Professional fraternities, in the North American fraternity system, are organizations whose primary purpose is to promote the interests of a particular profession and whose membership is restricted to students in that particular field of professional education or study. This may be contrasted with service fraternities and sororities, whose primary purpose is community service, and general or social fraternities and sororities, whose primary purposes are generally aimed towards some other aspect, such as the development of character, friendship, leadership, or literary ability.
Professional fraternities are often confused with honor societies because of their focus on a specific discipline. Professional fraternities are actually significantly different from honor societies in that honor societies are associations designed to provide recognition of the past achievement of those who are invited to membership. Honor society membership, in most cases, requires no period of pledging, and new candidates may be immediately inducted into membership after meeting predetermined academic criteria and paying a one-time membership fee. Because of their purpose of recognition, most honor societies will have much higher academic achievement requirements for membership.
Professional fraternities, on the other hand, work to build brotherhood among members and cultivate the strengths of members in order to promote their profession and to provide assistance to one another in their mutual areas of professional study. Membership in a professional fraternity may be the result of a pledge process, much like a social fraternity, and members are expected to remain loyal and active in the organization for life. Within their professional field of study, their membership is exclusive; however, they may initiate members who belong to other types of fraternities.
The first professional fraternity was founded at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky in 1819: the Kappa Lambda Society of Aesculapius, established for the purpose of bringing together students of the medical profession. The fraternity lasted until about 1858.
Of the professional fraternities still in existence, the oldest is Phi Delta Phi founded at the University of Michigan in 1869; however, Phi Delta Phi changed its mission in 2012 to become an honor society for law school students.
Professional fraternities, in the United States fraternity system, are usually co-educational in accord with Federal Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (commonly referred to as "Title IX"). This federal law discourages discrimination on the basis of sex in any college or university receiving federal financial assistance. However, the membership practices of social fraternities and sororities are exempt from Title IX in section (A)(6)(a). The Department of Education (DOE) regulations adopted pursuant to Title IX also allow such an exception for "the membership practices of social fraternities and sororities." (34 C.F.R. Sec. 106.14(a)).
Prior to Title IX, many professional fraternities were all male and most professional sororities/women’s fraternities were all female. Several of these professional fraternities and sororities even considered themselves both professional and social organizations because they often emphasized the social aspects of their activities. During the ensuing years since the enactment of Title IX, single-sex professional fraternities and sororities became coeducational to conform to Title IX. Several organizations simply opened their membership both men and women. For example, Phi Chi (medicine) opened membership to women in 1973; Phi Beta (music and speech) opened membership to men in 1976; and Delta Omicron (music) opened membership to men in 1979. A few single-sex groups merged with other organizations, such as Phi Delta Delta, a women’s professional law fraternity, merged with Phi Alpha Delta (law) in 1972.
Despite the fact that Title IX was enacted in 1972, there continues to be professional fraternities and sororities or their chapters that have not become coeducational and therefore, do not conform to Title IX. Generally, these groups still claim to be both professional and social organizations, for instance, Alpha Gamma Rho (men in agriculture), Alpha Omega Epsilon (women in engineering), and Sigma Phi Delta (men in engineering).
It is interesting to note that a few social fraternities and sororities have membership practices of selecting their members primarily from students enrolled in particular majors or areas of study, including Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Sigma Rho, and Triangle. Nevertheless, these groups are social, rather than professional, organizations. Although they select members from students in a particular field of study, like a professional fraternity, they are single-sex social organizations because their purposes focus only on the social development of their members. Examples of groups that have been officially granted exemption from Title IX by the DOE to remain single-sex include Sigma Alpha Iota in 1981 and Phi Mu Alpha in 1983.
Many professional fraternities, particularly those of the highest esteem and reputation, are members of the Professional Fraternity Association (PFA). This group resulted in 1978 from a merger of the Professional Interfraternity Conference (PIC) (for men's groups) and the Professional Panhellenic Association (PPA) (for women's groups). In 2013, faced with an increase in campus policies that undermine the integrity of the professional fraternity experience, the PFA adopted a resolution against All Comers policies. The effect of the dissemination of All Comers policies on campuses is to dis-value discipline-specific fraternal organizations in the Professional Fraternity Association, and over time will likely lead to the generalization/socialization of PFA member groups.
