrofoam being the main source of plates, bowls, and cups, we throw away a mass amount of it on a daily basis. Luckily, our President, Gwen Everett, and House Chair, Ashley Anthony, met with our House Board to discuss "going green" and introducing paper plates. By using paper, we would be reducing our carbon footprint, but also spending more money because paper costs more than styrofoam. With these extra expenses in mind, we feel very grateful that House Board granted us permission and the funds to use paper plates and support our initiative to "go green."
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As a Chapter Council, we set one main goal for the year. We wanted our chapter to feel more inclusive and cohesive. While the members in our chapter are kind to one another, we noticed slight divides between different groups of girls. To break these divisions, our VP Standards Chair, Shelby Nutter, planned free workout classes to help promote various fitness studios and also encourage girls to spend time with members outside their typical social circle. These classes were successful, as chapter members feel the classes gave them an opportunity to get to know each other better. Additionally, as our chapter is gearing up to welcome home our new pledge class, PC'20, our youngest pledge class, PC'19, has been doing an incredible job including each other while practicing for recruitment. We believe that the environment within our chapter is much more cohesive than we were in January.
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While we had a very successful year, we faced an unexpected challenge. With apartment living so common for the junior and senior classes, we struggled to fill the house with girls to live in it. While we were eventually able to fill it this past year, unfortunately, this challenge appears to be rising again for the 2020 academic year. However, our House Chair, Ashley Anthony, is doing an incredible job encouraging girls to live in the house and communicating its many benefits. While this is a challenge Chapter Council has to face, since we were able to fill the house before, we are confident we will be able to fill it again.          
  
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In September, the Kappas held a philanthropy dinner for Molly Remmert Rossell. A native of Tuscaloosa who was battling cancer. The event was to raise awareness for cancer and support Molly in her fight.
 
  
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In October, members helped with the Thomas Plott Foundation’s annual golf tournament to raise awareness and funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. We focus several of our philanthropy efforts towards cystic fibrosis because one of our current members suffers from it. We also held our third annual Kappa Karnival. This is to serve the underprivileged children of our Tuscaloosa community and to collect books benefitting our national philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental. We asked other sororities and fraternities to donate books for our case. We hosted a carnival for the children at our house. Also in October, we held our annual Virginia Gray Bailey/ Becca Bettis Memorial Scholarship fundraiser cookout to remember two members who passed away. Alumni and actives gathered on the Kappa Lawn to enjoy live music, eat hamburgers and bbq, hear more plans for the New Kappa House, and support the case. The scholarship goes to a deserving active of Gamma Pi who exemplifies the ideals of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
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While there have not been many significant changes on campus, the chapter's overall nature is positive and encouraging. The girls in the chapter seem to genuinely want the best for each other, and this positivity continues to grow. Our chapter is especially excited because recruitment is right around the corner. We feel prepared, and we are confident that we will welcome home a group of well-rounded, "kappa classy" girls in January 2020!
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In November we held a fundraiser at a local restaurant for “Amazing Grace”. Grace is a young girl from Birmingham, Al who had cancer. The event held was to raise money to donate to the Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, Al in Grace’s name. We sold cups with “Amazing Grace logo” for 5$ a piece so that anyone who bought the cup could get free sodas, all afternoon at the restaurant. We had an outstanding attendance rate from not only our members of Gamma Pi but also from locals in Tuscaloosa.
 
  
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One of the areas we continue to focus on is improving academics among all members. Every year we strive to increase our sorority’s academic average, and this year, like previous year, we were successful in doing so. We are proud of the improvements that we continue to make, and we hope to continue our efforts to become an even stronger chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma.  
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Our chapter supports Reading is Fundamental, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, and the Akola Project.
  
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The overall nature of our chapter is a happy and friendly chapter. We have no had many changes on campus except for our new University of Alabama President being named. This has not changed many things for the Kappas of Alabama. We are one of the most liked sororities on campus with other students and with the University.
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Reading is Fundamental and the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation are Kappa's nationally supported philanthropies. Reading is Fundamental supports children's literacy in underprivileged schools. The Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation helps support Kappas in times of adversity. Our third local philanthropy is the Akola Project. The Akola Project was founded by an SMU Kappa in the mid 2000s. The Akola Project serves to employ impoverished women in Uganda by making handcrafted beads for jewelry.
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Chapter Philanthropy:
 
  
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What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?
 
  
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We participate in many different organizations in our community. The above organizations are what we normally give time and money to within the community.  
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The chapter celebrated Founders Day by hosting the Dallas alumni that were receiving their milestone pins at the house. We hosted an afternoon tea with trays of snacks, beautiful flower arrangements, and speeches to express our gratitude and respect for the members receiving their pins. Per chapter ritual, six Chapter Council members conducted the candle light ceremony, which all of the attendees enjoyed.  
  
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Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?
 
  
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We choose to support different organization due our chapter’s voice in what organization we should promote. If a member has a philanthropy we should support, our philanthropy chairman will review the cause and decide if we have time and money to get involved with the given event.
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The Gamma Phi Chapter is aware and excited for Kappa's 150th anniversary approaching in 2020. Brainstorming for a unique and fun celebration has recently begun, and with our chapter's various creative minds, we are excited to take submissions for ideas. We are considering the budget for a chapter-wide event to celebrate the huge milestone. As time goes on, we will have a more concrete answer as to how we are going to celebrate 150 years of Kappa.
  
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==Highlights of the 2020s==
 
  
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From chapter history reports, scholarship, group honors/awards, traditions, special events, changes on campus or within chapter, overall nature of the chapter, chapter goals, challenges and how they were overcome, etc.)
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==Highlights of 2020==
  
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This past year a lot in our chapter has changed due to COVID-19. Thankfully, we still got through a successful initiation for PC’20 before SMU shut down. This semester, we were unable to hold any Kappa in-person events. This includes date dashes, the Sapphire Ball, and different philanthropic events. However, that did not stop us. This year marked the 150th year of Kappa Kappa Gamma. We decided to donate over 150 books, and give out blue hand sanitizer. We also held a virtual meals on wheels event last semester. This semester we held a virtual workout class with Lync. All the proceeds went towards the Bridge Breast Network. We also held a scholarships. This includes the Dallas Alumnae Association Gamma Phi Chapter Scholarship, the Wendy Weber Scholarship and the Nancy Moses Scholarship. Junior, Hailey Haase received the Wendy Weber Scholarship and seniors, Candice Cramer and Isabelle Wyant received the Nancy Moses Scholarship. Since members could not be together in the house, the standards chairman organized different sisterhood events like going to a drive-thru movie theater in Dallas!
  
