At Duquesne University, our Office of Greek Life proudly supports more than 30 social, sorority and fraternity chapters, fraternal professional organizations and honor societies alike who encourage:

Duquesne greek life students

  • Lifetime membership
  • Academic excellence
  • Leadership
  • Community service
  • Strong friendships
  • Learning outside the classroom
  • Spiritual, intellectual and social growth

From sports to study breaks, the Greek community offers a number of benefits to its members. Along with its own intramural athletic league program, Greeks can hit the books with fellow members earning them a higher GPA than non-Greek students on average.

 

Greek Chapters at Duquesne

"There are the families that we are born into, and there are the families that we choose our circle of friends. While their faces may change over the course of our lives, the joy they bring us remains constant."

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More About Greek Life at Duquesne

When you go Greek, it's not like joining a regular club or activity. It isn't a case of just showing up for a meeting once a month or getting together for one event each semester.

With daily interaction and constant opportunities for leadership within the chapter, fraternities and sororities lay the groundwork for engaged citizenship and developing networking skills.

Brotherhood and Sisterhood

There are many popular terms connected with Greek Life, two of which are brotherhood and sisterhood. When you share rituals, traditions, and unforgettable experiences with your brothers and sisters, you truly develop a sense of family that's unlike any other. These relationships will be lifelong friendships.

A fraternity brother or sorority sister is someone who will encourage you to succeed, support you when things are going well, and listen when you are having problems, offering unconditional support.

At the heart of these friendships and interactions are the traditions within each chapter. Although each fraternity and sorority has different founding values, you'll find some words come up again and again in all Greek organizations:

  • Virtue
  • Scholarship
  • Ethics
  • Justice
  • Friendship

These strong basic beliefs have long been a part of college communities across the United States, and are key contributors to the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood that over seven million members have enjoyed.

Recruitment: Rush

To get to know members in Greek chapters, and decide which one to join, students can take part in recruitment. Our recruitment period known as "Rush", is when all fraternities and sororities host their membership drives.

At Duquesne, fall recruitment is for upper class and transfer students only. First-year students participate in spring recruitment.

Serving Others

Every Greek chapter has a philanthropic event such as the

  • 5K run/walk that benefits the DePaul School for Hearing and Speech
  • A soccer tournament that benefits the American Heart Foundation
  • A "White Rose Ball" that benefits the American Gold-Star Mothers Association

Greek Week

Greek Week, in spring semester, includes a series of weeklong competitions among the chapters, and concludes with the traditional Greek Sing. Greek Week has raised thousands of dollars to help charitable groups including a mission school in Ghana and several local foodbanks.

Community Involvement

Duquesne Greek students:

  • Serve as academic tutors and literacy coaches at community centers
  • Participate in several neighborhood clean-up initiatives
  • Organize blood and food drives each semester

It is our belief that when when we help the underprivileged and needy, we gain understanding and compassion for those who are less fortunate than ourselves.

Greeks sponsor social events that support philanthropies that include:

  • Carnival
  • Greek Week
  • Homecoming Week activities
  • Big Man On Campus
  • Water Wars
  • Snagged for Jimmy V Tournament
  • Pretty In Pink Brunch
  • Breast Cancer Awareness Month
  • Walk Miles for Smiles
  • Ultraviolet Games
  • Red Dress Gala
  • White Rose Ball
  • Valentine's Day Ball
  • Miss Duquesne Pageant
  • Monte Carlo Night

Sororities

Alpha Gamma Delta is an organization committed to contributing to the world's work through service, leadership, and individual empowerment. The Alpha Omega chapter sponsors two large-scale philanthropy events on Duquesne's campus, including The Hunger Games and Water Wars. All proceeds raised go to The Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation, which supports our two international partners: Meals on Wheels and Feeding America. Alpha Gamma Delta continues to be surrounded with successful, talented, and exceptional women who are committed to the values of the International Fraternity and the mission of our Alma Mater.

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Alpha Phi is an international women's fraternity with more than 250,000 sisters. The sisters of Alpha Phi Epsilon Iota participate in events throughout the year to better their sisterhood, advance their academic careers, and support their philanthropy. The sisters of Alpha Phi are involved in community engagement, participating in service as well as other Greekorganizations’ philanthropy events, and gaining leadership opportunities. . The Alpha Phi Foundation furthers funding and research for Women's Heart Health.  
The mission of AOII inspires members to stand at all times for character, dignity, scholarship, and college loyalty since 1887. These values enable them to go with character and confidence into the world, assured in knowing that AOII is ours, offering lifelong friendships and opportunities. Their philanthrophic efforts support the Arthritis Foundation and the Variety Foundation.  
Since the founding of the Beta Delta Chapter of Alpha Sigma Tau in 1971, the sisters of Alpha Sigma Tau strive to make their mark on Duquesne's campus. Their national philanthropy is Women's Wellness Initiative and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Each year our chapter holds the Miss Duquesne Pageant where clubs, sororities, and fraternities are invited to send members to compete for the title of Miss Duquesne.  

The sisters work every day to not only have a great sisterhood, but to be leaders in the Duquesne community.  

Since 1902, Delta Zeta has been enriching women’s lives at colleges and universities everywhere with nearly 270,000 members nationwide.  

