Professional Fraternity Association

The Professional Fraternity Association (PFA) is an American association of national, collegiate, professional fraternities and sororities that was formed in . Since PFA groups are discipline-specific, members join while pursuing graduate (law, medicine, etc.) degrees as well as undergraduate (business, engineering, etc.) degrees. PFA groups seek to develop their members professionally in addition to the social development commonly associated with general fraternities. Membership requirements of the PFA are broad enough to include groups that do not recruit new members from a single professional discipline. The PFA has welcomed service and honor fraternities as members; however, Greek letter honor societies more commonly belong to the Association of College Honor Societies.

History

The Professional Panhellenic Association (PPA), for women's groups, was founded in , and the Professional Interfraternity Conference (PIC), for men's groups, was founded in . These groups came about due to rapid growth among all types of fraternities during the late 1920s.

Professional Panhellenic Association

On , representatives from fourteen professional fraternities for women attended an organizational meeting in Washington, D.C. During the summer a provisional constitution was ratified by the following eleven fraternities: Delta Omicron (music), Kappa Beta Pi (law), Omicron Nu (home economics), Phi Beta (music and speech), Phi Delta Pi (physical education), Phi Chi Theta (commerce), Phi Delta Delta (law), Phi Upsilon Omicron (home economics), Pi Lambda Theta (education), Sigma Sigma Sigma (education), and Theta Sigma Phi (journalism). Two additional fraternities, Sigma Alpha Iota (music) and Iota Sigma Pi (chemistry), soon ratified the constitution. The resulting thirteen member groups participated in the second annual conference on . Originally known as Women’s Professional Panhellenic Association until , when the revised name was adopted.

Professional Interfraternity Conference

On March 2–3, 1928, delegates from 27 professional fraternities came together in Washington, DC to organize the PIC. Jarvis Butler of Sigma Nu Phi was elected as the first president, and Stroud Jordan of Alpha Chi Sigma was elected as the first Secretary-treasurer.

Groups represented were
*Accounting: Beta Alpha Psi
*Advertising: Alpha Delta Sigma
*Architecture: Alpha Rho Chi
*Chemistry: Alpha Chi Sigma
*Commerce: Alpha Kappa Psi, Delta Sigma Pi
*Dentistry: Alpha Omega, Psi Omega
*Education: Kappa Phi Kappa
*Engineering: Kappa Eta Kappa (Electrical), Theta Tau
*Forensic: Phi Delta Gamma
*General: Omicron Delta Kappa
*Law: Delta Theta Phi, Gamma Eta Gamma, Phi Alpha Delta, Phi Beta Gamma, Sigma Nu Phi
*Medicine: Omega Upsilon Phi, Phi Beta Pi, Phi Rho Sigma, Theta Kappa Psi
*Pharmacy: Kappa Psi, Phi Delta Chi
*Military: Scabbard and Blade
*Science: Chi Beta Phi

Professional Fraternity Association

The PFA resulted from the merger of the Professional Interfraternity Conference and the Professional Panhellenic Association in 1978. The merger itself was the result of the impact of Title IX on most fraternal groups with professional affiliations.

Chartering organizations:
* Alpha Delta Theta – Medical Technology
* Alpha Kappa Psi – Business Administration
* Alpha Rho Chi – Architecture
* Alpha Tau Delta – Nursing
* Alpha Chi Sigma – Chemistry
* Alpha Omega – Dentistry
* Delta Theta Phi – Law
* Delta Omicron – Music
* Delta Sigma Delta – Dentistry
* Delta Sigma Pi – Business Administration
* Delta Psi Kappa – Physical Education
* Zeta Phi Eta – Communication Arts and Sciences
* Kappa Beta Pi – Law
* Kappa Delta Epsilon – Education
* Kappa Epsilon – Pharmacy
* Kappa Psi – Pharmacy
* Lambda Kappa Sigma – Pharmacy
* Mu Phi Epsilon – Music
* Xi Psi Phi – Dentistry
* Rho Pi Phi – Pharmacy
* Sigma Alpha Iota – Music
* Sigma Delta Kappa – Law
* Sigma Phi Delta – Engineering
* Phi Alpha Delta – Law
* Phi Beta – Music, Speech, Drama and Dance
* Phi Beta Pi-Theta Kappa Psi – Medical
* Phi Gamma Nu – Business
* Phi Delta Epsilon – Medical
* Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia – Music
* Phi Rho Sigma – Medicine
* Phi Chi – Medicine
* Phi Chi Theta – Business and Economics
* Psi Omega – Dentistry
* Omega Tau Sigma – Veterinary Medicine

Current members

Current membership of active members as of .

Former members

This includes the member organizations of the two former groups (PIC, PPA) that merged to form the PFA and organizations not currently active within the PFA.

Notes

*Note 1: PIC Charterer indicates participation in the "Preparatory Conference" at the Hamilton Hotel, Washington, D.C., on March 2 and 3, 1928.The Archi of Alpha Rho Chi V IX, No. 7 April 30, 1928, p1
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*Note 2: PPA Charterer indicates ratification of the provisional constitution of the PPA by the Second Annual Conference on November 26, 1926.
*Note 3: PFA Charterer indicates membership in good standing in the PPA or PIC at the time of the merger and thus by the agreement of the joint conference in October 1977, charter members.
*Note 4: Membership in 1968 only included in notes if group was not a charterer for both PPA/PIC and PFA.

References

External links

Official site

{{Greek Umbrella Organizations

Organizations established in 1978
Student societies in the United States
International student societies
Supraorganizations
Greek letter umbrella organizations

1978 establishments in the United States