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Our chapter supports Akola Jewelry during philanthropy day. We have worked with this organization for years. It is a business run by women to empower other women. It helps the lives of those less fortunate and we are very lucky to work with a company started by an SMU Kappa alum.
  
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This year we are adding a DEI member to chapter council. This position will be elected by the new chapter council this spring. This position will include chapter training and awareness.
  
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'''Note to Chapter Registrar:'''
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This year marked the 150th year of Kappa Kappa Gamma. We decided to donate over 150 books, and give out blue hand sanitizer. The books went to benefit Reading is Fundamental which is our national philanthropy. We also gave out Kappa history and fact sheets to active members.
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Please refer to your chapter archives including chapter meeting minutes and back issues of The Key to fill in any gaps in the above historical highlights. If your chapter archives are not complete, please research your university library, campus newspaper and yearbook archives for newsworthy information about your chapter. Please double check your work for accuracy. Contact chapter Advisory or House Board members, local Alumnae Association members, or your Province Director of Chapters for assistance.  
 
  
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Your efforts will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations to enjoy!
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[[File:Smuhouse.jpg|thumb|Front steps of house]]
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[[File:Smuworkout.jpg|thumb|working out together]]

Revision as of 11:34, 10 January 2021

 

Gamma Phi
ΓΦ
Gamma Phi.jpg
FoundedMay 17, 1929 (1929-05-17) (96 years ago)
CollegeSouthern Methodist University
LocationDallas, TX
HomepageGamma Phi Homepage
Media related to Gamma Phi Chapter

Southern Methodist University established in 1911, Dallas, Texas


Founded May 17, 1929


3,369 initiates (as of June 2018)

Charter Members:

Janet Andrews, Allie Angell, Nancy Ann Baker, Julia Bernice Ballard, Will Anne Ballard, Jane Etheridge, Martha Virginia Harrell, Virginia Haynie, Mildred Rancamp Iford, Joel Estes Lichte, Arlane Parker, Julia DeRoosette Presnall, Lo Rene Taliaferro, Louise Alice Williams, Alice Dolling Wrather.


Fraternity Council Officers:


Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:


Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:

Ginnie Johansen Johnson, 1986; Entrepreneur; artist Jeanne Linder Phillips, 2006; Statesman/political ambassador Elizabeth Hemphill Wilson, 1994; artist, needlepoint expert


Additional Outstanding Gamma Phi Alumnae:


The Early Years (Excerpted from The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity: 1870-1976)

Gamma Phi Chapter began October 15, 1928, on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, when a group of three colonizers and 24 pledges became the local group, Gamma Kappa. The Dallas Alumnae Association was firmly behind the colony, and a number of its members assumed advisory board responsibilities.

Kappa Grand President Georgia Hayden Lloyd-Jones, Eta-Wisconsin, visited in January, 1929, and gave her approval. On April 15, word came from Clara O. Pierce, Beta Nu- Ohio State, "Charter granted, SMU. Congratulations."

Gamma Phi was installed May 17, 1929, by Clara Pierce, Beta Nu-Ohio State, assisted by Beta Xi, University of Texas, and the Dallas alumnae.

Southern Methodist University, which was opened to students in September, 1915, had been established by charter in April, 1911, under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

At the time of the installation of the Kappa chapter there were 1,371 men students, 1,121 women students, and 152 faculty members. Thirteen fraternities had already been installed. The 11 buildings of 1929 had become 80 by 1973, and there were 8,000 students and 500 faculty.

The first 33 years of Gamma Phi were notable for student activities, honoraries, "overwhelmingly successful parties," and sweethearts and queens.

Ruth Pollock (McCloud) was Southern Methodist University Sweetheart at the 1933 Texas Roundup, and the chapter won athletic trophies in basketball, baseball, and swimming and diving. In 1937 Florence Allen (Roseborough) collaborated on the script for the Southern Methodist University Pontiac Varsity Show coast-to-coast broadcast. Anna Ruth Baker (McCall) was named one of the five "most exotic girls on campus" in an all-school election in 1939, and the chapter float in the Homecoming Parade was named "most beautiful." Peggy Wallace (Reinke) received an "M" Award during the 1940-41 school year for being the co-founder of COGS, (College Organization for General Service), a group that claimed more significance and interest than any other on campus. The chapter sponsored informal parties for cadets at Hensley Field in Dallas, in keeping with wartime activities.

During the decade of the 1940s, every outstanding organization at Southern Methodist seemed to have been headed by Kappas: Kirkos; COGS; YWCA; Zeta Phi Eta; the Rotunda (yearbook); and officers of the Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Classes. Jo Neal (Cleaver), chapter president and Mortar Board member, was chosen a Rotunda beauty by Cecil B. DeMille. Eleanor Maclay was one of the seven original members of the Southern Methodist chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

Gamma Phi was second highest on the campus in scholarship in 1950-51, but the most important event was the groundbreaking for a chapter house. Sororities had at last been given permission to erect houses, and all eleven built simultaneously in the university's Georgian-style architecture. In December, the chapter was spotlighted in The Key.

The year 1951-52 was the first in the new house, and the chapter achieved first in scholarship. The following year Gamma Phi was the installing chapter of Delta Psi, Texas Tech University, at Lubbock, and in 1954-55 members fostered the formation of Epsilon Alpha at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Members of Kappa and Sigma Alpha Epsilon were featured in a color picture on the fraternity-sorority title page of the yearbook. In 1958, the chapter won the Charlotte Barrell Ware Standard Cup at convention, and again was first in scholarship.

The years between 1962 and 1973 saw a re-examination of Greek life, and the future of the system looked rather grim. However, Gamma Phi members continue to achieve high scholarship, show interest in campus life and the community, and concern for each other. The chapter won the Standards Award again in 1970.

Gamma Phi has enjoyed a very friendly relationship with Dallas alumnae, who have always generously supported the active chapter with time and money.