ΚΠ - Kappa Pi - Art - co-ed international art fraternity
ΑΓΡ - Alpha Gamma Rho - agriculture - men's fraternity, not co-ed
ΑΓΣ - Alpha Gamma Sigma - agriculture; men's fraternity, not co-ed
ΑΖ - Alpha Zeta - agriculture; originally a men's fraternity, co-ed since 1972
ΔΘΣ - Delta Theta Sigma - agriculture; co-ed
ΣΑ - Sigma Alpha - agriculture; women's sorority, co-ed by chapter
ΑΚΨ - Alpha Kappa Psi - business; originally a men's fraternity, co-ed since 1976
ΔΣΠ - Delta Sigma Pi - business; originally a men's fraternity, co-ed since 1975
ΕΝΤ - Epsilon Nu Tau - entrepreneurship; co-ed
ΓΙΣ - Gamma Iota Sigma - insurance, risk management, actuarial sciences; co-ed
ΦΧΘ - Phi Chi Theta - business; originally a women's sorority, co-ed since 1976
ΦΓΝ - Phi Gamma Nu - business; originally a women's sorority, co-ed since 1974
ΠΣΕ - Pi Sigma Epsilon - marketing, sales; originally a men's fraternity, co-ed since 1974
ΣΑΣΜ - Sigma Alpha Sigma Mu - sport management; co-ed
ΧΡΣ - Chi Rho Sigma - chiropractic; co-ed
ΔΣΧ - Delta Sigma Chi - chiropractic; men's fraternity
ΠΚΧ - Pi Kappa Chi - chiropractic; men's fraternity
Engineering, architecture, and science
ΑΩΕ - Alpha Omega Epsilon - engineering; women's sorority, established November 13, 1983
ΑΡΧ - Alpha Rho Chi - architecture
ΑΣΚ - Alpha Sigma Kappa - Women in Technical Studies (WiTS) - architecture, engineering, mathematics, and sciences; women's social sorority, established May 1, 1989
ΚΗΚ - Kappa Eta Kappa - electrical and computer engineering
ΦΣΡ - Phi Sigma Rho - engineering and engineering technology; women's sorority, established 1984
ΣΦΔ - Sigma Phi Delta - engineering; men's fraternity, established April 11, 1924
ΘΤ - Theta Tau - engineering; founded October 15, 1904, largest, oldest, and foremost fraternity for engineers
ΔΘΦ - Delta Theta Phi - law - originally a men's fraternity, co-ed since 1971
ΚΑΠ - Kappa Alpha Pi - law; co-ed
ΦΑΔ - Phi Alpha Delta - law; co-ed
ΑΓΚ - Alpha Gamma Kappa - podiatry; co-ed
ΑΚΠ - Alfa Kappa Pi - medicine; Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico
ΑΩ - Alpha Omega - dentistry; co-ed
ΑΨ - Alpha Psi Fraternity - veterinary medicine
ΑΤΔ - Alpha Tau Delta - nursing; co-ed
BSK -Beta Sigma Kappa - Optometry
ΧΗΦ - Chi Eta Phi - nursing; primarily an African American women's sorority
ΔΕΜ - Delta Epsilon Mu - health
ΔΣΔ - Delta Sigma Delta - dentistry
ΕΨΕ - Epsilon Psi Epsilon - optometry; local fraternity at Ohio State University
ΚΓΔ - Kappa Gamma Delta - pre-medical
ΚΤΕ - Kappa Tau Epsilon - podiatry
ΜΕΔ - Mu Epsilon Delta - health
ΝΣΝ - Nu Sigma Nu - medicine
ΝΡΨ - Nu Rho Psi - neuroscience
ΩΤΣ - Omega Tau Sigma - veterinary medicine
ΩΥΦ - Omega Upsilon Phi - medicine; defunct after Phi Beta Pi 1934 merger; Alpha Chapter joined Phi Chi
ΦΑΓ - Phi Alpha Gamma - osteopathic medicine; merged with Phi Chi in 1948
ΦΑΣ - Phi Alpha Sigma - medicine
ΦΒΠ - Phi Beta Pi - medicine
ΦΧ - Phi Chi - medicine
ΦΔΕ - Phi Delta Epsilon - medicine
ΦΣΓ - Phi Sigma Gamma - men's osteopathic fraternity
ΦΡΣ - Phi Rho Sigma - medicine
ΠΜ - Pi Mu Honor Society - medicine; merged with Phi Chi in 1922
ΨΩ - Psi Omega - dentistry
ΣΜΔ - Sigma Mu Delta - pre-medical
ΣΦХ - Sigma Phi Chi - chiropractic women's sorority
ΘΚΨ - Theta Kappa Psi - medicine
ΞΨΦ - Xi Psi Phi - dentistry
Military, government, and foreign service
