Sigma Omicron Pi () is an Asian American interest

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 ...

. Founded in 1930 at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

, the college

social organization In sociology, a social organization is a pattern of relationships between and among individuals and social groups. Characteristics of social organization can include qualities such as sexual composition, spatiotemporal cohesion, leadership, s ...

has active chapters on twelve campuses in the United States. The stated objective of the sorority is to "further the awareness of women in

Asian culture The culture of Asia encompasses the collective and diverse customs and traditions of art, architecture, music, literature, lifestyle, philosophy, politics and religion that have been practiced and maintained by the numerous ethnic groups ...

" and "to promote unity, lifelong friendships, leadership, and

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...

History

In 1930, ten

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

women came together on the campus of

to form a sorority for women who were interested in teaching. They adopted the Greek letters ΣΟΠ or Sigma Omicron Pi to represent "Sisters of Pedagogy". It was the first Chinese sorority on that campus. Elizabeth Ling-so Hall was a founder and the sorority's first president. Sigma Omicron Pi expanded to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

campus in 1936. The main archive URL i
The Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage
The sorority became active in the Asian community. Annually, they held a fashion show to raise scholarship money with the UC Chinese Alumni Association. However, both chapters were forced to become inactive during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Sigma Omicron Pi was revived at the

in 1946. The educational focus fell away, changing to providing fellowship, philanthropy, and cultural awareness for and among Asian American women of many Asian backgrounds. In 1994, the sorority created an Inter-Chapter Council with six elected officers to help unite the various chapters.

Symbols

The sororities colors are green and gold. Its flower is the daisy and its jewel is the pearl.

Chapters

Active chapters are in bold. Inactive chapters are in ''italics''.

Notes

Notable alumni

Tiffany Lam Tiffany Lam or Tiffany Lam Man Lei (, born 25 October 1980) is a former beauty queen from San Francisco. She held the title of Miss Hong Kong 2002 and Miss Chinese International 2003 runner up. Early life Lam was born in Hong Kong in 1980. Durin ...

–

Miss Hong Kong The Miss Hong Kong Pageant (), or Miss HK () for short, is an annual beauty pageant organised by local Hong Kong television station, TVB. The pageant was established in 1946, and acquired by TVB in 1973. The current Miss Hong Kong is Denice La ...

2002,

Miss Chinese International Miss Chinese International Pageant (, formerly 國際華裔小姐競選), or MCI () for short, is an annual international beauty pageant, organized and broadcast by TVB, a network television station in Hong Kong. It was established in 1988 and th ...

2003 runner up, and TVB actress

References

{{Fraternities and Sororities , collapsed Student societies in the United States Asian-American culture in San Francisco Asian-American fraternities and sororities Student organizations established in 1930 1930 establishments in California