Delta Gamma (??), commonly known as DG, is a sorority in the United States and Canada with over 250,000 initiated members.
It has 151 collegiate chapters in the United States and Canada and more than 200 alumnae groups. The organization's executive office is in Columbus, Ohio. The Delta Gamma Foundation gives more than 150,000 volunteer service hours and raises hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for scholarships and grants for its members, schools and assistance for the visually impaired, and support for U.S. veterans. In 2013, Delta Gamma founded the #IAmASororityWoman campaign. This movement calls on members of any sorority to spark meaningful conversations about what sorority women truly value, in an effort to combat common stereotypes.
Delta Gamma is one of 26 national sororities which are members under the umbrella organization of the National Panhellenic Conference.
Video Delta Gamma
History
Delta Gamma was founded in December 1873 at the Lewis School for Girls in Oxford, Mississippi near the University of Mississippi. The group's founders were Mary Comfort Leonard, Eva Webb Dodd, and Anna Boyd Ellington.
The early growth for Delta Gamma was confined to women's colleges in the southern United States. Within a few years, Delta Gamma had established itself in the northern United States and later to the East with the help of George Banta, a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity and Delta Gamma's only male initiate until Trevor Russell. Banta played an integral part in the expansion of Delta Gamma chapters from Oxford, Mississippi, to well-recognized northern colleges.
In 1882, Banta married Lillian Vawter, a Delta Gamma at Franklin College. After Lillian died in 1885, he was remarried to Ellen Lee Pleasants. In his later years, he assisted with the rewriting of the Delta Gamma ritual. He frequently visited Delta Gamma conventions, often participating as a guest speaker. He appeared for his last speech in 1934, a year before his death. As a result of the assistance provided by Banta, Delta Gamma retains close historical ties with the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
Delta Gamma was one of seven charter members of the National Panhellenic Conference when the first inter-sorority meeting was held in Boston, Massachusetts in 1891. Delta Gamma and the six other charter members formally joined the National Panhellenic Conference in 1902.
Delta Gamma Foundation and modern day
In 1936, Ruth Billow, who was blinded in a childhood accident, asked the Delta Gamma Convention to make a difference in the lives of those with limited or no sight and to help society appreciate the talents of those who are visually impaired.
The Delta Gamma Foundation was formed in 1951 as a complement to the Fraternity, creating a vehicle for members to promote the educational interests and social responsibilities referenced in Article II of the Fraternity Constitution. The Delta Gamma Foundation's mission is that it, "fosters lifetime enrichment for members, promotes Service for Sight and partners with the Fraternity to ensure the future of our sisterhood." This may have been the first establishment an independent philanthropic foundation.
Today, Delta Gamma has 151 collegiate chapters in the United States and Canada. It has more than 200 alumnae groups in the United States, Canada and England.
Maps Delta Gamma
Symbols
Although Delta Gamma has no official jewel, the fraternity recognizes the anchor as its official symbol, and its official colors are bronze, pink, and blue. The official flower is the cream-colored rose, which is the only sorority flower registered with the American Rose Society (as the Delta Gamma Cream Rose). The Hannah Doll is their mascot.
The badge of Delta Gamma is a golden anchor and may be worn only by initiated members.
Before the adoption of the golden anchor, the symbol of Delta Gamma was simply a "H" for the word "Hope". In 1877, the original "Hope" badge was changed to the traditional symbol of hope, the anchor. Today's badge has a small cable wrapping around the top of the anchor, with the Greek letters Tau Delta Eta (???) on the crosspiece. Delta Gamma's motto is "Do Good."
Programs
Philanthropy
The Delta Gamma Foundation has three main focuses: Service for Sight, grants to the fraternity for educational and leadership purposes, and grants to individual members. Members contribute to its funds, which go into Service for Sight, scholarships, fellowships, loans, leadership and educational programming, and assistance to members in crisis. Delta Gamma gives more than 150,000 volunteer hours to Service for Sight each year. In 2013, the Foundation donated over 500,000 dollars to fraternity leadership and educational programs. It also granted over 174,000 dollars to 26 different Service for Sight organizations.
Service for Sight has three pegs. The first peg is funding four schools for the visually impaired, which assist adults and children experiencing visual impairments as well as helping to promote sight preservation. The second peg is Joining Forces, while he third peg is The Golden Anchor Program. In December 2012, Delta Gamma began the Service for Sight: Joining Forces Program to support members the United States Armed Forces. This program aims to improve eye injury clinical care, vision research, and benefits for service members. Between 13% and 20% of soldiers return home with some kind of eye injury. Delta Gamma is partnered with the Department of Defense, Veterans Administration, and other non-profits that work to aid blind or visually impaired service members to offer aid. The Golden Anchor program was started to provide companionship to senior citizens, especially former Delta Gammas. With the Golden Anchor Program, active members visit senior citizens in health care facilities.
The sorority is one of the first recipients of the Helen Keller Philanthropic Service Award, given by the American Foundation for the Blind for assistance to those who are visually impaired and for sight conservation, and it is the first recipient of the Virginia Boyce Award presented by Prevent Blindness America
Anchor Games
Anchor Games are the sorority's fundraising events hosted on college campuses across North America. These games include Anchor Splash, a swimming competition, Anchor Slam, a basketball tournament, and Anchor Bowl, a flag football tournament, in which fraternities, sororities, and other collegiate clubs compete. The most popular of the games is Anchor Splash, which was started by the University of Miami chapter in 1966. It involves events such as swim races, synchronized swimming, a dive competition, and the Anchor Man or Anchor Bash competition. Depending on the campus, not every single competition may occur. The proceeds raised at these events support Delta Gamma's philanthropies, including Service for Sight, scholarships, fellowships and loans, values and ethics lectureships, and educational programs for its members.
