Phi Rho Sigma

Phi Rho Sigma Society is a co-educational medical fraternity founded by medical students at Northwestern University in 1890.

History

Phi Rho Sigma Medical Fraternity was founded at the Chicago Medical College on. Its founder was Milbank Johnson, along with, H. H. Forline, J. A. Poling, and T. J. Robeson. Johnson became the fraternity's first president and designed its badge.
The fraternity expanded to include Beta chapter at the University of Illinois in the fall of 1894 and Gamma ''chapter at the University of Chicago in the fall of 1895. Alpha chapter offer saw the general affairs of the fraternity until 1896 when a grand chapter was formed. The grand chapter consisted of three members from each chapter who were elected annually. The grand chapter could issue charters and enact laws.
In response to the addition of new chapters, the fraternity adopted a revised constitution on, which specified that the grand chapter would meet biennially and would consist of two delegates from each chapter. Its first general convention was held in Chicago on through. Conventions have been held as of biennially. Between conventions, the executive power of the fraternity is vested in a grand council composed of seven members who all reside in the same vicinity.
The fraternity's periodical, Phi Rho Sigma Journal, began in January 1900. Its first editor was Dr. T. B. Swartz of the Alpha chapter; he served in this capacity for four years. The Iota chapter also published a magazine called The Iota for many years.
At the grand chapter meeting in July 1901, the constitution was amended to allow alumni chapters. The Chicago Alumni chapter'' was chartered on November 5, 1901. Its founders were Dr. E. W. Andrews, Dr. Charles M. Gleason, Dr. Frank Jay, Dr. Mortimer Frank, and Dr. D. E. W. Wenstrand.
At the grand council meeting of February 20, 1908, the various chapters were divided into districts that were overseen by district managers. The five districts included Eastern, Erie, Chicago, Mississippi, and Pacific.
On April 17, 1911, Phi Rho Sigma absorbed Alpha Omega Delta, a former national fraternity that had a remaining chapter at the University of Buffalo. The new chapter was allowed to keep the name Alpha Omega Delta because of its history.
On, the authorities of Chi Zeta Chi fraternity signed an agreement in Cincinnati to merge into Phi Rho Sigma. By 1936, the fraternity had 27 active collegiate chapters and eighteen alumni chapters. At the time, its membership had grown to 19,050 members.
In, the grand chapter established national awards in the form of gold medals that are given at the biennial meeting.

The Irving S. Cutter Medal is awarded to members for extraordinary service to the field of medicine.
The Jesse Ansley Griffin Medal is presented to members for outstanding service to society. The medal was named for the founder of Chi Zeta Chi.
The Paul McLain Student Research Award is given to student members for significant research while in medical school. McLain was a physician and scientist dedicated his life to teaching medical students. This award comes with a medal and a cash award. Recipients also present their research at the grand chapter.
Certificates of Meritorious Service are also awarded by the grand chapter.

In 1973, the fraternity changed its name to Phi Rho Sigma Medical Society and started accepting women as members.

Symbols

Phi Rho Sigma's colors are gold and scarlet. Its badge was originally a gold shield with the letters Φ, Ρ and Σ in black enamel, surrounding a raised pair of clasped hands in gold over an open book in gold. The Φ was in the upper left-hand corner, the Ρ in the upper right-hand corner, and the Σ below at the apex of the shield.
At the grand chapter meeting on December 2, 1896, the badge was updated to a monogram design submitted by Gamma chapter. The modified badge consists of the letters Φ, Ρ, and Σ as a gold monogram outline, with Φ on a separate plane above the other two letters, set in pearls.

Chapters

Collegiate chapters

The chapter roll for Phi Rho Sigma is as follows. Some names reflect the chapter's origin as a previous local fraternity. The Chi series of chapters resulted from the merger with Chi Zeta Chi. These chapters originated as part of Chi Zeta Chi, were the only active chapter of the two fraternities at the time of the merger, or were a Chi Zeta Chi chapter that was older than the Phi Rho Sigma chapter at the same institution. Chapters that are active are indicated in bold; inactive chapters and institutions are indicated in italic.