Well-known Gamma Phi alumnae include: charter member Joel Estes Lichte Tate, wife of the chancellor of Southern Methodist University; Louise Little Barbeck, Kappa Fraternity president 1968-72; Gail Griffin Thomas, dean of the University of Dallas; and Mary Ellen Mitchell Jericho, voted the outstanding Kappa in the area at the Fraternity's Centennial year Founders Day banquet in Dallas.

Highlights of the 1970s

If you wore a polo shirt with a floppy bow tie at the neck in the late 70s, then you know all about belties. Did you know, though, that the word belties was first coined by a Kappa from SMU? When not setting the tone for fashion, Kappas at Gamma Phi listened to Billie Joel, Hall and Oats, the Grateful Dead, and Bonnie Raitt. They cheered on the football team, fuelling Mustang Mania, which was just emerging at the time, while SMU also excelled in swimming and tennis.

Positivity was a chapter focus during this time. Chapter members significantly improved their grades and worked on developing positive attitudes. Officers stressed open communication, even picking rooms that gave the President and Vice Presidents the most visibility for the rest of the members. Chapter meetings were streamlined, and the chapter developed a stronger Panhellenic spirit. And of course, the chapter celebrated its 50th anniversary on SMU campus.

Kappas were also prominent leaders on campus. One member started a fundraising campaign to restore a historical SMU fountain that now features in all the school’s brochures, and among the Kappas were Homecoming Queen first runner-up, cheerleaders, Miss New Mexico, Miss Dallas, three yearbook beauties and a National Alumni Scholarship Winner.

Highlights of the 1980s

In many ways, the 1980s were the best of times and the worst of times for SMU. The university’s football team marked its most successful era from 1980 to 1985, posting a 55-14-1 record and winning three SWC titles. Kappas—preppy to the core in brown Topsiders, French braids or big hair and the obligatory strand of pearls—were among the sellout crowds cheering on the team at Texas Stadium, which was the former home of the Dallas Cowboys. Football, however, was cancelled for two seasons in 1986 and 1987 for NCAA violations, and Kappas turned to intramural leagues for the sports fix.

In 1987, the chapter won intramural soccer and tennis championships, while powder puff football games with other sororities raised money for various philanthropic causes. Gamma Phi members also hosted canned food drives, supported a halfway house for non-violent juvenile offenders in Dallas, helped children improve their reading skills in an inner city housing project, and raised money for the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Dallas.

Other notable events included chapter dinners at Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown Dallas, celebrating the 115th birthday of Kappa with Director of Chapters and future Fraternity President J. J. Wales, and hosting an inter-greek reception for the new university president, Dr. A. Kenneth Pye, in 1987. It was also during this time that the chapter began to follow the Celebration of Lights ceremony on campus with hot chocolate, cookies, a roaring fire and Nat King Cole at the chapter house.

The chapter continued to focus on academic excellence, holding a how to study seminar, and recognizing excellent grades with a weekly smart cookie award. Chapter meetings emphasized heritage and ritual, and members were encouraged to hang out at the house through monthly cookouts and holiday celebrations like Secret Santa gift exchanges.

Kappas regularly featured the Dallas Morning News for participating in the Idlewild Ball, Tyler Rose Festival and other prominent Texan debutant balls. And the Kappa Pickers, the chapter’s musical performance group, began to gain local prominence.

Highlights of the 1990s

Gamma Phi’s Kappa Pickers reached national prominence when they sang on CBS This Morning in Washington in 1991. They continued to perform throughout the 1990s, delighting audiences at parents’ weekend, Founders Day and many other Kappa and campus events. The chapter was very dedicated to philanthropy in these years. At least 10 to 20 members went to Traymore Nursing Home once a month to visit with residents, and in later years, the chapter would visit with patients at Medical City Hospital’s transitional care unit. Gamma Phi also helped out a shelter for runaway children, tutored students at an elementary school, sponsored blood drives, raised money for muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis. Other highlights included hosting a blood platelet drive to benefit Carter Blood Care for a Kappa Alpha Fraternity member who was diagnosed with cancer, sponsoring a Canadian Kappa alum through the Rose McGill Fund, and launching the very popular Carve for the Cure on Halloween.

SMU Kappas partnered with Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity on the annual Easter Egg hunt for children of university faculty and stuff, stuffing over 1,100 plastic eggs in 1995. Regular events included the Kappa Kountry Formal, Founders Day at the Dallas Country Club, and parents’ weekend with Sunday brunch. Special highlights included the chapter retreat at Camp John Mark and a visit to a ropes course to promote chapter unity.

Kappa exemplified its traditional of leadership on SMU campus in the 1990s. Gamma Phi hosted the first date rape seminar at SMU in 1991, and followed up with seminars on eating disorders and campus violence. In 1990, a Kappa chaired SMU’s Celebration of Lights, and in 1991 Kappas chaired Homecoming and won Homecoming Queen, which Kappas featuring in the Homecoming throughout the decade. Many chapter members attended Convention in 1990 when it was hosted in Dallas. The chapter received several honorable mentions for awards, and would go on to win the Fraternity’s Finance Award in 1996.

Highlights of the 2000s

The women of Gamma Phi chapter in the 2000s were intelligent and motivated to do their best in every aspect of their lives. Very involved on campus, the chapter enthusiastically supports it members, whether they are running for Homecoming Queen, launching a new philanthropy or playing on a sports team.

The chapter was supported by very active alumnae. They helped count votes for rush, plan the initiation brunch, decorate the house for the holidays, sell Kappa bracelets, and host alumnae events at the house. Their help and guidance was appreciated by chapter members, and inspired SMU’s Kappas to grow and continue their involvement in Kappa.

One of the alumnae’s major projects was building a new chapter house, which the chapter moved into in 2006. This amazing new house, has been a home away from home for many members.

Major events included Theta Province meeting in Dallas in 2005, when the chapter hosted a southern barbeque for the all the actives and alumnae that were in town. There was the annual Celebration of Lights, and another Homecoming Queen from Kappa in 2009.

