Association of College Honor Societies

The Association of College Honor Societies is a voluntary association of national collegiate and post-graduate honor societies. It was established on December 30, 1925 by six organizations: Alpha Omega Alpha, the Order of the Coif, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, and Tau Beta Pi.

WWW achshonor.org

History

The Association of College Honor Societies was formed in 1925 to create a network of affiliated societies and promote standards for scholarship and leadership on campus. The founding societies intended to establish and maintain desirable standards for groups wishing to call themselves honor societies. These standards included criteria for membership, governance, and chapter operation.
Representatives of Alpha Omega Alpha, the Order of the Coif, Phi Beta Kappa, and Sigma Xi attended its preliminary meeting held on October 2, 1925. When ACHS was officially established on December 30, 1925, its founding members were Alpha Omega Alpha, the Order of the Coif, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, and Tau Beta Pi.
Since then, more than 65 honors societies have joined ACHS, becoming an international organization. However, not all legitimate honor societies apply for membership in ACHS. ACHS coordinates member organizations and facilitates communications between them. It also provides both scholarships to members of its member organizations.
The honor society standards set by the Association of College Honor Societies are mentioned by the U.S. government's Office of Personnel Management for entry into government employment at GS-7 Level: "Applicants can be considered eligible based on membership in one of the national scholastic honor societies listed... by the Association of College Honor Societies. Agencies considering eligibility based on any society not included in the following list must ensure that the honor society meets the minimum requirements of the Association of College Honor Societies."
In 2024, ACHS had 65 active member societies located in North America. Its headquarters are at 30 North Gould Street #29147 in Sheridan, Wyoming.

List of member organizations

As of 2024, 65 organizations are affiliated with the ACHS.

Society	Greek letters	Discipline	Founded	Joined ACHS	References
Alpha Beta Gamma	ΑΒΓ	Business and Professional Studies
Alpha Chi	ΑΧ	All Academic Fields
Alpha Epsilon	ΑΕ	Agricultural, Food, and Biological Engineering		; 1970
Alpha Epsilon Delta	ΑΕΔ	Premedical
Alpha Epsilon Rho	ΑΕΡ	Electronic Media
Alpha Eta Mu Beta	ΑΗΜΒ	Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering
Alpha Iota Delta	ΑΙΔ	Decision, Information, and Operations Sciences
Alpha Kappa Delta	ΑΚΔ	Sociology
Alpha Kappa Mu	ΑΚΜ	General Scholarship
Alpha Lambda Delta	ΑΛΔ	First-year Success/Freshmen
Alpha Phi Sigma	ΑΦΣ	Criminal Justice
Alpha Pi Mu	ΑΠΜ	Industrial Engineering		;
Alpha Sigma Lambda	ΑΣΛ	Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning
Alpha Sigma Mu	ΑΣΜ	Materials Science and Engineering
Alpha Sigma Nu	ΑΣΝ	General Scholarship - Jesuit Institutions of Higher Education
Beta Gamma Sigma	ΒΓΣ	Business and Management		; 1990
Beta Kappa Chi	ΒΚΧ	Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Beta Phi Mu	ΒΦΜ	Library and Information Studies and Information Technology
Chi Sigma Iota	ΧΣΙ	Counseling
Delta Epsilon Sigma	ΔΕΣ	General Scholarship in Colleges and Universities with a Catholic Tradition
Delta Mu Delta	ΔΜΔ	Business Administration
Epsilon Pi Phi	ΕΠΦ	Emergency Management
Epsilon Pi Tau	ΕΠΤ	Professions in Technology
Gamma Theta Upsilon	ΓΘΥ	Geography
Kappa Mu Epsilon	ΚΜΕ	Mathematics
Kappa Omicron Nu	ΚΟΝ	Human Sciences
Kappa Tau Alpha	ΚΤΑ	Journalism and Mass Communication
Lambda Pi Eta	ΛΠΗ	Communication
Lambda Sigma	ΛΣ	Student Leadership, Scholarship and Service
Mortar Board		Scholarship, Leadership, and Service
Mu Kappa Tau	ΜΚΤ	Marketing
National Society of Collegiate Scholars		Scholarship, Leadership, and Service
Omega Chi Epsilon	ΩΧΕ	Chemical Engineering	Spring 1931
Omega Rho	ΩΡ	Operations Research, and Management Science		; 1986
Omicron Delta Epsilon	ΟΔΕ	Economics		-1973; 1981
Phi Alpha Honor Society	ΦΑ	Social Work
Phi Alpha Theta	ΦΑΘ	History		–2012; 2017
Phi Beta Delta	ΦΒΔ	International Education
Phi Eta Sigma	ΦΗΣ	Freshman Scholarship		– 2011; 2018
Phi Lambda Sigma	ΦΛΣ	Pharmacy Leadership
Phi Sigma	ΦΣ	Biological Sciences, All Pure and Applied Fields
Phi Sigma Iota	ΦΣΙ	Foreign Language, Literature, and Cultures
Phi Sigma Tau	ΦΣΤ	Philosophy
Phi Upsilon Omicron	ΦΥΟ	Family and Consumer Sciences
Pi Delta Phi	ΠΔΦ	French
Pi Gamma Mu	ΠΓΜ	Social Sciences
Pi Kappa Lambda	ΠΚΛ	Music
Pi Sigma Alpha	ΠΣΑ	Political Science
Pi Tau Sigma	ΠΤΣ	Mechanical Engineering
Pi Theta Epsilon	ΠΘΕ	Occupational Therapy
Psi Beta	ΨΒ	Psychology at Two-Year Colleges
Psi Chi	ΨΧ	Psychology
Rho Chi	ΡΧ	Pharmacy
Sigma Beta Delta	ΣΒΔ	Business, Management, and Administration
Sigma Delta Pi	ΣΔΠ	Spanish
Sigma Lambda Alpha	ΣΛΑ	Landscape Architecture		; 1986
Sigma Lambda Chi	ΣΛΧ	Construction Management Technology
Sigma Pi Sigma	ΣΠΣ	Physics and Astronomy		1945
Sigma Tau Delta	ΣΤΔ	English Language and Literature
Sigma Theta Tau	ΣΘΤ	Nursing
Tau Beta Pi	ΤΒΠ	Engineering
Tau Sigma Delta	ΤΣΔ	Architecture and Allied Arts
Theta Alpha Kappa	ΘΑΚ	Religious Studies and Theology	Fall 1976	; 1986
Upsilon Pi Epsilon	ΥΠΕ	Computing and Information Disciplines
Xi Sigma Pi	ΞΣΠ	Forestry		–1999; 2017

