New Sorority to Open at UW in Fall 2019

Beginning the fall 2019, the University of Wyoming will become home to a new sorority.

By a unanimous vote, UW’s Panhellenic Council voted Nov. 12 to approve a committee recommendation to officially invite Alpha Phi to campus.

“Alpha Phi is thrilled to join the thriving, unified Panhellenic Council at Wyoming,” says Renee Zainer, Alpha Phi international president. “We are really lucky to partner with the UW fraternity and sorority community, and look forward to fall 2019.”

The Panhellenic Council, which governs UW’s five current sororities, voted at the end of the spring semester to begin extension, which is the formal process for reviewing and selecting a new sorority. In the months since the initial vote, several organizations submitted proposals to the Panhellenic Extension Committee, and the committee narrowed the options to three organizations.

The three organizations each visited campus for a day during October and met with key stakeholders across campus, including the vice president for student affairs, dean of students and the Extension Committee, and toured potential housing options. During the evening of each of the visits, the three respective organizations gave presentations to crowds of 120-130 attendees about the organization’s values, affiliated charities, area alumni and long-term support plan, and then fielded questions from the attendees.

“I am so excited for Alpha Phi to join the Panhellenic and fraternity and sorority life community at the University of Wyoming, because not only are we growing and expanding our community, but we are getting the opportunity to add an organization that will add to the values that we hold in such high esteem,” says Panhellenic Council President MacKenzie Sewell, a member of Delta Delta Delta. “I cannot wait to see Alpha Phi thrive and become a valued member of the University of Wyoming sorority life.”

Alpha Phi was founded in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1886 by 10 of the first women admitted to the institution. Today, the organization has 171 chapters across the country, with the nearest chapter residing in Greeley, Colo. The sorority’s values are leadership, loyalty, character, scholarship, sisterhood and service.

The last National Panhellenic Conference sorority to begin at UW was Delta Gamma in 1982. Alpha Phi joins a long list of fraternal organizations to begin at the university, which started its fraternity and sorority community in 1903. While the community has seen numbers fluctuate over the decades, it has demonstrated growth in membership, educational programming, safety initiatives and charitable giving in recent years.

The strategic plans of UW’s Division of Student Affairs and UW Fraternity and Sorority Life call for UW’s sorority and fraternity population to grow from about 600 members at present to 1,000 by 2022.