About Kappa
"Kappa Kappa Gamma at its core is friendship, leadership and scholarship... an opportunity and experience for a lifetime."
Kappa Kappa Gamma was founded in 1870 by six young women, Mary Moore Stewart, Anna Elizabeth Willits, Susan Burley Walker, Hanna Jeanette Boyd, Mary Louise Bennett and Marta Louisa Stevenson at Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois. Since then, Kappa membership has grown to a total of more than 200,000 women with 131 collegiate chapters between the United States and Canada. Kappa Kappa Gamma is one of the oldest womens fraternities and continues to promote a broad college experience for young women across North America.
Kappa scholarship programs create an environment for academic excellence which emphasizes that each member reaches her highest academic goals. Along with promoting scholarship, Kappa Kappa Gamma is an association which encourages self-growth in a mutually supportive environment. These young women are able to take advantage of leadership abilities in the chapter, on campus and in the community.
A key value to the Kappa foundation is the belief in philanthropy and promoting awareness of the needs of others. Members of Kappa Kappa Gamma give back to not only the fraternity and their fellow sisters, but also to their local communities.
Kappa Symbols
The symbols of Kappa Kappa Gamma are the golden key, the fleur-de-lis, and the owl. These along with the colors of light and dark blue, are the visible signs of the fraternity which unite its members in a closer bond of sisterhood and friendship.
Kappa Firsts
- First of women's fraternities to turn from Grand Chapter form of organization to Grand Council organization (1881)
- First of women's fraternities to publish a magazine (1882)
- First to extend invitations to a Panhellenic Convention (1891)
- First women's fraternity to establish a Central Office (1922)
- First to adopt the Graduate Counselor system (established as Co-Organizer Program, 1928. Presently the Chapter Consultant Position)
- First to set up Service Women's Centers (1942)
- First women's fraternity to establish a permanent Fraternity Headquarters (1952)
- First to join with another sorority in a co-housing venture - with Kappa Alpha Theta at the University of Pittsburgh (1965)
Famous Kappas
Notably, over the past 100 years, Kappa has had a tradition of outstanding women who have continued on to achieve the highest of careers in many different fields such as the Arts, Athletics, Business and Journalism, Entertainment, Government, Philanthropy, Science and Education. These are just a few of the thousands of outstanding Kappa women.
- Ashley Judd (actress in Double Jeopardy)
- Kate Spade (Designer)
- Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill, USC)
- Jann Carl (Entertainment Tonight news anchor)
- Nancy O'Dell (anchor of Access Hollywood)
- Jane Pauley (Dateline NBC Host)
- Laurie Hickson-Smith (designer on TLC's Trading Spaces)
- Madelyn Davis (writer for "I Love Lucy" and "The Mother-In-Laws")
- Barbara Feldon (actress from "Get Smart")
- Jo Ann Woorley (actress from "Laugh In")
- Nancy Olson (starred in Disney's Pollyanna)
- Helen Warner Willer (played Nancy Hughes on "As the World Turns")
- Kelly Goldsmith (contestant from Survivor Africa)
- Annabeth Gish (actress from X-Files)
- Jean Bartel (former Miss America)
- Kate Jackson (one of the original Charlie's Angels)
- Jamie and Kendall (cast members of MTV's The Real World)
- Lucy Webb Hayes (wife of president Rutherford B. Hayes)
- Jane Swift (youngest governor of Massachusetts in 2001)
- Lou Henry Hoover (wife of President Hoover)
- Phyllis McGinley (past recipient of the Pulitzer Prize)
- Julia Ward Howe (author of Battle Hymn of the Republic)
- Donna Devarona (Olympic gold medal swimmer)
- Ruth Leach Pollack (first woman vice president of IBM)
- Adele Hall (of Hallmark cards & chairman of the Points of Light Foundation)
© 2005-Present | Kappa Kappa Gamma | Beta Delta Chapter | University of Michigan