Philanthropy continued to be a major driver of events, with the chapter raising funds for Camp John Mark, Habitat for Humanity, Dallas Parkland Hopsital, Relay for Life, the Dallas humane shelter, and Dollars for Darfur. In 2006, the chapter published the Kappa Kookbook, which feature recipes from the SMU chapter, and raised money for the Rose McGill Fund.

Highlights of 2010

2010 was a fun and exciting year for the Gamma Phi chapter! We started the year off with a great recruitment week. During philanthropy day of recruitment, we shared a video about our chapter’s involvement in the Ugandan American Partnership Organization, a non-profit organization that aides struggling women and children in Uganda. The UAPO was founded by one of our own Kappa sisters and is very dear to each of our hearts. We strung necklaces with beads handmade by Ugandan widows, and new members sold the necklaces in the spring in order to send profits back to the widows.

Dad’s Weekend was in the spring, and father-daughter pairs competed in the Kappa Klassic golf tournament. We got to spend quality time with our dads, and we were able to raise over $14,000 to help finish the UAPO’s construction of a new Vocational Center in a Ugandan village and provide medical supplies, school supplies and clean water to orphanages built by the UAPO. Over the summer, twelve of our sisters shared a life-changing experience on their visit to Uganda.

Other highlights of the year included Kickin’ It With Kappa and Kappacino Kafe, philanthropic events we hosted in the fall. Kappas danced the night away at our Victory, Monmouth, and Kite&Key formals, and we had fun dressing up for our “Jarty” and Woodstock themed date dashes! Trendy Kappas could be spotted about Dallas in over-the-knee boots, furry vests, sequin embellished dresses, stacks of bracelets and sky-high pumps!

Gamma Phi is a large and diverse chapter. Each individual brings new and exciting ideas to the table, but we also work well together as a team to accomplish goals during the year. Girls in our chapter care about their schoolwork, care about the community, are involved in other organizations at SMU, hold exciting jobs or internships, and above all, are Kappa krazy! We have girls who study corporate communications and public affairs, accounting, English, art history, and even chemistry! Many of our sisters are members of the Union, Student Foundation, Student Senate, Honor Council, and the University Honors Program.

Highlights of 2011

Our chapter is large and diverse, with girls from all over the United States and abroad. The 2011 pledge class even has girls from Bali, London, and Panama. This mix of diverse individuals enhances our chapter, as each member brings unique and exciting ideas to the table. We all work well together in order to accomplish goals throughout the year.

Many of our sisters in the Gamma Phi chapter are active and involved a number of other activities and organizations, both on and off campus. Our sisters participate in on-campus organizations such as the Union, Student Foundation, Student Senate, Honor Council, and the University Honors Program. Off campus, many of our sisters hold interesting and impressive internships and jobs, and care about and engage in different community service opportunities. Our sisters academic interests are varied, as we have girls who study Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Accounting, History, and even Biology!

We had an exciting 2011. A fun and successful recruitment week started the year off right. During philanthropy day of recruitment, we continued the tradition of showing a video about the Ugandan American Partnership Organization (UAPO), which was founded by one of our Kappa sisters from the Gamma Phi chapter. We strung necklaces using the beads that Ugandan widows hand made, which the new members sold the following spring. The profits from the necklace sales were sent back to the widows to help them build a life of their own. The proceeds from our "Kappacino Kafe" philanthropy event also benefitted the UAPO.

This year we made an exciting change to one of our other major philanthropy events taking place in the fall, "Kickin' It With Kappa," an event benefitting Reading Is Fundamental: we hosted a frozen yogurt party outside on the boulevard on a beautiful afternoon in early September, to keep up with the recent trendiness and rising popularity of frozen yogurt shops in Dallas and nation-wide.

Other highlights of the year included our parties and social events. Kappas had a great time dancing the night away at our Victory, Monmouth, and Kite & Key formals. We also had a blast dressing up for our 90s and Hunt or Be Hunted themed date dashes. Gamma Phi Kappas were as chic and trendy as ever this year, often spotted about Dallas wearing stylish over the knee boots, fur vests, sequin embellished dresses, and wrap bracelets.

We are proud of our chapter for many reasons this year. We were the recipients of the Risk Management Award at the Province meeting hosted in Fort Worth. In addition, we welcomed the chapter councils from Epsilon Alpha, Epsilon Upsilon, and Zeta Sigma, as we hosted the LEAD Seminar in the fall. We are also very proud and extremely excited this year because we won Homecoming! Our chapter united to support 2011 Homecoming activities, and it was a wonderful and rewarding feeling for the whole house when Grace Roberts won Homecoming Queen during halftime of the football game.

This year was extremely exciting at SMU, as construction on the George W. Bush Presidential Center, which broke ground in fall2010, continued and made considerable progress. Although construction is still a work in progress, the Presidential Center already seems a stunning structure. The Presidential Center will open in 2013. Also, this spring we celebrated the centennial of SMU’s founding in 1911, complete with fireworks and cake on SMU’s boulevard. This year was an extremely fun time to be an SMU student.



Highlights of 2012

2012 was a great year for The Gamma Phi Chapter. We kicked off the year by continuing a philanthropy tradition that was started by SMU Kappa members. During recruitment week on philanthropy day, we played a video about UAPO, an organization that was founded by one of our Kappa sisters. The video featured Kappa members volunteering and making a difference in Uganda. We hosted “Kappacino Kafe” as well as “Kickin’ it with Kappa.” Both were successful events. Kappa women also participated in SMU’s homecoming festivities. The week was a success because of our hard work combined with our wonderful homecoming candidate, Anne McCaslin Parker. During SMU’s Celebration of Lights, Kappa members participated with SMU Student Foundation and adopted elementary students for the evening. This made the event very special for Kappa’s as well as the elementary students.


Campus:

SMU is located in the center of Dallas. It’s a great location because of the easy routes to downtown, uptown, and other areas in Dallas. The campus is beautiful and is surrounded by green grass and tall trees. SMU is a friendly campus with small classes. The professors make the learning experience great. They are available and willing to meet with students individually. SMU offers an atmosphere that’s exciting and thriving. One of the 2012 highlights on campus is the construction of the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

Chapter:

We have a very diverse chapter consisting of ladies from different parts of the world and from all over the U.S. The diversity allows Kappa’s to share different ideas and learn from each other. Our members are involved in many different organizations and groups at SMU and outside of SMU.

