Omega Tau Sigma () is a
Veterinary Medicine
Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...
professional fraternity
Professional fraternities, in the North American fraternity system, are organizations whose primary purpose is to promote the interests of a particular profession and whose membership is restricted to students in that particular field of profess ...
started at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
School of Veterinary Medicine in 1906.
History
Omega Tau Sigma was founded by several students in
Veterinary Medicine
Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...
at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
in 1906. Within its first decade the fraternity spread to several other Colleges of Veterinary Medicine when it went international with a chapter at Ontario Veterinary by 1914. Omega Tau Sigma is the only Veterinary Medical
fraternity
A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, "wiktionary:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal ...
to have an international reach.
[ It eventually spread to fifteen veterinary schools in the ]United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
along with the branch in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
The first meeting of its international governing body, the Grand Chapter, was held on 1 April 1911 in Philadelphia. Today, the Grand Chapter meets annually in October.
Chapters
The fraternity has had chapters at 16 Colleges of Veterinary Medicine. Active chapters are in bold, inactive chapters in ''italics''. Chapters include:[Omega Tau Sigma Chapter History]
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Epsilon chapter proposed, and constitution drawn up, but GWU dropped the Veterinary School prior to chartering.
See also
* Professional fraternities and sororities
Professional fraternities, in the North American fraternity system, are organizations whose primary purpose is to promote the interests of a particular profession and whose membership is restricted to students in that particular field of profess ...
References
{{Authority control
Student organizations established in 1906
Student societies in the United States
Professional fraternities and sororities in the United States
Veterinary medicine-related professional associations
Former members of Professional Fraternity Association
1906 establishments in Pennsylvania
Veterinary medicine in the United States