A group of undergraduate social work students at Michigan State University conceived of a national social work honor society in 1960.[1] After investigating, they determined that local chapters at three other schools. Michigan State, those three schools and a few other schools formed a National Honor Society Committee in November 1960. This committee worked on the constitution and other administrative matters. The name Phi Alpha was chosen since that was the name of the local chapter at Florida State University.
The formal organization and constitution were completed in 1962, and six chapters qualified to become "charter chapters."