Theta Kappa Psi

Theta Kappa Psi Medical Fraternity, Incorporated, (ΘΚΨ) is a North American professional medical fraternity. As of 2023, it operates as an independent local fraternity with one active chapter.

Theta Kappa Psi
ΘΚΨ
Badge of Theta Kappa Psi
Founded	May 30, 1879 (May 30, 1879) Russell Military Academy
Type	Professional
Affiliation	Independent
Former Affiliation	PFA PIC
Status	Active
Emphasis	Medical
Scope	Local (formerly International)
Colors	Green and   Gold
Flower	Red rose
Publication	The Messenger
Chapters	1
Headquarters	515 Post Office St Galveston, Texas 77550-5501 United States
Website	Theta Kappa Psi homepage

History

Kappa Psi

The Society of Kappa Psi was founded on May 30, 1879, at the Russell Military Academy, a prep school in New Haven, Connecticut. The founder was F. Harvey Smith. The second chapter was established at the Cheshire Military Academy in Cheshire, Connecticut on November 30, 1879. A third chapter was established at Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Connecticut on October 7, 1894. All three prep school chapters had dissolved by the mid-1890s.

The Society Kappa Psi was reorganized into Kappa Psi Fraternity on November 18, 1898, at the School of Medicine at the University of Maryland by former members of the Society of Kappa Psi. Leaders of this reorganization effort, now with a collegiate focus, were:

William C. Bennett Perry L. Boyer William F. Clark

James E. Cathill Edwin J. Frosher Thompson D. Gilbert

J. Dawson Reeder Press W. Ethridge F. Harvey Smith

Kappa Psi started as a medical and pharmaceutical fraternity with chapters chartered in both medical and pharmacy schools and colleges. The fraternity absorbed the Delta Omicron Alpha medical fraternity on November 17, 1917. On January 26, 1918, the fraternity absorbed the small national Phi Delta Medical Fraternity, adding eleven active chapters.

Theta Kappa Psi

At the 1924 Grand Council convention of Kappa Psi, the decision was made to separate the fraternity into two separate entities: one fraternity for medicine and one fraternity for pharmacy. The split was effective on January 15, 1925. The pharmacy fraternity retained the Greek name Kappa Psi, and the medical fraternity became Theta Kappa Psi. The fraternities both used May 30, 1879, as their date of founding.

The new fraternity assumed the name of Theta Kappa Psi Medical Fraternity, believing that the addition of the Greek letter Theta greatly enhanced its ritualistic significance. It adopted a constitution, ritual, coat of arms, insignia, badge, and pledge button. Its new constitution gave the national president the title of Grand Prytan, the national vice-president the title of Grand Vice-Prytan, and the Grand Secretary and Treasurer the titles of Grand Recorder and Bursar. The fraternity's quarterly journal was The Messenger.

Theta Kappa Psi Medical Fraternity began with 32 chapters. Four of these 32 chapters included both medical and pharmacy students. Nine of its 32 chapters were inactive. Within a short time, the revised ritual and constitution, along with the necessary forms, records, and updated charters were issued to the chapters.

Initially, the fraternity found progress very difficult since there were at least five strong national medical fraternities as competition. Also, many of the strong leaders of Kappa Psi were associated with pharmacy schools and had remained with the original fraternity.

The first officers of Theta Kappa Psi Medical Fraternity were:

• Ralph C. Williams, Grand Prytan
• Jabex H. Elliott, Grand Vice-Prytan
• A. Richard Bliss, Jr., Grand Recorder and Bursar
• Victor J. Anderson, Grand Registrar, and Editor
• Thomas Benton Sellers, Grand Counselor

Incorporation papers were filed for Theta Kappa Psi by Dr. M.I. Samuels, Delta chapter, Wilmington, Delaware; Dr. C. J. Harbordt, Epsilon chapter, Dover, Delaware; and W.O. Klienstuber, Beta Eta chapter, Wilmington, Delaware, on May 6, 1926. The incorporation was completed on May 7, 1926.

Following the reorganization, the Delta chapter struggled. The chapter depended upon transfers from other schools instead of working for themselves. The chapter also lacked leadership. It was necessary to withdraw the charter in 1930. Delta had furnished more Grand Officers than any other chapter and had always been the leader among chapters.

Beta Kappa chapter at Duke University, 1932.

The zenith of Theta Kappa Psi Medical Fraternity was in 1933. The national officers were Grand Prytan R.C. Williams; Grand Vice-Prytan J.H. Elliott; and Grand Recorder and Bursar A.G. Engelbach. With their leadership, the fraternity was weathering the Great Depression and had 35 collegiate and 25 graduate chapters. The year ended with an international convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey on December 27 through December 29, 1933.

Between 1935 and 1940, Theta Kappa Psi lost eleven chapters. By 1940, the fraternity had dropped to sixth place among national medical fraternities in the number of undergraduate chapters. The problems confronting Theta Kappa Psi were not unique, for two other national medical fraternities, Phi Alpha Sigma, and Alpha Mu Pi Omega also disappeared during the period. When World War II ended in 1945, Theta Kappa Psi comprised only twelve collegiate chapters.

In 1955, R.C. Williams chartered Mu Upsilon chapter in Miami, the first new collegiate chapter granted since 1944. Beta Epsilon chapter at Ohio State University was reactivated. The apparent rebirth of Theta Kappa Psi, however, was short-lived. By the fall of 1959, Theta Kappa Psi's chapter roll had dropped to six. Several frustrated national officers began negotiations with representatives of Phi Beta Pi Medical Fraternity for a merger.

Merger with Phi Beta Pi

The last national convention of Theta Kappa Psi convened on March 11, 1961, at the McAllister Hotel in Miami, Florida. During the meeting, a motion was made to merge with Phi Beta Pi Medical Fraternity and the motion passed. Theta Kappa Psi Fraternity, as a distinct national entity, passed into history.

Theta Kappa Psi was officially invited to merge with Phi Beta Pi upon the condition that Theta Kappa Psi would surrender its name, rolls, and treasury to the national Phi Beta Pi office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Chapters would be allowed to add the prefix Theta to their chapter designation. These conditions were accepted. Both fraternities were allowed to maintain certain of their original identification features.

The two Texas chapters of Theta Kappa Psi—Beta Phi chapter in Galveston and Psi chapter in Dallas—did not accept the merger. The thought of sacrificing the fraternity's name, history, and tradition was considered untenable to them. In the wake of this disgruntlement, the two Texas chapters and the Gamma Tau chapter at the University of Manitoba wrote a new constitution and named the seceding organization Theta Kappa Psi International Medical Fraternity. Legal action threatened by Phi Beta Pi concerning the use of the name, caused no meetings [in support of the possible schism] to be held after 1962.

The surviving chapters of Theta Kappa Psi followed diverse courses. Beta Epsilon chapter at Ohio State University continued as an independent local fraternity until 1964 when poor finances caused it to fold. Psi chapter at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center pledged members until 1968 as a local independent fraternity. Gamma Tau chapter at the University of Manitoba continued as an independent local fraternity until it became inactive in 1968. Beta Eta chapter at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia was an active chapter in Phi Beta Pi until 1966. At that time, the chapter lost all formal structure when it allowed non-members to live in its fraternity house.

In the 1960s, the Beta Phi chapter at the University of Texas Medical Branch emerged as the largest medical fraternity chapter in the nation with 130 members; it was operating as a local independent fraternity. The ritual, revised from the previous national initiation ceremony, was strictly followed. Gamma Kappa chapter at the Medical College of Georgia affiliated with Phi Beta Pi after the merger. In the 1960s, this chapter was extremely successful and built a new fraternity house in 1966. Although listed as a chapter of Phi Beta Pi, the group considered itself a member of Theta Kappa Psi.

In the spring of 1992, the merger of Phi Beta Pi and Theta Kappa Psi was dissolved. At the time of closing, there were nine active chapters in existence. Of the 59 chapters installed by Theta Kappa Psi, the Gamma Kappa chapter at the Medical College of Georgia was the last to remain active.

Symbols

Theta Kappa Psi adopted a new coat of arms, insignia, badge, and pledge button. The badge and coat of arms were designed by Richard Bliss. The badge is a black enamel shield with a raised gold caduceceus at its center. Above the caduceceus are the Greek leltters ΘΚΨ. At each of the three corners of the shield, there is a small emerald; the border of the badge may be jeweled. The insignia and pledge button were designed by R.C. Williams.

The fraternity's colors are gold and green. Its flower is the red rose.

Chapters

The fraternity had both collegiate and graduate chapters. Following is a list of Theta Kappa Psi collegiate chapters. Active chapters are indicated in bold. Inactive chapters are in italic.