Delta Zeta’s philanthropic focus is dedicated towards the speech & hearing impaired community, with our national partners including The Starkey Hearing Foundation, The American Society for Deaf Children, & The Painted Turtle Camp. In addition to this, the Kappa Xi chapter also supports the Speech and Hearing Clinic in Fisher Hall on Duquesne’s campus.  

Through their efforts to aid both the Greek Life community and Duquesne's campus communities, Delta Zeta helps each member live out the Duquesne mission statement daily by serving God through serving others.  

Gamma Phi Beta prides itself in having a sorority full of fun-loving, well-rounded women. Their sisterhood is found in campus leadership, school spirit, community service, and most of all, in their friendships.    The sisters of Gamma Phi Beta take pride in successes, including their achievements in philanthropic, academic, and social activities. 
Established in 2006, the Kappa Mu Chapter of Sigma Kappa Sorority has worked hard to establish a strong reputation on Duquesne's campus. Whether it is spending time together or performing community service at the local nursing homes, the sisters of Sigma Kappa always have a smile on their faces. Their philanthropies include Alzheimer's, the Sigma Kappa Foundation, Inherit the Earth, Gerontology, and the Maine Sea Coast Mission. 
Zeta Tau Alpha membership provides a built-in support system to help members navigate college life and beyond. New members will learn about the elements of ZTA: greatness, understanding, purpose, sisterhood, nobility.  

In 1992, ΖΤΑ adopted breast cancer education and awareness as its national philanthropy. The ZTA Foundation supports scholarships, educational programming, leadership development and philanthropy. Think Pink® efforts by ZTA support the fight against breast cancer by recognizing survivors at American Cancer Society® Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks, raising awareness through the distribution of pink ribbons at NFL A Crucial Catch® games, and educating through Bright Pink® Brighten Up® workshops.  The unique environment of ZTA housing provides positive opportunities and a welcoming home away from home. 

Fraternities

The Alpha Delta Fraternity is one of the oldest fraternities at Duquesne University. Formerly the Pi Chi Chapter of the Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity, the fraternity was chartered May 15, 1966 at Duquesne University and has been continuously active for over 60 years.  Due to a split ideology between the Duquesne Chapter and Alpha Phi Omega, Pi Chi Chapter seceded joining more traditional chapters across the country forming the Alpha Delta National Fraternity. Alpha Delta subsequently retained all of its local traditions, history, and alumni and has initiated over 500 local alumni at Duquesne University alone.

Community service is very important to Alpha Delta and the fraternity and its members organizes and participates in a variety of local community service and volunteer events including but not limited to its annual bathtub pull for charity, various local clean up initiatives at local parks and in the South Side, and the annual Pittsburgh Polar Plunge for the Special Olympics of Pennsylvania, among many others.

The Alpha Phi Delta Fraternity is a national Italian Heritage Fraternity, established on November 5, 1914, at Syracuse University. According to Alpha Phi Delta's constitution, this organization has been formed to conduct an all-volunteer staffed fraternal organization. 

This organization seeks to unite in fraternal bond college men of good character, stimulate good scholarship and good fellowship, promote loyalty to one's alma mater, bind members to the commitment of their membership oath, and provide service to the community and humanity. 

The Delta Chi Chapter at Duquesne University was chartered in 1994, and since then Delta Chi has grown to be the premier Greek organization at Duquesne University.  Delta Chi is a brotherhood, a commitment, and above all, a place to cultivate lasting friendships. The fraternity works closely with and raises money for several charitable organizations, including the Progeria Research Foundation, The Friends of Denang, the V Foundation for Cancer Research, and the Brashear Association.  
Gamma Phi is the oldest fraternity at Duquesne University and is the oldest and last remaining local fraternity in Pittsburgh. Founded on May 25th, 1916, Gamma Phi has served the Duquesne community for over 100 years; partnering with the Mary Queen of Peace Parish and the PA Lupus Foundation to make a lasting impact on the local community. Gamma Phi has a deep alumni network, connecting brothers with alumni from the past century who are located all across the country.. The Gamma Phi fraternity seeks to hold true to its historical roots, while adapting to the future to serve future generations in the Pittsburgh community.   
Sigma Alpha Epsilon was founded on March 9, 1856 at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa in order to promote the highest standards of scholarship, and service for their members based upon the ideals set forth by the Founders and as specifically enunciated in "The True Gentleman." On October 19, 1996, the Pennsylvania Xi chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon received its charter and to this date the chapter has initiated over 100 men and continues to grow strong. 
Sigma Nu is much more than a brotherhood; it is a group of gentlemen who have come from a variety of backgrounds with the goal of growth into better men. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Founders James Frank Hopkins, Greenfield Quarles and James McIlvaine Riley formed Sigma Nu shortly after Hopkins witnessed what he considered a hazing ritual by upperclassmen at the Virginia Military Institute. Sigma Nu's existence remained secret until the founders publicly announced their new society on the first day of January 1869, the accepted birthdate of Sigma Nu Fraternity. 
Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) was founded on January 10, 1899 at Illinois Wesleyan University. "Tekes" uphold the principles promoted by the Fraternity, and believe that the essential elements of true brotherhood are love, charity and esteem. Each member of TKE is provided with the resources that will help him achieve his personal best and prepare him for success after graduation. 

Office of Greek Life Staff

Karlie R. Hill, M.Ed.

Assistant Director

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