Chapter Challenges:

Our greatest challenge this year was accountability. We do not fine members for not attending events. Therefore, it is hard to hold members accountable for attending events. To address this issue, we looked to motivation and a type of “punishment.” The punishment involves making some events mandatory and if members do not attend, they are sent to standards. Usually the punishment would entail not being allowed to attend the upcoming formal. The motivation and encouragement paid off and was a successful strategy.

Highlights of 2013

2013 was a great year full of memories, accomplishments, and sisterhood for The Gamma Phi Chapter. We kicked off the year in January with a successful Recruitment Week. The four days of Open House, Philanthropy, Skit, Preference Morning and Bid Night were hard work but will always be remembered as a bonding experience for our chapter. Philanthropy day was extremely special because our philanthropy, The Akola Project, is a non-profit organization that was founded by one of our very own SMU Kappas. We played a video that featured Kappa members volunteering and making a difference in Uganda. Bid Night was also a highlight to the start of the year 2013. We welcomed 54 excited new members. They had a retreat that night at the Kappa house with Chapter Council members, which included playing games, eating good food, and learning the traditions and rules of Kappa.

The next couple months continued with fun, memorable events for the new members. Key Sis week was one of the best weeks of the Spring semester. The bigs had surprises for their littles every night, and the last night was the Big Little Reveal. The girls were so excited to finally be a part of a “Kappa family.” The next major event was Initiation. Inspiration Week was a time for our chapter to reflect on why we went Kappa and what Kappa means to each of us. Sisterhood and the traditions of Kappa were built stronger that week, and the new members got to be exposed to the true meaning of being a sister. Initiation was followed by Mom’s Weekend festivities. Mothers and daughters had a lovely brunch at the Dallas Country Club. The next day was an open house at the Kappa house and an Akola Project trunk show for the mothers to enjoy. The spring semester also consisted of Kappas going on spring break together and our fun social formals, Victory and Monmouth. Selected Chapter Council members attended Kappa Province in Lubbock, TX and were proud to come back with the award “Outstanding Performance in Risk Management.”

The spring semester ended, and summer came around with lots of opportunities for our SMU Kappa members. Kappa sisters took summer school, studied abroad, and also worked incredible internships all over the country. Fifteen SMU Kappas studied in Innsbruck, Austria for six weeks together traveling to different countries every weekend. Another group of five Kappas studied in Madrid, Spain. Other Kappas were sprinkled out over Europe studying in Italy, London, and Paris.

School started back in August, and all our Kappa members became extremely busy with academics, preparing for Recruitment, philanthropy events, and SMU football games and boulevards. Our first philanthropy event was “Kappacino Kafe” and was held on the lawn with little sweet treats and frozen yogurt. We successfully raised money for The Akola Project. The next philanthropy event we hosted, Kickin’ it with Kappa,” was even more successful raising money for RIF. It was a workout out class for the girls in SMU’s Dedman athletic center. Philanthropy donated the rest of the philanthropy budget to The Kappa Foundation at the end of the term. Kappa members also participated with Homecoming week. We painted a banner with our theme and also a wooden Peruna (our mascot).

We participated in Canstruction, Rock the Vote, field day, and building a float. This week was hard work, but we loved coming together as a chapter to support our wonderful homecoming candidate Mackenna Scripps. Kappas continued to enjoy having a tent on the boulevard each game day and supporting the Mustangs at the SMU football games. SMU Family Weekend was a fun weekend for Kappa moms and dads to meet each other and enjoy SMU’s campus and Dallas. We enjoyed our two social events of the semester Pick a Mister for your Sister date dash and Kite and Key formal. A few Kappas also participate in SMU Student Foundation and put on the Celebration of Lights, which is always a special night that the school comes together to celebrate the Holidays right before final exams.We finished the year strong academically. We were also awarded the “Outstanding Member” award by SMU Panhellenic for Lexy Hammesfahr’s incredible performance in SMU, Kappa, and her career. At the end of the semester, we slated for new Chapter Council positions, and our chapter was excited about the new leaders in the house.

SMU is located in the center of Dallas. It’s a great location because of the easy routes to downtown, uptown, and other areas in Dallas. The campus is beautiful and is surrounded by green grass and tall trees. SMU is a friendly campus with small classes. The professors make the learning experience great. They are available and willing to meet with students individually. One of the 2013 highlights on campus was the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library. SMU also built new dorms, tennis courts, cafeteria, and band room. SMU offers an atmosphere that’s prestigious and thriving, and Kappas are excited for the new students each year.

We have a very diverse chapter consisting of ladies from different parts of the world and from all over the U.S. The diversity allows Kappas to share different ideas and learn from each other. Our members are involved in many different organizations and groups at SMU and outside of SMU.

Our greatest challenge this year was accountability. We do not fine members for not attending events. Therefore, it is hard to hold members accountable for attending events. To address this issue, we looked to motivation and a type of “punishment.” The punishment involves making some events mandatory, and if members do not attend, they are sent to standards. Usually the punishment would entail not being allowed to attend the upcoming social events. The motivation and encouragement paid off and was a successful strategy.


Highlights of 2014

2014 was a great year for the Gamma Phi Chapter at SMU. This year, our chapter saw incredible academic performance improvement, successful new social activities, and a remarkable Recruitment. In the summer of 2014, the Gamma Phi Chapter received the prestigious “Panhellenic Award” at the Kappa Kappa Gamma Convention in Houston, TX. This award recognized our chapter as the Kappa chapter that nationally best exemplified true Panhellenic leadership and relations in the college campus community. The Gamma Phi Chapter also received “Honorable Mention” for “Finance Award”, “Recruitment Award”, and “Advisory Board Award.” During the fall semester on game day weekends, we invited the gentlemen of a different fraternity every week to join us for a favorite Kappa tradition – Friday brunch at the Kappa house.

