Alpha Tau Delta

Alpha Tau Delta is a professional fraternity for students and industry professionals in the nursing fields. It was founded in 1921 at University of California, Berkeley as Alpha Tau.

WWW Official Site

History

Alpha Tau sorority

Nursing students at the University of California, Berkeley after holding conferences with the dean, the university faculty, and the director of the School of Nursing founded a nurses’ sorority on February 15, 1921. It was named Alpha Tau, and its first chapter was named Alpha–the Lady of the Lamp, after Florence Nightingale.

Alpha Tau Delta

Soon after, the organizing committee decided that the sorority should be designated as a fraternity since it was professional. The name was changed to Alpha Tau Delta in 1924. The Greek letter Delta was added when it was learned that a male fraternity had a prior claim to the name Alpha Tau. Alpha Tau Delta and its insignia were registered with the United States Patent Office. Alpha Tau Delta became the first nursing fraternity in the United States.
Invitations were sent to eligible collegiate Schools of Nursing throughout the states to join Alpha Tau Delta. The second chapter to be chartered was Beta, at the University of Minnesota in 1927, followed by Gamma chapter at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1928. Since new chapters were being founded on different campuses in different cities, a central office was established at Berkeley.
Its first national publication, the T.P.R. of ATD, was first published in 1931. Later, the name was changed to Cap’tions of ALPHA TAU DELTA and then to The Pulse in 2000.
ATD’s first national convention was held in 1932, in conjunction with the American Nurses Association Biennial Convention with six chapters participating. The fraternity has held a national convention each biennium from 1931 to the present time, except during World War II in 1944 or under exceptional circumstances.
In the early 1970s, Alpha Tau Delta opened its membership to male nursing students, and the Articles of Incorporation of Alpha Tau Delta were changed to reflect this decision. The fraternity became a charter member of the Professional Fraternity Association in 1978. This association was the consolidation of the Professional Panhellenic Association founded in 1925 and the Professional Interfraternity Conference founded in 1928, with the fraternity being a member of the former..
In 1992, Alpha Tau Delta replaced pledging with a membership orientation period.
As of 2024, the fraternity has ten active collegiate chapters and three alumni chapters. It has initiated 10,000 members. Its national headquarters are in Manhattan Beach, California.

Symbols

Alpha Tau Delta's colors are yellow, white, blue, and gold. Its flower is the yellow rose. Its jewel is the pearl. The fraternity's motto is "United in Service". Its symbols are the caduceus, the lamp, and the star.

Chapters

Collegiate chapters

In the following chapter list, active chapters are indicated in bold and inactive chapters are in italics.

Chapters	Charter date and range	Institution	Location	Status
Alpha	– 1946	University of California, Berkeley	Berkeley, California	Inactive
Beta	1927–198x ?	University of Minnesota	Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota	Inactive
Gamma	1928	University of California, Los Angeles	Los Angeles, California	Active
Delta prime	1928–1936	University of Idaho	Moscow, Idaho	Inactive
Zeta	1931–1956	University of Southern California	Los Angeles, California	Inactive
Eta	1932–xxxx ?	Oregon Health & Science University	Portland, Oregon	Inactive
Delta second	1936–xxxx ?	University of Washington	Seattle, Washington	Inactive
Theta	1938–xxxx ?	Duquesne University	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Active
Iota	1938–xxxx ?	Marquette University	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Inactive
Kappa	1939–xxxx ?	College of St. Scholastica	Duluth, Minnesota	Inactive
Lambda	1940–xxxx ?	Montana State University	Bozeman, Montana	Inactive
Mu	1945–xxxx ?	University of Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Inactive
Nu	1945–1965	Seattle University	Seattle, Washington	Inactive
Epsilon	1953–xxxx ?	Ohio State University	Columbus, Ohio	Inactive
Omicron	1957–1965	University of Utah	Salt Lake City, Utah	Inactive
Xi	1957–xxxx ?	Loyola University Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	Inactive
Rho	1958–xxxx ?	University of Illinois Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	Inactive
Sigma	1959–xxxx ?	University of Wisconsin–Madison	Madison, Wisconsin	Inactive
Tau	1961–xxxx ?	University of Portland	Portland, Oregon	Inactive
Upsilon	– xxxx ?	Illinois Wesleyan University	Bloomington, Illinois	Inactive
Phi	1965	California State University, Los Angeles	Los Angeles, California	Active
Chi	1966–xxxx ?	University of Evansville	Evansville, Indiana	Inactive
Omega	1966–xxxx ?	California State University, Long Beach	Long Beach, California	Inactive
Alpha Gamma	1976–xxxx ?	University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Inactive
Alpha Epsilon		University of California, Irvine	Irvine, California	Active
Alpha Theta		Mount Saint Mary's University, Los Angeles	Los Angeles, California	Active
Alpha Iota		Millikin University	Decatur, Illinois	Active
Alpha Kappa	2011	Gannon University	Erie, Pennsylvania	Active
Alpha Lambda		Indiana University of Pennsylvania	Indiana County, Pennsylvania	Active
Alpha Omicron		University of Rhode Island	Kingston, Rhode Island	Active
Alpha Rho		San Jose State University	San Jose, California	Active
Gamma Pi			Manhattan Beach, California	Active
Phi Pi			Los Angeles, California	Active
Alpha Theta Pi			Los Angeles, California	Active

Alumni chapters

Alumni chapters end in Pi. In the following chapter list, active chapters are indicated in bold and inactive chapters are in italics.

Chapters	Charter date and range	Location	Status
Gamma Pi		Manhattan Beach, California	Active
Phi Pi		Los Angeles, California	Active
Alpha Theta Pi		Los Angeles, California	Active

Notable members

Elenora A. Cawthon, professor and university leader at Louisiana Tech.
Katharine Jane Densford, director of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing
Louise M. Powell, dean of nursing at Western Reserve University and director of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing