About Mortar Board

Mortar Board, Inc. is a national honor society that recognizes college seniors for distinguished ability and achievement in scholarship, leadership, and service. These three virtues are symbolized by the Greek letters, Pi, Sigma, and Alpha, which appear on the Mortar Board logo. Mortar Board began in 1918 as the first national organization honoring senior college women. When the Society opened its membership to men in 1975, the organization maintained a tribute to the founders and its heritage by strengthening the Preamble to the Constitution by including a commitment to the advancement of the status of women.

Mortar Board is a national network that includes over 200 chapters, 50 alumni chapters, and 25 sections. After graduation, members are encouraged to keep their names and addresses current with the National Office. Since 1918, over 200,000 college seniors have been initiated into the Mortar Board tradition of scholarship, leadership, and service. We welcome you and invite you to share our tradition.

Mortar Board at the University of Michigan

The University of Michigan was one of the four founding universities to establish Mortar Board as a national organization honoring senior college women. Since then it has evolved to become a co-ed honor society with impressive accomplishments here at Michigan such as:

• The founding of the first all-female Residence Hall (Stockwell)
• Taking part in numerous community service projects
• Working on the AIDS quilt when it was brought to Ann Arbor
• Establishing a textbook exchange program
• Establishing Senior Days
• Founding Professors Reaching Out For Students (P.R.O.F.S.)
• Working with SAL to start the Student Organization Roundtable
• Sponsoring the Beyond the Classroom Walls educational program in residence halls
• Participating in the Adopt-A-Child program
• Holding a flower sale at Commencement ceremonies
• Co-sponsoring a fundraiser to raise money for Sept. 11th
• Working with the Detroit Project to serve the community
• Working with 826 Michigan to tutor and do a play-writing workshop with area children
• Adopting a Family

Preamble to the Mortar Board Constitution

We, the undersigned, recognizing the advantage of a national union of senior honor societies, do hereby unite to form a national society whose purpose shall be to facilitate cooperation among these societies, to contribute to the self-awareness of its members, to promote equal opportunities among all peoples, to emphasize the advancement of the status of women, to support the ideals of the university, to advance a spirit of scholarship, to recognize and encourage leadership, to provide service, and to establish the opportunity for a meaningful exchange of ideas as individuals and as a group.