Delta Phi Omega

Delta Phi Omega
ΔΦΩ
Founded	December 6, 1998 (1998-12-06) University of Houston
Type	Cultural
Affiliation	NAPA
Status	Active
Emphasis	South Asian interest
Scope	National
Motto	“We Dreamt, We Saw, We Conquered”
Colors	Red,   Black, and   Silver
Flower	White orchid
Jewel	Red ruby, diamond
Mascot	Bengal tiger
Philanthropy	Children’s education and literacy
Chapters	25
Colonies	26
Nickname	DPO
Purpose	The purpose of Delta Phi Omega shall be to foster unity among South Asian women, build community awareness, and gain a greater understanding of oneself and others. The sorority aspires to instill leadership traits, excel in all academic endeavors, to encourage an active relationship between the sorority and its respective university, and shall do so with the utmost compassion, dignity, and fortitude.
Headquarters	2020 Bailey Street Houston, Texas 77006 United States
Website	Official website

Delta Phi Omega (commonly referred to as DPO, or ΔΦΩ) is a nationally-based, South Asian-interest, multicultural sorority in the United States, with over 2,600 sisters in twenty-five chapters and twenty-six colonies across the nation. It is categorized as a social, service and philanthropy-based Greek letter organization whose main focus is to empower women and promote cultural awareness through involvement with their universities and communities. It has joined organizations such as the National APIDA Panhellenic Association (NAPA) to better convey its efforts to promote the greater good alongside other communities. Delta Phi Omega Sorority, Inc. is the largest South Asian interest-based sorority in the nation.

Origin

On December 6, 1998, sixteen South Asian women formed Delta Phi Omega at the University of Houston. The sixteen Honorable National Founding Mothers are:

• Simran Bakshi-Guiterrez
• Heena Bhakta-Palmer
• Leena Cherian-Joseph
• Bonna Choudhari
• Rita Dhanani-Rauniyar
• Anita Jari-Kharbanda
• Amitha Nikam-Verma
• Avni Patel
• Jesika Patel
• Jolly Patel
• Shevon Patel
• Sonal Amit Patel
• Arati Shah
• Deepa Swamy-Kurian
• Manisha Vakharia-Patel
• Sarika Wadhawan

Delta Phi Omega was envisioned as an organization that would focus on the diverse Indian culture through participation in various community and service projects, promote the advancement of South Asian women, and unite women in the South Asian community. Its pillars are sisterhood, honesty, loyalty, respect, and friendship.

The sorority's annual national initiatives are "Be The Change" National Community Partner and Literacy Through Unity Week. The annual Literacy Through Unity Week raises awareness of children’s education and literacy, along with fundraising at the respective universities and cities to support related charities. Events associated with Literacy Through Unity Week include community service projects, movie nights, books and panel discussions, fundraising nights, and Informationals by nonprofit organizations such as Asha for Education, Pratham, and CARE.

Organization

In 2001, sisters foresaw a rapid expansion of Delta Phi Omega and recognized the need for a central governing body. Therefore they founded the first National Council of Delta Phi Omega on February 1, 2002, which became the administrative entity of the sorority. The National Council ensures the continuity of the original purpose, mission, and ideals of the National Founding Mothers. Its functions also include handling matters of controversy, coordinating national-level programs, and overseeing chapter compliance with national policies. Each year at the national conference women are elected to the National Council, board, and regional director positions.

After National Council the next tier is the National Board, which is made up of positions that are more geared towards expansion and maintaining the sorority on an organizational level, keeping records, and ensuring everything continues to run smoothly and professionally.

Following National Board are Regional Directors. Delta Phi Omega is currently divided into nine regions, with each region consisting of about four to nine schools. The final tier is an Alumna Advisor, which each charter has.

Chapters

These are the chapters and charters of Delta Phi Omega. Active chapters and charters are listed in bold; inactive chapters and charters are in italics.