ΣΦΨ Sigma Phi Psi Military Sorority, Inc - current and former female members of the United States Armed Forces, Founded 2000
ΑΓΞ Alpha Gamma Xi - current and former female members of the United States Armed Forces (to include Women who have been granted Veteran Status), Founded 2014
ΔΦΕ - Delta Phi Epsilon - Foreign Service
ΚΕΨ - Kappa Epsilon Psi Military Sorority, Inc. - current and former female members of the United States Armed Forces, Founded 2011
ΚΛΧ - Kappa Lambda Chi Military Fraternity - current and former male members of the United States Armed Forces, Founded 2013
ΣΑΓ - Sigma Alpha Gamma Military Fraternity, Inc. - Current & former male members of US Armed Forces, Founded 2015
ΔΟΑ - Delta Omicron Alpha Military Sorority - Current and former female members of the United States Armed Forces, Founded 2016
ΠΡΣ - Pi Rho Sigma Military Society, Inc. - Current and former male members of the United States Armed Forces, Founded 2014
ΡΥΤ - Rho Upsilon Tau Military Sorority - Current and former female members of the United States Armed Forces, Founded 2016
ΘΝΨ - Theta Nu Psi Military Fraternity - Current and former male members of the United States Armed Forces, Founded 2017
Pershing Rifles - military fraternity
Pershing Angels - military sorority
Scabbard and Blade - military
ΔΟ - Delta Omicron - music; originally a women's sorority, co-ed since 1977
ΚΚΨ - Kappa Kappa Psi - band; originally a men's fraternity, co-ed since 1977
ΜΒΨ - Mu Beta Psi - music; originally a men's fraternity, co-ed since 1961
ΜΦΕ - Mu Phi Epsilon - music; originally a women's sorority, co-ed since 1977
ΦΜΑ - Phi Mu Alpha - music; originally a men's music social fraternity since 1898, was temporarily co-ed from 1976 to 1983, but has been all-male ever since. It revered back to a Social Fraternty in 1985 to align with its original founding.
ΠΝΕ - Pi Nu Epsilon - music; co-ed music fraternity founded 1927
ΣΑΙ - Sigma Alpha Iota - music; women's music fraternity since 1903, accepts honorary male members
ΤΒΣ - Tau Beta Sigma - band; originally a women's sorority, co-ed since 1977
ΓΞΦ - Gamma Xi Phi - literature, visual, and performing arts
ΔΧΞ - Delta Chi Xi - dance; co-ed fraternity
ΦΒ - Phi Beta - creative and performing arts
Pharmaceutical and pharmacological
ΑΖΩ - Alpha Zeta Omega - pharmacy; originally a men's fraternity, co-ed since the early 1970s
ΚΕ - Kappa Epsilon - originally a women's fraternity, now co-ed
ΚΨ - Kappa Psi - pharmacy; co-ed since the mid-1970s
ΛΚΣ - Lambda Kappa Sigma - pharmacy; originally a women's fraternity, co-ed since 1988
ΦΔΧ - Phi Delta Chi - pharmacy
ΡΠΦ - Rho Pi Phi - pharmacy
ΑΧΣ - Alpha Chi Sigma - chemistry; co-ed
ΑΗΡ - Alpha Eta Rho - aviation
ΒΨΩ - Beta Psi Omega - biology
ΔΚA - Delta Kappa Alpha - cinema
ΔΚΦ - Delta Kappa Phi - textiles
ΓΕΤ - Gamma Epsilon Tau - printing and digital media
ΚΔΠ - Kappa Delta Pi - education
ΚΠ - Kappa Pi - international honorary art fraternity
ΚΘΠ - Kappa Theta Pi - information technology professional fraternity, founded in 2012 at the University of Michigan
ΛΑΕ - Lambda Alpha Epsilon - the American Criminal Justice Association
ΟΔΕ - Omicron Delta Epsilon - economics
ΦΑΤ - Phi Alpha Tau - communicative arts
ΦΔΚ - Phi Delta Kappa - education sorority
ΦΣΠ - Phi Sigma Pi - national honor fraternity
ΠΜΕ - Pi Mu Epsilon - mathematics
ΖΦΗ - Zeta Phi Eta - communication arts and sciences
ΖΘΩ - Zeta Theta Omega - zoology