Gamma Phi Kappas also enjoyed our inaugural Sapphire Ball for Kappas and their dates, during such a special formal night to remember in November. Also during November, a group of Kappa members hosted a Reading is Key event, while we read to underprivileged elementary school children and donated hundreds of books for the children to take home. Furthermore, in the fall semester, we invited the SMU campus and Kappa alumnae for our first ever spirit event before the SMU season opener basketball game, called Kappa Kappa Gameday. In December the semester concluded with our successful inaugural philanthropy event. Our “Kappa Holiday Bazaar” brought all types of vendors to a shopping event for Kappas, to raise money with a portion of all profits to be donated to RIF. In total, we raised over $2,700 in support of Reading is Fundamental. The Akola Project, the non-profit philanthropy that our chapter always supports, was also in attendance at the bazaar and sold a great amount of jewelry to help raise additional funds for their causes. The chapter is also proud to have a Kappa member represent the chapter as Emily Provost was elected to serve as the 2015 SMU Panhellenic President. We are very proud of all of our accomplishment

This year, Southern Methodist University has continued its celebration of our centennial. Panhellenic had the most number of girls ever sign up for rush with numbers topping 600 girls. This allowed the Gamma Phi chapter to welcome a higher than usual new members to our 2015 pledge class. The Gamma Phi chapter continues to strive for excellence and improvement creating a sense of drive and determination throughout our chapter. Our chapter's outlook on the 2014-2015 Gamma Phi year is hopeful and ambitious as we continue our tradition of excellence in leadership, campus involvement, academics, and sisterhood.

We hold chapter meetings in our chapter house on the North edge of campus, owned by our chapter. The chapter-owned house we currently have was built in 2008. It is the second house in our chapter's history. It houses 40 of our Kappa sisters, mainly upperclassmen and we are so lucky to have the wonderful Jill Rusher as our house mother. We are thankful to our Alum and House Board for helping our incredible in-house experience run smoothly.


Highlights of 2015

2015 was a great year for the Gamma Phi Chapter at SMU. This year, our chapter saw incredible academic performance improvement, successful new social activities, and a remarkable Recruitment. In the spring, we gained 58 new members. We enjoyed a fun-filled and celebrated Bid Day in January and officially initiated our new members on March 21, 2015. The week of February 22nd, we enjoyed a week-long visit from our leadership consultant and learned of ways we can improve our chapter and heard of things we were doing well. On March 30th, we had our first Easter event with the Wesley-Rankin after school program with the men of Pi Kappa Alpha. We had an Easter egg hunt, played games, and had a cookout for the kids, and it was a tremendous success. We had another successful Monmouth formal with Pi Beta Phi on April 18th and enjoyed the traditional formal that is a rich part of our history. This fall, we had many new and exciting changes and activities at the Gamma Phi Chapter. We continued our tradition last year of having “Brunch with the Boys” where one Friday a month we invited a different fraternity to have brunch with us at the house. A new tradition that we have not practiced in over 10 years was a candlelight celebration during which we celebrated one of our senior members who got engaged in June. In October we also participated in a Halloween service event at Wesley-Rankin’s after school program again with the men of Pi Kappa Alpha. We played games, spent time with the kids, helped them with homework, and ate LOTS of candy! November was an incredibly busy month for the Gamma Phi chapter. For the first time ever, the entire Gamma Phi chapter celebrated the 145th Founders Day with the Kappa Dallas Alumnae Association at the Dallas Country Club. We were honored to be included in the celebration and meet Kappas who have been dedicated to our chapter for many years. On November 15th, we had our second annual Holiday Bazaar to raise money for Reading is Fundamental and enjoyed huge success with the event. The Akola Project, the non-profit philanthropy that our chapter always supports, was also in attendance at the bazaar and sold a great amount of jewelry to help raise additional funds for their causes. On November 22nd, we hosted our second annual Kappa Kappa Gameday event in which we celebrated the start of the SMU basketball season with a gathering outside of the gymnasium. We are incredibly proud of the success our chapter has had this year and look forward to an outstanding 2016.

This year, Southern Methodist University finished its four-year long centennial celebration. Panhellenic had the most number of girls ever sign up for rush with numbers topping 600 girls. This allowed the Gamma Phi chapter to welcome a higher than usual new members to our 2015 pledge class. The Gamma Phi chapter continues to strive for excellence and improvement creating a sense of drive and determination throughout our chapter. Our chapter's outlook on the 2016 Gamma Phi year is hopeful and ambitious as we continue our tradition of excellence in leadership, campus involvement, academics, and sisterhood

Chapter Philanthropy:

What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?

We traditionally raise money for Reading is Fundamental and our local chapter philanthropy, the Akola Project. For service hours, we have become very involved in the local Wesley-Rankin after school program over the last several years.

Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?

Reading is Fundamental is our national philanthropy and one that the Gamma Phi chapter holds dear. We are fortunate to attend such an outstanding university and wish to promote the love for learning and reading by hosting book drives and raising money for RIF. The Akola Project was started by a Gamma Phi alum and seeks to promote female empowerment and business leadership in impoverished countries such as Uganda through its jewelry business. We believe in our alums and providing a helping hand to women who seek to empower their communities in places that usually do not value women or see them as world changers. The Wesley-Rankin after school program aligns with our mission of spreading the love for reading and learning is working to make a impact on the youth of south Dallas. We have loved the kids we mentor, tutor, and love on their and hope to continue our partnership going forward.


