Alpha Zeta Chapter

History

Phi Sigma Pi Professional Honorary Fraternity was founded on February 14, 1916 by three faculty members of the Missouri State Teachers College at Warrensburg, which later became Central Missouri State University. The three founders, College President Eldo L. Hendricks, Dean Claude A. Phillips and Professor C. H. McClure sought to help a group of students with high academic standards create a national fraternal organization. Phi Sigma Pi was created to combine and fill the gaps between high academic, leadership and social organizations.

Phi Sigma Pi became a national fraternity on May 2, 1921 when the Gamma Chapter at Bradley Polytechnic Institute was founded. Strong leadership from early National Officers like Rolla Wood and Walter P. Percival enabled the fraternity to grow east across the nation and add another 13 chapters despite the effects of WWI. In 1942, WWII caused the 15 active Phi Sigma Pi chapters to shut down until 1946, when all but one were reactivated. But between 1950 and 1955 Phi Sigma Pi struggled due to a loss of national leadership and financial resources.

New hope and success began in 1955 as two new great leaders emerged. Dr. Richard C. Todd and Joseph Torchia led Phi Sigma Pi through the challenging 1960s and 1970s. On October 1, 1966 the fraternity name was changed to Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity and a new outlook for growth and revitalization was realized. The social climate of the late 1960s and early1970s was extremely difficult for all fraternities but Phi Sigma Pi managed to survive despite the Vietnam War and nationwide student unrest. In 1977, Phi Sigma Pi became co-educational with the honorary induction of Clauda Pennock Todd, wife of Dr. Richard C. Todd.

Since 1986, Phi Sigma Pi has thrived under strong leaders such as Steven A. DiGuiseppe and Jeffrey L. Johnson. Because of its unique structure, as neither a simple honor society, service organization or social fraternity, Phi Sigma Pi has become an asset to 26 universities nationwide by 1991. In 1988 the fraternity employed an office assistant and in 1991 employed a full-time Executive Director. Between 1988 and the present, Phi Sigma Pi has expanded and improved phenomenally.