Number	Chapter	Charter date and range	Institution	Location	Status	References
1.	Alpha	1879–xxxx ?	Grand Chapter		Inactive
2.	Mu Sigma Alpha	1900–1940	University of Michigan	Ann Arbor, Michigan	Inactive
3.	Delta	1898–1931	University of Maryland, College Park	College Park, Maryland	Inactive
4.	Beta	1900–1913	Medical College of Virginia	Richmond, Virginia	Inactive
5.	Chi	1901–1916	University of Illinois	Urbana, Illinois	Inactive
6.	Epsilon	1901–1914	Maryland Medical College	Baltimore, Maryland	Inactive
7.	Phi Delta	1901–1950	Long Island College of Medicine, now SUNY	Brooklyn, New York	Inactive
8.	Zeta	1902–1942	Georgetown University	Washington, D.C.	Inactive
9.	Beta Epsilon	1903–1943, 1960–1964	Ohio State University	Columbus, Ohio	Inactive
10.	Beta Pi	1905–1904	Sioux City Medical	Sioux City, Iowa	inactive
11.	Beta Xi	1905–1910	University Medical Cornell ?	Ithaca, New York	Inactive
12.	Beta Zeta	1905–1912	Washington University in St. Louis	St. Louis, Missouri	Inactive
13.	Gamma	1905–19xx ?	Albany Medical College	Albany, New York	Inactive
14.	Gamma Eta	1905–1907	Michigan M & S	Detroit, Michigan	Inactive
15.	Iota	1905–1920	University of Alabama School of Medicine	Tuscaloosa, Alabama	Inactive
16.	Kappa	1906–1913	Birmingham Medical College	Birmingham, Alabama	Inactive
17.	Lambda	1907–1919	Vanderbilt University	Nashville, Tennessee	Inactive
18.	Nu	1907–1914	Medical University of South Carolina	Charleston, South Carolina	Inactive
19.	Kappa Phi	1908–19xx ?	University of Minnesota	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Inactive
20.	Omicron	1908–1911	University of Nashville	Nashville, Tennessee	Inactive
21.	Pi	1908–19xx ?	Tulane University	New Orleans, Louisiana	Inactive
22.	Xi	1908–1914	West Virginia University	Morgantown, West Virginia	Inactive
23.	Rho	1909–1953	Emory University	Atlanta, Georgia	Inactive
24.	Sigma	1909–1915	Baltimore P & S	Baltimore, Maryland	Inactive
25.	Tau	1909–1942	University of Southern California	Los Angeles, California	Inactive
26.	Omega	1910–1915	Southern Methodist University	University Park, Texas	Inactive
27.	Psi	1910–19xx ?	Southwestern Medical	Dallas, Texas	Inactive
28.	Beta Eta	1912–1966	Jefferson	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Inactive
29.	Beta Lambda	1913–19xx ?	George Washington University	Washington, D.C.	Inactive
30.	Beta Mu	1913–19xx ?	University of Louisville	Louisville, Kentucky	Inactive
31.	Beta Theta	1913–1943	University of Tennessee	Knoxville, Tennessee	Inactive
32.	Upsilon	1915–1939	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Chapel Hill, North Carolina	Inactive
33.	Beta Rho	1917–19xx ?	Loyola University Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	Inactive
34.	Beta Sigma	1917–1918	Ft. Worth Medical	Fort Worth, Texas	Inactive
35.	Beta Tau	1917–1924	Marquette University	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Inactive
36.	Beta Phi	1918	University of Texas Medical Branch	Galveston, Texas	Active
37.	Beta Chi	1919–1928	University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati, Ohio	Inactive
38.	Gamma Delta	1919–1924	University of Wisconsin–Madison	Madison, Wisconsin	Inactive
39.	Beta Omega	1920–1926	Johns Hopkins University	Baltimore, Maryland	Inactive
40.	Gamma Gamma	1920–19xx ?	Columbia University	New York City, New York	Inactive
41.	Gamma Kappa	1920–19xx ?	University of Georgia	Chicago, Illinois	Inactive
42.	Gamma Theta	1920–1928	Tufts University	Medford, Massachusetts	Inactive
43.	Gamma Zeta	1920–1940	University of Toronto	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	Inactive
44.	Gamma Lambda	1921–1929	University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Inactive
45.	Gamma Mu	1921–1949	University of Oregon	Eugene, Oregon	Inactive
46.	Gamma Nu	1921–19xx ?	Harvard University	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Inactive
47.	Gamma Xi	1922–1929	St. Louis	St. Louis, Missouri	Inactive
48.	Gamma Pi	1923–19xx ?	Wake Forest University	Winston-Salem, North Carolina	Inactive
49.	Gamma Rho	1923–1949	University of Arkansas	Fayetteville, Arkansas	Inactive
50.	Gamma Sigma	1923–19xx ?	NYU and Bellevue Hospital Medical College	New York City, New York	Inactive
51.	Gamma Tau	1923–1968	University of Manitoba	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada	Inactive
52.	Gamma Upsilon	1924–1944	Indiana University Bloomington	Bloomington, Indiana	Inactive
53.	Beta Gamma	1926–19xx ?	University of Mississippi	Oxford, Mississippi	Inactive
54.	Eta	1928–1930	Rush Medical College	Chicago, Illinois	Inactive
55.	Beta Nu	1929–1944	McGill University	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	Inactive
56.	Beta Kappa	1930–19xx ?	Duke University	Durham, North Carolina	Inactive
57.	Beta Iota	1931–1943	Louisiana State University	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Inactive
58.	Phi	1931–19xx ?	Northwestern University	Evanston, Illinois	Inactive
59.	Gamma Phi	1942–1950	Baylor University	Waco, Texas	Inactive

See also

• Professional fraternities and sororities
• List of Kappa Psi chapters

External Links

• Theta Kappa Psi homepage