Highlights of 2016

2016 was a year of tremendous growth for the Gamma Phi Chapter at SMU. This year, our chapter saw incredible academic performance improvement, outstanding community service involvement, a successful recruitment, and new social activities. In Spring 2016, our chapter GPA rose above the All-Sorority Average and we ranked fourth out of eight Panhellenic chapters on campus. Outside of academics, we completed over 950 hours and raised money for our philanthropies, the Akola Project and Reading is Fundamental. In addition to serving our philanthropies we also participated in numerous fundraising events on campus. Kappas participated in SMU’s annual Relay for Life which took place on April 8th as well as participating in Dance Marathon which is a fundraiser for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals that SMU had the pleasure of hosting for the first time. In February, March, and August, we enjoyed week-long visits from two leadership consultants where we evaluated the strengths of our chapter as well as areas for improvement. In the spring, we gained 55 new members who were offically initiated on April 16, 2016. A few days later on April 18th we had another successful Monmouth formal with Pi Beta Phi and enjoyed the traditional formal that is a rich part of our history. This fall, we had many new and exciting changes and activities at the Gamma Phi Chapter. We continued our tradition last year of having “Brunch with the Boys” where one Friday we invited fraternity members to have brunch with us at the house. We also participated in the Homecoming festivities including building a Nevada-themed float and supported our wonderful homecoming candidate, Anna Hugg. On November 7th the chapter celebrated our Founders Day where we had a history presentation while enjoying themed treats. Chapter Council was invited to celebrate the 146th Founders Day with the Kappa Dallas Alumnae Association at the Dallas Country Club. We were honored to be included in the celebration again and to witness Kappas getting their 50 and 65 year badges. This fall semester we also had two successful panhellenic events. The first was a Yogurt & Yoga event which we hosted at the Kappa Kappa Gamma house and invited the sisters of Alpha Chi Omega. The other panhellenic event was an Ice Cream Social with the sisters of Delta Gamma. We also spent time with the sisters of Kappa Alpha Theta when we had our annual Kite & Key formal on November 12th. Two days later on November 14th we had our first ever Fall Fest with the men of Sigma Alpha Epsilon which raised money for The Akola Project. The gathering included fall-themed games and treats such as corn hole and apple cider. On November 20th, we had our second annual Holiday Bazaar to raise money for Reading is Fundamental which was a huge success. The Akola Project, the non-profit philanthropy that our chapter always supports, was also in attendance at the bazaar and sold a great amount of jewelry to help raise additional funds for their cause. We are incredibly proud of the progress and achievements our chapter has had this year and look forward to an outstanding 2017.

This year, Southern Methodist University Panhellenic had the most number of girls ever sign up for recruitment with numbers topping 617 girls. This allowed the Gamma Phi chapter to welcome a more new members to our 2016 pledge class than usual. The Gamma Phi chapter continues to strive for excellence and improvement creating a sense of drive and determination throughout our chapter and in our community. We are proud of the events we hosted and participated in on campus with other sororities and look forward to continuing these strong relationships in the future. Our chapter's outlook on the 2017 Gamma Phi year is positive and ambitious as we continue our tradition of excellence in leadership, campus involvement, academics, and sisterhood.

We traditionally raise money for Reading is Fundamental and our local chapter philanthropy, the Akola Project. In addition, our chapter participated in fundraising events for numerous other oganizations such as Relay for Life and Dance Marathon. Reading is Fundamental is our national philanthropy and one that the Gamma Phi chapter holds dear. We are fortunate to attend such an outstanding university and wish to promote the love for learning and reading by hosting book drives and raising money for RIF. The Akola Project was started by a Gamma Phi alum and seeks to promote female empowerment and business leadership in impoverished countries such as Uganda through its jewelry business. We believe in our alums and providing a helping hand to women who seek to empower their communities in places that usually do not value women or see them as world changers.

We hold chapter meetings in our chapter house on the North edge of Southern Methodist University campus. Our house was recently redecorated and remains under the ownership of our chapter.

Highlights of 2017

This year, we placed a high focus on academic performance, Panhellenic relations, and volunteerism on campus. We have greatly improved our academic performance to an overall chapter GPA of and multiple chapter members received merit based awards from the University. We drastically increased the number of girls with 4.0 GPAs and started “Academic Spotlight of the Week” for members who exhibited strength in academics or unique academic interests. Additionally, there were multiple girls who received academic excellence awards. Our chapter improved its Panhellenic relations by holding an event for the whole Panhellenic community - mental health and domestic violence awareness night as well as several socials with houses we haven’t mixed with in the past year. We also supported other house’s philanthropy events, including playing in the Gamma Phi Beta Moonball tournament. Our chapter’s average volunteer hours per member drastically improved in the Spring and Fall semesters to 8.6 and 8.4 hours, respectively. With the addition of our Hurricane Harvey Relief efforts, we raised $2,000 with the help and support of the brothers of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. We also brought a new fundraising event to our campus called “Kappa Karnival” which raised about $1,000 for Reading is Fundamental. Finally, our other great pride was hosting the Girl’s Academy weekend-long retreat for middle school girls.

Our Panhellenic community is about to increase due to the highest number of girls signed up for formal recruitment in our University's history. The Gamma Phi chapter looks forward to welcoming new members into the Panhellenic community so that we can share our love of Greek Life with the rest of the SMU campus. Historically, our chapter has raised money for Reading is Fundamental and our local chapter philanthropy, The Akola Project. Additionally, we participate in on-campus philanthropy events such as the SMU Dance Marathon and Relay for Life. This year our chapter chose to hold our very first Girls' Academy. Reading is Fundamental is KKG's national philanthropy which we look forward to supporting each year because as college women, we understand the importance of education and the great opportunity we have been given to attend such an esteemed university where we feel we can learn to thrive. The Akola project is another philanthropy that we cherish not only because of its mission but because it was founded by our very own Brittany Underwood, a Gamma Phi alum. She began this foundation in hope of transforming the lives of impoverished women and families of Uganda through training, employment and holistic care.

Each year our chapter has a Kappa team that takes part in the Dance Marathon to support Children's Health and Children's Miracle Network in greater Dallas. Additionally, Relay for Life is another organization that we hold dear. One of our chapter members was honored as one of the top participants. WE will participate in this again this April. In conclusion, our chapter hosted our first Girls' Academy at a local school in Dallas. Girls Academy is a week-end long program designed to teach, motivate and empower middle school girls to be proud of who they are and comfortable in this won skins which is a cause that our chapter women really identified with and enjoyed volunteering in and putting on the event. We meet in the dining room of our chapter house on the SMU campus.

Highlights of 2018

After finally being lifted from probation we have been making an effort to boost the morale and ensure that everyone is enjoying their time in the chapter. With the new academic standard Kappa has set, we have been trying to work with the chapter to try to ensure a fair GPA is set, we concluded for a 2.5 for actives and 2.7 for new members. We also held a Founders Day event in which Kappa's from 50 and 70+ years came and enjoyed an afternoon with our chapter and sharing stories from their past. We also won the Chapter and Advisory Board Relations award at Convention, a huge honor after coming off of probation win which we were constantly praised for our improvement and commitment to betting the Gamma Phi chapter's name as well as community service efforts. No recent changes on campus, Panhellenic Board has created different guidelines and mandatory events for Greek life and our chapter has made an effort to comply with all decisions they have set.