Former members

While the Association of College Honor Societies remains the largest trade association of honor societies, some former members have resigned from ACHS membership to operate independently. Of these, several have emerged into successor groups that remain part of the ACHS or have gone dormant.
Recently, four of the oldest independent honor societies, including three of the original six founding members of the ACHS, have formed a new coordinating organization called the Honor Society Caucus.

Society	Greek letters	Discipline	Founded	Joined ACHS	Left ACHS	Status	References
Alpha Delta Mu	ΑΔΜ	Social Work	Fall 1976	; 1986		Independent
Alpha Omega Alpha	ΑΩΑ	Medical			–	Independent
Chi Epsilon	ΧΕ	Civil Engineering		1953		Independent
Delta Phi Delta	ΔΦΔ	Art		1961	–	Independent
Delta Sigma Rho	ΔΣΡ	Forensics				Merged into Delta Sigma Rho-Tau Kappa Alpha
Delta Sigma Rho-Tau Kappa Alpha	ΔΣΡ-ΤΚΑ	Forensics		;	–January 2014	Independent
Delta Tau Alpha	ΔΤΑ	Agriculture
Eta Kappa Nu	ΗΚΝ	Electrical and Computer Engineering				Independent
Golden Key		General				Independent
Iota Sigma Pi	ΙΣΠ	Women in the sciences, especially chemistry	or 1902		–	Independent
Kappa Delta Pi	ΚΔΠ	Education				Independent
Lambda Iota Tau	ΛΙΤ	Literature of all Languages				Merged with Sigma Tau Delta
National Collegiate Players/Pi Epsilon Delta	ΠΕΔ	Theatre Honors			–	Independent
Omicron Delta Kappa	ΟΔΚ	Leadership and Scholarship				Honor Society Caucus
Omicron Nu	ΟΝ	Human Sciences		; 1968		Merged into Kappa Omicron Nu
Order of the Coif		Law			–	Independent
Phi Beta Kappa	ΦΒΚ	Liberal Arts				Honor Society Caucus
Phi Kappa Phi	ΦΚΦ	All Fields			–	Honor Society Caucus
Pi Alpha Alpha	ΠΑΑ	Public Affairs and Administration		; 1984		Independent
Pi Omega Pi	ΠΩΠ	Business Education Teachers
Scabbard and Blade, National Society of		Reserve Officer Training Corps	Fall 1904			Independent
Sigma Gamma Tau	ΣΓΤ	Aerospace Engineering				Independent
Sigma Tau	ΣΤ	Engineering				Merged into Tau Beta Pi
Sigma Xi	ΣΞ	Scientific Research				Honor Society Caucus
Tau Alpha Pi	ΤΑΠ	Engineering Technology
Tau Kappa Alpha	ΤΚΑ	Forensics				Merged into Delta Sigma Rho-Tau Kappa Alpha