Zeta Phi Eta () is a national
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 ...
in Communication Arts and Sciences founded on October 10, 1893. It is recognized as the oldest professional fraternity for women, though membership is now co-ed.
History
Zeta Phi Eta was founded in 1893 as the first professional Communications fraternity at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
in Evanston Illinois. The organization began in when Edith deVore conceived the idea of a club exclusively for students of the School of Oratory (later the
School of Communication). DeVore was joined by Molly Connor, Laurine Wright, Maude Newell, and Leila Little, and the group called itself the "F.O.E. club", vowing to be a Friend of Each, Each Our Friend. The women held secret meetings before receiving formal approval for the Zeta Phi Eta
sorority
Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America.
Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradua ...
in 1894 from Dr. Cumnock, Dean of the School of Oratory.
![Zeta Phi Eta Founders](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Zeta_Phi_Eta_Founders.png)
The Fraternity was incorporated on under the laws of the State of Illinois.
Reflecting the organization’s status as a professional, rather than an honorary or social, society, the charter proclaims, “This society is to promote a greater excellence in oratorical and dramatic art, and to develop a social interest and a stronger friendship toward each other.”
In 1908, the fraternity began to expand when a Zeta at Northwestern corresponded with a friend at
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands ( Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a ...
of Oratory in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
, who belonged to an organization with similar values and goals, Phi Eta Sigma. When the two chapters affiliated under the name of Zeta Phi Eta, Alpha chapter status was bestowed upon the Emerson organization.
The cameo and pearl pin of Alpha became the official badge, and the shield and torch of Beta, the coat of arms.
During the 1910s and 1920s, campus and
alumnae
Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
chapters grew quickly at institutions around the country. The fraternity first published CAMEO in 1913, a national magazine which continues to be published quarterly.
In 1941, total membership of the fraternity was reported to be approximately 3,000 women across nineteen collegiate chapters and fifteen alumnae chapters. Since 1950 the fraternity broadened its focus in the speech arts, to include communications arts and sciences.
In 1955, the Zeta Phi Eta Foundation was established to contribute to "worthy speech and drama projects". One long-term project initiated by the Zeta alumnae in 1960 was a full-scale nationwide tape recording program for the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
, recording tapes of published works for access by blind patrons.
Another national project, Graduate Assistantship Opportunities, was designed to provide professional guidance to senior members of campus chapters upon entering graduate school.
Affiliations over the years have included:
*The
American Theatre Association
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
*The
Professional Panhellenic 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, me ...
now the
PFA
*The
Speech Communications Association
*The
Children's Theatre Association
Purpose
The Fraternity identifies four mission statements which guide its operations:
# To band together individuals committed to high standards in communication arts and sciences;
# To provide opportunities for sharing professional interests through participation in worthwhile activities in the fields of communication;
# To provide a climate in which members may develop sound professional philosophies; and
# To stimulate and encourage all worthy enterprises in the communication fields.
Membership
While originally established as a women-exclusive sorority, Zeta Phi Eta began extending its membership to male students in 1975.
Since its founding, Zeta Phi Eta membership has expanded to welcome undergraduate and graduate students focusing on a wide range of communications-related fields. These include:
*
Journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
*
Public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
*
Graphic design
Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...
*
Photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
*
Speech pathology
Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...
*
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
*
Marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
*
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
and
creative writing
Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...
*
Language studies
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
*
Political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
Symbol and traditions
The Fraternity's colors are Rose and White.
The Fraternity flower is the "
La France Rose."
The Fraternity badge is a rose-colored
cameo upon which is carved the letter name of the Fraternity in white, surrounded by 23 pearls.
The Fraternity magazine is the ''Cameo'', along with occasionally a ''Prospectus'' and ''Pledge Manual''.
Notable Members and Alumnae
*
![Ethel Waters](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Ethel_Waters.png)
Winifred Ward
Winifred Louise Ward (October 29, 1884August 16, 1975) was a professor at Northwestern University most notable for having done significant work in the field of children's theatre and pioneering the idea of creative dramatics.
Early life and edu ...
- founder of the Children’s Theatre of Evanston (Beta Chapter)
* Marcelline Hemingway Sanford - sister of author
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
(Beta Chapter)
* Louise Starkey, Isobel Carothers, and Helen King - creators and stars of the 1930’s
WGN radio program, “
Clara, Lu and Em” (Beta Chapter)
*
Madge Evans
Madge Evans (born Margherita Evans; July 1, 1909 – April 26, 1981) was an American stage and film actress.Obituary ''Variety'', April 29, 1981. She began her career as a child performer and model.
Biography
Child model and stage actress
B ...
- American stage and film actress (honorary member)
*
Jessica Tandy
Jessie Alice Tandy (7 June 1909 – 11 September 1994) was a British-American actress. Tandy appeared in over 100 stage productions and had more than 60 roles in film and TV, receiving an Academy Award, four Tony Awards, a BAFTA, a Golden Glob ...
- British-American actress (honorary member)
*
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her not ...
- American singer and actress (honorary member)
*
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923April 5, 2008) was an American actor and political activist.
As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film ''The Ten C ...
- American actor and political activist (honorary member)
Active Chapters
There are currently six active campus chapters of Zeta Phi Eta. Listed by date of founding, campus chapters are located at the following schools.
[Zeta Phi Eta']
List of Installed Campus Chapters
accessed 7 Nov 2021. Active chapters noted in bold, inactive chapters in ''italics'':
Notes
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 1893
Professional fraternities and sororities in the United States
Former members of Professional Fraternity Association
1893 establishments in Illinois