Our chapter supports the Akola and Dallas Genesis Women's Shelter. At Kappa Karnival with SAE we raised $1560 for both the Dallas Genesis Women's Shelter(which we chose because it is local charity that provides support to domestic violence victims) and Akola Project(chosen because it was started by an SMU Kappa alumna and promotes female leadership/entrepreneurship)


Highlights of 2019

The previous calendar year, 2019, was an eventful and special time for the Gamma Phi Chapter. We experienced many special events that further bonded us and supported Chapter Council's goal to make our chapter more connected as a whole. To start, we were able to host many formal events thanks to the help from our incredible Event Chair, Taylor Nielson, and Risk Management chair, Corina Gonzalez-Molina. Some of these were formal parties paired with other sororities on campus, and others were "date dashes," where members dress in costume according to a given theme. We also participated in the homecoming parade, where we nominated our Treasurer, Sarah Anania, to represent our chapter. We paired with SAE in the parade, and we had a lot of fun building our float together. Additionally, one of our member's hard work in the classroom paid off. Elizabeth Kelley, our New Membership Chair, is the first recipient to be awarded the Wendy Weber Smith scholarship, a scholarship honoring Wendy Weber Smith, an SMU Kappa almuna. Our chapter was able to properly thank the scholarship donors by inviting them to our Founder's Day celebration and thanking them in person. Regarding philanthropy, our Philanthropy Chair, Katie Skillman, organized two events where our chapter raised $3197. Our chapter members thoroughly enjoyed coming together to support others and give back to our community. Lastly, the Gamma Phi Chapter made eco-friendly strides regarding the consumption of styrofoam in the house. With 40 girls living in Kappa and styrofoam being the main source of plates, bowls, and cups, we throw away a mass amount of it on a daily basis. Luckily, our President, Gwen Everett, and House Chair, Ashley Anthony, met with our House Board to discuss "going green" and introducing paper plates. By using paper, we would be reducing our carbon footprint, but also spending more money because paper costs more than styrofoam. With these extra expenses in mind, we feel very grateful that House Board granted us permission and the funds to use paper plates and support our initiative to "go green." As a Chapter Council, we set one main goal for the year. We wanted our chapter to feel more inclusive and cohesive. While the members in our chapter are kind to one another, we noticed slight divides between different groups of girls. To break these divisions, our VP Standards Chair, Shelby Nutter, planned free workout classes to help promote various fitness studios and also encourage girls to spend time with members outside their typical social circle. These classes were successful, as chapter members feel the classes gave them an opportunity to get to know each other better. Additionally, as our chapter is gearing up to welcome home our new pledge class, PC'20, our youngest pledge class, PC'19, has been doing an incredible job including each other while practicing for recruitment. We believe that the environment within our chapter is much more cohesive than we were in January. While we had a very successful year, we faced an unexpected challenge. With apartment living so common for the junior and senior classes, we struggled to fill the house with girls to live in it. While we were eventually able to fill it this past year, unfortunately, this challenge appears to be rising again for the 2020 academic year. However, our House Chair, Ashley Anthony, is doing an incredible job encouraging girls to live in the house and communicating its many benefits. While this is a challenge Chapter Council has to face, since we were able to fill the house before, we are confident we will be able to fill it again.


While there have not been many significant changes on campus, the chapter's overall nature is positive and encouraging. The girls in the chapter seem to genuinely want the best for each other, and this positivity continues to grow. Our chapter is especially excited because recruitment is right around the corner. We feel prepared, and we are confident that we will welcome home a group of well-rounded, "kappa classy" girls in January 2020!

Our chapter supports Reading is Fundamental, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, and the Akola Project.

Reading is Fundamental and the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation are Kappa's nationally supported philanthropies. Reading is Fundamental supports children's literacy in underprivileged schools. The Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation helps support Kappas in times of adversity. Our third local philanthropy is the Akola Project. The Akola Project was founded by an SMU Kappa in the mid 2000s. The Akola Project serves to employ impoverished women in Uganda by making handcrafted beads for jewelry.


The chapter celebrated Founders Day by hosting the Dallas alumni that were receiving their milestone pins at the house. We hosted an afternoon tea with trays of snacks, beautiful flower arrangements, and speeches to express our gratitude and respect for the members receiving their pins. Per chapter ritual, six Chapter Council members conducted the candle light ceremony, which all of the attendees enjoyed.


The Gamma Phi Chapter is aware and excited for Kappa's 150th anniversary approaching in 2020. Brainstorming for a unique and fun celebration has recently begun, and with our chapter's various creative minds, we are excited to take submissions for ideas. We are considering the budget for a chapter-wide event to celebrate the huge milestone. As time goes on, we will have a more concrete answer as to how we are going to celebrate 150 years of Kappa.


Highlights of 2020

This past year a lot in our chapter has changed due to COVID-19. Thankfully, we still got through a successful initiation for PC’20 before SMU shut down. This semester, we were unable to hold any Kappa in-person events. This includes date dashes, the Sapphire Ball, and different philanthropic events. However, that did not stop us. This year marked the 150th year of Kappa Kappa Gamma. We decided to donate over 150 books, and give out blue hand sanitizer. We also held a virtual meals on wheels event last semester. This semester we held a virtual workout class with Lync. All the proceeds went towards the Bridge Breast Network. We also held a scholarships. This includes the Dallas Alumnae Association Gamma Phi Chapter Scholarship, the Wendy Weber Scholarship and the Nancy Moses Scholarship. Junior, Hailey Haase received the Wendy Weber Scholarship and seniors, Candice Cramer and Isabelle Wyant received the Nancy Moses Scholarship. Since members could not be together in the house, the standards chairman organized different sisterhood events like going to a drive-thru movie theater in Dallas!

Our chapter supports Akola Jewelry during philanthropy day. We have worked with this organization for years. It is a business run by women to empower other women. It helps the lives of those less fortunate and we are very lucky to work with a company started by an SMU Kappa alum.

This year we are adding a DEI member to chapter council. This position will be elected by the new chapter council this spring. This position will include chapter training and awareness.

This year marked the 150th year of Kappa Kappa Gamma. We decided to donate over 150 books, and give out blue hand sanitizer. The books went to benefit Reading is Fundamental which is our national philanthropy. We also gave out Kappa history and fact sheets to active members.

Front steps of house
working out together
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