Chapter	Chartered/Range	Institution	Location	Status	References
Alpha		Northwestern University	Evanston, Illinois	Active
Beta	– 1969	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	Champaign and Urbana, Illinois	Inactive
Gamma	– 1969	University of Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	Inactive
Delta	–1919, 19xx–1969	University of Southern California	Los Angeles, California	Inactive
Epsilon	– 1965	Wayne State University School of Medicine	Detroit, Michigan	Inactive
Zeta		University of Michigan Medical Department	Detroit, Michigan	Active
Eta	– 1973; 19xx ?	Creighton University Medical College	Omaha, Nebraska	Active
Eta Tau		Creighton University	Phoenix, Arizona	Active
Theta	– 1907	Hamline University Medical School	Saint Paul, Minnesota	Consolidated
Iota first	– 1902	Omaha Medical College	Omaha, Nebraska	Inactive
Kappa	– xxxx ?	Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland, Ohio	Inactie
Lambda	– 1916	Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Consolidated
Mu		University of Iowa Medical Department	Iowa City, Iowa	Active
Nu	– 1923	Harvard Medical School	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Inactive
Iota Alpha	1902–1968	University of Nebraska–Lincoln	Lincoln, Nebraska	Consolidated
Iota Beta	1902–1968	University of Nebraska Omaha	Omaha, Nebraska	Consolidated
Xi	1903–1904	Johns Hopkins University	Baltimore, Maryland	Inactive
Omicron	– 1918	Marquette University	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Inactive
Pi	– xxxx ?	Indiana University Bloomington	Bloomington, Indiana	Inactive
Chi Alpha	– xxxx ?	University of Georgia	Athens, Georgia	Inactive
Chi Beta	– 1959	Emory University	Atlanta, Georgia	Inactive
Chi Gamma	– 1936	University of Maryland	College Park, Maryland	Inactive
Rho	– 1965	Thomas Jefferson University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Inactive
Sigma	– 1929	University of Virginia Medical Department	Charlottesville, Virginia	Inactive
Tau	– 1907	University of Minnesota	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Consolidated
Chi Delta	1906–xxxx ?	University of South Carolina	Columbia, South Carolina	Inactive
Chi Epsilon	– xxxx ?	University of Tennessee	Knoxville, Tennessee	Inactive
Chi Eta	– xxxx ?	Saint Louis University School of Medicine	St. Louis, Missouri	Inactive
Chi Zeta	– 1939	University of Arkansas	Fayetteville, Arkansas	Inactive
Upsilon	– xxxx ?	Medical College of Virginia	Richmond, Virginia	Inactive
Phi	– 1916	University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Consolidated
Skull & Sceptre	– 1919	Yale University	New Haven, Connecticut	Inactive
Theta Tau	1907	University of Minnesota	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Active
Chi	– 1970	University of Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Inactive
Psi	– 1972	University of Colorado Boulder	Boulder, Colorado	Inactive
Alpha Omega Delta	– 1931	University at Buffalo	Buffalo, New York	Inactive
Omega	1913–1943	Ohio State University	Columbus, Ohio	Inactive
Alpha Beta	1913–1932	Columbia University	New York City, New York	Inactive
Alpha Gamma	1913–1938	McGill University	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	Inactive
Lambda Phi	1916–1973	University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Inactive
Delta Omicron Alpha	1918–1950	Tulane University	New Orleans, Louisiana	Inactive
Alpha Delta	1921–1944	University of Washington	Seattle, Washington	Inactive
Alpha Epsilon	1922–1942	University of Toronto	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	Inactive
Alpha Zeta	1923–1959	Stanford University	Stanford, California	Inactive
Chi Theta	1924–1965	Wake Forest University	Winston-Salem, North Carolina	Inactive
Alpha Eta	1924–xxxx ?	Dalhousie University	Nova Scotia, Canada	Inactive
Alpha Theta	1927–1935	University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati, Ohio	Inactive
Alpha Iota	1929–1944	University of Manitoba	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada	Inactive
Alpha Kappa	1932–1938	University of Rochester	Rochester, New York	Inactive
Alpha Lambda	1933–xxxx ?	Temple University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Inactive
Alpha Mu	1935–1941	Louisiana State University	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Inactive
Alpha Nu	1939	University of Texas Medical Branch	Galveston, Texas	Active
Alpha Omicron	1939–1944, 1956	University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center	Dallas, Texas	Inactive
Alpha Pi	1948–1965	University of Utah	Salt Lake City, Utah	Inactive
Alpha Rho	1958–1969	Seton Hall University	South Orange, New Jersey	Inactive
Iota Gamma	1964–1974	University of California, Irvine School of Medicine	Irvine, California	Inactive
Iota	1968	University of Nebraska–Lincoln	Lincoln, Nebraska	Active
Alpha Upsilon	2012	Wright State University	Dayton, Ohio	Active