Chapter	Chartered/Range	Institution	Location	Region	Status	Reference
Alpha	December 6, 1998	University of Houston	Houston, Texas	Gulf Coast	Active
Beta	May 17, 1999	University of Texas at San Antonio	San Antonio, Texas	Gulf Coast	Active
Gamma	March 17, 2000	Philadelphia Citywide	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Northeast	Active
Delta	November 4, 2001	DePaul University	Chicago, Illinois	Midwest	Active
Eta	November 11, 2001	Florida International University	Miami, Florida	Florida	Active
Epsilon	April 13, 2002	University of Texas at Austin	Austin, Texas	Gulf Coast	Active
Zeta	May 4, 2002	University of Maryland, College Park	College Park, Maryland	Mid Atlantic	Active
Theta	September 14, 2002	University of Oklahoma	Norman, Oklahoma	Southeast	Active
Kappa	January 11, 2003	Virginia Commonwealth University	Richmond, Virginia	Mid Atlantic	Active
Iota	January 25, 2003	Northeastern University	Boston Massachusetts	Northeast	Active
Pace University charter	May 10, 2003	Pace University	Pleasantville, New York	New England	Active
			New York City, New York
Sigma	April 13, 2003	University of Florida	Gainesville, Florida	Florida	Active
University of Texas at Arlington charter	July 12, 2003	University of Texas at Arlington	Arlington, Texas	Southwest	Active
University of Washington charter	September 21, 2003	University of Washington	Seattle, Washington	Pacific	Active
Stony Brook University charter	April 14, 2004	Stony Brook University	Stony Brook, New York	New England	Active
Penn State University charter	May 6, 2004	Penn State University	University Park, Pennsylvania	Northeast	Active
University of North Texas charter	August 28, 2004	University of North Texas	Denton, Texas	Southwest	Active
Texas Women's University charter		Texas Women's University
Lambda	October 17, 2004	University of South Florida	Tampa, Florida	Florida	Active
Mu	April 17, 2005	University of Illinois at Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	Midwest	Active
New Jersey Institute of Technology charter	July 11, 2005	New Jersey Institute of Technology	Newark, New Jersey	Northwest	Active
University of Maryland, Baltimore County charter	July 27, 2005	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	Baltimore, Maryland	Mid Atlantic	Active
University of California, San Diego charter	December 3, 2005	University of California, San Diego	San Diego, California	Pacific	Active
Nu	May 28, 2006	Oregon State University	Corvallis, Oregon	Pacific	Active
Pi	October 2, 2006	Texas A&M University	College Station, Texas	Gulf Coast	Active
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill charter	October 20, 2006	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Chapel Hill, North Carolina	Mid Atlantic	Active
Purdue University charter	March 3, 2007	Purdue University	West Lafayette, Indiana	Midwest	Inactive
Xi	July 28, 2007	University of Tennessee	Knoxville, Tennessee	Southeast	Active
Omicron	July 14, 2009	University of Georgia	Athens, Georgia	Southeast	Active
Indiana University at Bloomington charter	April 15, 2009	Indiana University Bloomington	Bloomington, Indiana	Midwest	Active
Boston University charter	May 8, 2009	Boston University	Boston Massachusetts	New England	Active
Baylor University charter	September 30, 2009	Baylor University	Waco, Texas	Guld Coast	Active
Emory University charter	November 21, 2009	Emory University	Atlanta, Georgia	Southeast	Active
University of California, Davis charter	February 24, 2010	University of California, Davis	Davis, California	Pacific	Active
University of Rochester charter	April 25, 2010	University of Rochester	Rochester, New York	New England	Active
Upsilon	August 2, 2010	Rutgers University–New Brunswick	New Brunswick, New Jersey	Northeast	Active
Rho	January 8, 2011	University of Alabama at Birmingham	Birmingham, Alabama	Southeast	Active
Phi	January 30, 2011	Wayne State University	Detroit, Michigan	Midwest	Active
University of Miami charter	March 30, 2011	University of Miami	Coral Gables, Florida	Florida	Active
Alpha Alpha	May 1, 2011	University of Minnesota	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Midwest	Active
George Mason University charter	November 11, 2011	George Mason University	Fairfax, Virginia	Mid Atlantic	Active
Tau	October 23, 2011	Georgia State University	Atlanta, Georgia	Southeast	Active
East Carolina University charter	April 14, 2012	East Carolina University	Greenville, North Carolina	Mid Atlantic	Active
Psi	September 7, 2012	University of Central Florida	Orlando, Florida	Florida	Active
Alpha Gamma	February 18, 2013	Texas Tech University	Lubbock, Texas	Southeast	Active
Chi	April 20, 2013	Rutgers University-Newark	Newark, New Jersey	Northeast	Active
Alpha Beta	April 21, 2014	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	Urbana, Illinois	Midwest	Active
College of William & Mary charter	November 6, 2016	College of William & Mary	Williamsburg, Virginia	Mid Atlantic	Active
Binghamton University charter	November 12, 2016	Binghamton University	Binghamton, New York	Northeast	Active
University of Connecticut charter	November 11, 2017	University of Connecticut	Storrs, Connecticut	New England	Active
University of South Carolina charter	March 8, 2019	University of South Carolina	Columbia, South Carolina	Mid Atlantic	Active
Ohio State University charter	November 17, 2019	Ohio State University	Columbus, Ohio	Midwest	Active
Hofstra University charter	May 1, 2020	Hofstra University	Hempstead, New York	Northeast	Active
Adelphi University charter	April 11, 2021	Adelphi University	Garden City, New York	Northeast	Active
Saint Louis University charter	April 30, 2021	Saint Louis University	St. Louis, Missouri	Midwest	Active
City College of New York charter	May 23, 2021	City College of New York	New York City, New York	Northeast	Active
Syracuse University charter	November 16, 2022	Syracuse University	Syracuse, New York	New England	Active

See also

• List of social fraternities and sororities