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Sigma Psi Zeta
Sigma Psi Zeta
ΣΨΖ
Founded	March 23, 1994; 30 years ago; University at Albany
Type	Cultural interest
Affiliation	NAPA
Status	Active
Emphasis	Asian-American
Scope	National
Motto	"Lead from the front."
Colors	Red and Gold
Flower	Yellow Rose with Baby's Breath
Philanthropy	Combatting violence against women
Chapters	20
Colonies	15
Nickname	SYZ, Sigmas
Headquarters	11241 Green Watch Way; North Potomac, Maryland 20878; United States
Website	www.sigmapsizeta.org

Sigma Psi Zeta (ΣΨΖ) Sorority, Inc., also known as Sigmas or SYZ, is a progressive multicultural American sorority. It was founded on March 23, 1994, at the University at Albany and incorporated in New York on March 15, 1996. It is the third-largest Asian-interest sorority in the nation. It is a part of the National APIDA Panhellenic Association (NAPA).

History

Plans for the Sigma Psi Zeta sorority were formed in the fall semester of 1993 at SUNY Albany by a group of female undergraduates from different backgrounds. The sorority was formed in part to address the dual difficulties faced by Asian women. Its founding mothers were Gina Han, Sally Hsieh, Jean Kim, Jenny Kim, Sandra Lam, Winnie Liu, Yan-Chieh Liu, Michelle Macaraig, Sung-Yon Noh, and Loan Trang.

On March 23, 1994, the sorority was officially recognized by the university. Within a year, a second chapter was formed at SUNY University at Binghamton.^[1]^[2] The sorority was incorporated in New York on March 15, 1996.

Internally, the sorority uses the term "womxn" instead of "woman" or "women". Similarly, it uses "sxsters" or "syzters" in place of "sisters". Similar terminology has been adopted by other multicultural organizations.

Symbols

The sorority's colors are red and gold and its flower is a yellow rose with baby's breath. Its motto is "Lead from the front."^[1]

Activities

Sigma Psi Zeta is a cultural, social, educational, and community service–oriented Greek organization. Its philanthropic focus is to combat violence against women in its various forms. Sigma Psi Zeta is an official partner of the White House initiative, It's On Us, which launched as a result of the ARC3 Survey.

Since 1999, Sigma Psi Zeta's philanthropy has been to combat violence against women. The sorority has worked against violence against women in many forms and has focused specifically on Asian women who are historically objectified and disempowered. Local chapters and colonies participate in events such as the Take Back The Night rallies and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence's Domestic Violence Awareness month.^[3]

Membership

Sigma Psi Zeta has 43 active chapters in the states/commonwealths of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin.

Chapters

Following are the chapters of Sigma Psi Zeta.^[2]^[4] The sorority differentiates between three levels of organization at its campus units. Chapter status appears to be the ultimate goal. Newer or emerging groups are called charters. The third type is denoted as Interest Groups; an interest group must have permission to form from campus administration and must include at least ten members.^[5]

Active groups are listed here in bold, inactive groups are listed in italics.^[2]

Chapter	Charter date and range	Institution	Location	Status	Reference
Alpha	March 23, 1994	University at Albany, SUNY	Albany, NY	Active
Beta charter	January 4, 1995 – xxxx ?, 20xx ?	Binghamton University	Binghamton, NY	Active
Gamma	January 18, 1997 – 20xx ?	Saint John's University	Jamaica, NY	Inactive
Delta	October 3, 1998	University at Buffalo	Buffalo, NY	Active
Epsilon	October 10, 1998 – 20xx ?	SUNY Oenonta	Oneonta, NY	Inactive
Zeta	November 7, 1998 – 20xx ?	Pace University	New York, NY	Inactive
Eta	May 20, 2000	Stony Brook University	Stony Brook, NY	Active
Theta charter	November 18, 2000 – 20xx ?; 202x ?	University of Massachusetts Amhers	Amherst, MA	Active	^[6]^[a]
Iota	December 1, 2000	University of Rochester	Rochester, NY	Active
Kappa charter	January 7, 2001 – 20xx ?; 20xx?	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, VA	Active
Lambda	December 1, 2001	University of Virginia	Charlottesville, VA	Active
Mu	June 2, 2002 – 201x ?	SUNY Geneseo	Geneseo, NY	Inactive
Nu	July 17, 2002	Drexel University	Philadelphia, PA	Active
Xi	January 3, 2003	University of Nebraska–Lincoln	Lincoln, NE	Active
Omicron	June 12, 2004 – 202x ?	Stanford University	Stanford, CA	Inactive
Pi	November 15, 2003	George Washington University	Washington, D.C.	Active
Rho	November 22, 2003	University of Washington	Seattle, WA	Active
Tau	December 6, 2003	University of Maryland, College Park	College Park, MD	Active
Upsilon	April 18, 2004	University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia, PA	Active
Phi	April 24, 2004	University of Colorado Boulder	Boulder, CO	Active
Chi	April 4, 2006 – 201x ?	Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania	Shippensburg, PA	Inactive
Alpha Alpha	April 8, 2007 – 201x ?	Yale University	New Haven, CT	Inactive
Alpha Beta	May 10, 2008	Northwestern University	Evanston, IL	Active
Alpha Gamma charter	April 9, 2011	Villanova University	Villanova, PA	Active
Alpha Delta	April 1, 2012	Rutgers University	New Brunswick, NJ	Active
Alpha Epsilon	April 7, 2012	University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign	Champaign, IL	Active
Alpha Zeta charter	April 21, 2013	University of the Sciences	Philadelphia, PA	Active
Alpha Eta	November 16, 2013 – 20xx ?	New York City	New York City	Inactive
Alpha Theta	November 16, 2013	Wichita State University	Wichita, KS	Active
Alpha Iota	October 25, 2014	University of California, Berkeley	Berkeley, CA	Active
Alpha Kappa charter	November 8, 2014	University of Minnesota	Minneapolis, MN	Active
Alpha Lambda	November 8, 2015	Rochester Institute of Technology	Rochester, NY	Active
Alpha Mu	March 26, 2016	University of Kansas	Lawrence, KS	Active
Alpha Nu	November 12, 2017	George Mason University	Fairfax, VA	Active
Alpha Xi charter	March 24, 2018	Syracuse University	Syracuse, NY	Active	^[b]
Alpha Omicron charter	April 8, 2018	Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis	Indianapolis, IN	Active
Alpha Pi charter	March 10, 2019	University of Wisconsin–Madison	Madison, WI	Active
Alpha Rho charter	April 20, 2019	Stevens Institute of Technology	Hoboken, NJ	Active
Alpha Tau charter	April 12, 2020	New York University	New York City, NY	Active
Alpha Upsilon charter	March 21, 2021	Northeastern University	Boston, MA	Active
Alpha Phi charter	April 23, 2021	Western Michigan University	Kalamazoo, MI	Active
Alpha Chi charter	November 17, 2021	Washington State University	Pullman, WA	Active
Alpha Psi charter	November 18, 2021	Temple University	Philadelphia, PA	Active

Notes

^ This chapter was reformed as a charter.
^ Chapter was founded as a colony in 2016.

References

^ ^a ^b "Our Story". Sigma Psi Zeta. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lurding, Carroll and Becque, Fran. (December 2022) Almanac of Fraternities and Sororities. Urbana: University of Illinois. Accessed January 2, 202.
^ "Philanthropy Background". Sigma Psi Zeta. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
^ "Locations". Sigma Psi Zeta. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
^ "Expansion". Sigma Psi Zeta. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
^ "Announcements - Theta Charter". Sigma Psi Zeta. Retrieved 2023-01-03.