Mu Alpha Phi

Mu Alpha Phi is a sorority established in Puerto Rico on October 24, 1927. It is considered to be the first Puerto Rican sorority founded in the island. The sorority has alumnae and university chapters across the island and an alumni chapter in Orlando, Florida.

History

The sorority that pioneered the Greek world movement for women on the island was established in the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus in October 1927. The founding sisters were Carmen Rosa Janer, Laura Muñoz, Emma Colón, Aida González, María Padial, Carmen Belén Cruz, Alicia Rivero, Luz Vilá, María Luisa Márquez, Luz Vilariño, Georgina Pastor, Mercedes Fernández, Ramona Santana, Ligia Noya, María Antonieta Delgado, Laura Cesteros, Blanca Martorell, Dolores Gutiérrez de Arroyo, Encarnación Rodríguez, Celia Machese, Sofía Oronoz, Josefina Gutiérrez, Sara Irizarry, María Inés Dávila and Ana María Santana. Since many sisters were graduating by 1930 the need for an alumni chapter was evident, thus the Capitulo Pasivo was founded; this chapter is now called Zona Alpha Alumnae.
By September 13, 1946, the Beta chapter was established at the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. The first Beta sisters were Delia González, Maita Bravo, Andreita Martínez, and Rochie Sabater. As a result of the Beta chapter, the Río Piedras university chapter came to be called Alpha chapter.
In June 1950, sorority sisters at Universidad Católica de Santa María, later called Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Puerto Rico, organized the Gamma chapter, its first president was Betty Zapater de McConnie. The chapter was officially recognized by University Authorities by November 1955. By the early 1960s, sisters at the Inter American University at San Germán organized the Delta chapter, it was led by Martita Mercado, Sally Zaragoza, Laira González Rigau and Berníe Pabón.
Two years later, Mu sisters led by Leila Padilla de Balaguer and Katherine Morell de Domínguez at Arecibo requested a charter for the Epsilon chapter This chapter closed and was later re-opened in 1985. Since so many chapters were being created by 1950 a central governing body was created called Honorable Consejo Supremo.. Its first president was Judith Mercader de Sifre.
Two alumni chapters, Chi Alumni in Cabo Rojo and Gamma Alumnae in Ponce, were established; both chapters were closed. Nevertheless, alumni chapters or "zonas" were then established for sisters who had graduated, were married, or had other interests than those of the student sisters. The first Zona was established in Ponce in 1979 and called Zona Ponce. In San Juan. the alumni chapter was reopened as Zona Alpha Alumnae. By 1985, the Zona Beta was founded in Mayagüez. In1989, Zona Epsilon was founded in Arecibo. In 1992, Zona Phi Alpha was founded in San Juan, and in 1993, Zona Delta.formed in San Germán. Zona Orlando was founded in October 2016, with approximately 70 members living in Florida.

Chapters

Collegiate chapters

Following is a list of the collegiate chapters of Mu Alpha Phi. Active chapters are indicated in bold. Inactive chapters are in italics.

Chapter	Charter date and range	Institution	Location	Status
Alpha		University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Active
Beta		University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez	Mayagüez, Puerto Rico	Active
Gamma		Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico	Ponce, Puerto Rico	Active
Delta	– ; 1986	Interamerican University of Puerto Rico	San Germán, Puerto Rico	Active
Epsilon	1963–; September 1985 – 2004; 2010	University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo	Arecibo, Puerto Rico	Active

Alumnae zones

Following is a list of the alumnae zones or chapters of Mu Alpha Phi. Active chapters are indicated in bold. Inactive chapters are in italics.

Chapter	Charter date and range	Location	Status
Alpha Alumnae Passive chapter	1930–19xx ?	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Active
Gamma Alumnae	1965–1966	Ponce, Puerto Rico	Inactive
Chi Alumnae	1965	Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico	Inactive
Zona Delta	–198x ?; 1995	San Germán, Puerto Rico	Active
Zona Ponce		Ponce, Puerto Rico	Active
Zona Alpha Alumnae	1984	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Active
Zona Beta		Mayagüez, Puerto Rico	Active
Zona Epsilon		Arecibo, Puerto Rico	Active
Zona Phi Alpha	1992	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Active
Zona Orlando		Florida, United States	Active

Notable members

Name	Chapter	Notability
Delis Castillo		Former mayor of Ponce
María del Carmen González		Journalist
Mercedes Marrero de Bauermeister		Former Director of Administración de Tribunales de Puerto Rico
Janina		Singer and actress
Melissa Marty		Nuestra Belleza Latina 2008
Rosarito Ferrer		Business woman
Rosita Velázquez		Actress, comedian, and singer
Sor Isolina Ferrer		Humanitarian
Lcda Ana Margarita Mateu		First Lady of Ponce