Anchora
The official Delta Gamma magazine is the Anchora ("aNGk?r?" not "ankôr?"), which has been published continuously since 1884. The Anchora also serves as an archival resource of member activities.
Membership
Chapters
The oldest existing chapter of Delta Gamma, Eta, is located at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, and was founded in 1879. The Zeta Phi chapter at Harvard University announced in 2018 that it was closing due to Harvard's policy against gender-segregated organizations.
Notable members
Arts, entertainment and broadcast journalism
- Mona Kosar Abdi - multimedia journalist with WSET ABC 13, the Al Jazeera Media Network and KGTV Channel 10
- Jill Arrington - former sports reporter for CBS
- Diem Brown - Reality TV star (MTV's The Challenge)
- Sabrina Bryan - co-star of Disney Channel's original TV film series and musical group The Cheetah Girls, contestant on Dancing with the Stars seasons 5 and 15
- Nadine Jolie Courtney - beauty journalist, author, Bravo TV personality Newlyweds: The First Year
- Cheryl Crawford - Broadway producer; founder of Group Theater and Actor's Studio
- Mary Frann - actress, Newhart
- Samantha Harris - former host of Dancing with the Stars and host of various shows on E!, model and actress.
- Patricia Heaton - actress, Everybody Loves Raymond
- E.D. Tarbox Hill - Fox and Friends host
- Christine Lahti - actress
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Emmy-winning actress
- Joan Lunden - former host of Good Morning America
- Donna Mills - actress, Knots Landing
- Terry Murphy - Emmy Award-winning journalist of Hard Copy
- Cristina Perez - lawyer, judge, television personality, radio host, and author
- Kyra Phillips - CNN anchor, four-time Emmy award winner
- Alice Ripley - Broadway actress; Tony Award winner, "Next to Normal"
- Eva Marie Saint - actress
- Susan Spencer - staff correspondent on 48 Hours
- Julia Sweeney - actress and comedian from Saturday Night Live
- Anita Vogel - Fox News Channel correspondent
- Lizz Winstead - creator of Comedy Central's The Daily Show
Authors and publishing
- Phyllis Battelle - nationally syndicated columnist
- Christine Clifford - author and motivational speaker
- Brenda Wang Clough - science fiction and fantasy author
- Heloise Cruse - advice columnist
- Carolyn Englefield - former Senior decorating editor for House Beautiful magazine, current freelance Producer for House & Garden, Elle Decor, Veranda, Vanity and House Beautiful magazines
- Ellen Bromfield Geld - author
- Jackie Martin - first female photo and art editor of the Washington Herald in 1931, served as a war correspondent and director of photo operations of The Marshall Plan
- Lauren Purcell - deputy editor of Self magazine, editor-in-chief of Every Day With Rachael Ray
- Heather Buchanan Spohr - writer, author, philanthropist
- Terry Tempest Williams - author, conservationist, activist
Business, education and government
- Edith Abbott - first female dean of a graduate school at an American university, the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration
- Kelly Ayotte - United States Senator from New Hampshire (2011-2017)
- Grace Abbott - highest ranking woman in the United States government for over a decade as the head of the United States Children's Bureau (1921-1934); first woman to be nominated for a Presidential cabinet position -- Secretary of Labor in the Herbert Hoover administration; first American sent to the League of Nations to represent the United States
- Carol Bellamy - President and CEO of World Learning, Executive Director of UNICEF (1995-2005), former Director of the U.S. Peace Corps (appointed by President Clinton)
- Elizabeth M. Boyer - lawyer, writer/publisher, and feminist founder of WEAL
- Rita Colwell - first female to be named Director of the National Science Foundation and chairman of Canon US Life Sciences, Inc.
- Ada Louise Comstock - first full-time president of Radcliffe College
- Deborah L. Cook - Federal judge for the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (2003-pres.)
- Nancy-Ann DeParle - Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy in the administration of President Barack Obama (2011-present). Previously, she served as the director of the White House Office of Health Reform (2009-2011).
- Jo Ann Emerson - U.S. Congresswoman from Missouri (1996-2013)
- Susan Shannon Engeleiter - first woman to head the Small Business Administration (1989-1991)
- Melissa Hart - U.S. Congresswoman from Pennsylvania (2001-2007)
- Fern Holland - women's rights expert, Defense of Freedom Medal recipient
- Sarah Tilghman Hughes - first female federal judge who swore in President Lyndon B. Johnson on the day of President John F. Kennedy was assassinated
- Merry Hull - redesigned the basic construction of the glove in 1939 which became the industry standard and is the design we wear today
- Sharen Jester Turney - President and CEO of Victoria's Secret
- Mary Landrieu - Senator from Louisiana (1997-2015)
- Ruth Bryan Owen - U.S. Ambassador to Denmark (1933-1936) and Florida's first woman elected to Congress (1929-1933)
Sports
- Judy Bell - first female president of United States Golf Association (1996-1998), Lifetime Achievement Inductee in the World Golf Hall of Fame, 2001
- Carin Cone - champion swimmer
- Emilee Klein - professional golfer
- Bonnie Lauer - professional golfer; 1977 Rookie of the Year
- Susan Nattrass - first woman shooter in the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Jill Savery - member of the gold medal U.S. synchronized swimming team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta
- Anne White - nationally ranked tennis player in the late 1980s
See also
- List of social fraternities and sororities
Notes
References
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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