Theta Nu Xi

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Theta Nu Xi
ΘΝΞ
Founded	April 11, 1997; 24 years ago (April 11, 1997) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Type	Social
Affiliation	NMGC
Scope	National
Motto	Sisters of Diversity, Together as ONE
Colors	Lavender, Carolina blue and black
Symbol	Butterfly
Flower	Sterling Silver Rose
Philanthropy	Girl Up
Chapters	60
Official butterfly	Tiger swallowtail
tenants	Scholarship, Service, Sisterhood, Leadership, & Multiculturalism
Headquarters	129 37th Street, Ste #403 Union City, NJ 07087 USA
Website	Official website

Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority, Inc. (ΘΝΞ) is a historically multicultural sorority founded on April 11, 1997, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, by seven women who sought to bridge cultural gaps. Theta Nu Xi was incorporated on April 29, 1999.

In 2001, Theta Nu Xi launched a for-profit Graduate, Alumnae and Professional (GAP) Program.^{[citation needed]}

History^[1][]

Theta Nu Xi was founded during a time when cultural Greek organizations began to proliferate on campuses across the United States. Theta Nu Xi was the first multicultural sorority founded in the Southeastern United States. The sorority has since grown to more than sixty chapters and colonies in over 20 years of existence.

In the spring of 1996, Melissa Jo Murchison-Blake sought a sisterhood that openly embraced all women and crossed cultural boundaries. As a bi-racial woman, she did not want to choose between historically Caucasian or African-American sororities. Murchison-Blake felt that if she did choose one, she would be denying half of her heritage.

Murchison-Blake recruited six other women who would become the national founders of Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority. In the early days of its existence, the sorority met resistance from its campus of founding. The Director of Greek Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill advised the national founders to consider joining an existing organization, expressing his concern that a new Greek organization based on the principle of multiculturalism, would not survive at UNC. Despite such resistance, the national founders' continued efforts set the stage for Theta Nu Xi's presence in the Greek, non-Greek, and surrounding communities.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill officially recognized Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority as the Alpha chapter on April 11, 1997. To commemorate the end result of their perseverance, the national founders - now known as the Founding Monarchs - acknowledged April 11, 1997 as the official founding date of the organization. With the collaborative efforts of the Founding Monarchs and the initiates of spring 1998, the organization grew exponentially.

The earliest members of Theta Nu Xi addressed an immediate need to develop an official process of expansion which would support new entities as well as serving the interests of the sorority. Under the visionary guidance of Anna Lamadrid, two new chapters of the sorority were founded in the spring of 1999 - one at North Carolina State University and one at UNC Greensboro. The three groups of women designated themselves Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, respectively, and thus the national organization was born.

The Sorority incorporated on April 29, 1999 and with the participation of the Alpha chapter and Beta and Gamma Colonies, the National Organization was established at the first annual National Convention on August 21, 1999. The first out-of-state expansion effort resulted in the founding of a chapter Utah State University in the spring of 2000.

Graduate, Alumnae, and Professional (GAP) Program^[2][]

In the first national constitution, the earliest members of Theta Nu Xi had laid the foundation for an active post-graduate status. On July 19, 2000, 16 women petitioned the National Board to be granted status as an Alumnae chapter. These women requested that a structure be put in place that would allow post-collegiate members the ability to participate fully in Sorority activities and the National Organization while a more complete structure was being developed. The National Board granted the 16 pioneers the equivalent of chapter status, allowing them to send representatives to the 2000 National Convention.

At this Convention, on behalf of the Alumnae chapter, Soror Jerri Kallam submitted a resolution to establish Alumnae Chapter Standards. During the same meeting, Soror Amanda Greene, representing the Alpha chapter, submitted a resolution to create a committee to examine the role of alumnae and professional membership. These resolutions were adopted and a committee was created. This committee, composed of Sorors Jerri Kallam, Christie Aden, Shannon Stewart and Melissa Murchison-Blake, was charged with refining and further developing the name, structure and important documents relating to alumnae and professional membership and so sparked the development of an official Graduate, Alumnae and Professional Program.

At the 2001 National Convention, the alumnae committee submitted a GAP policy along with supporting documents. Through the advocacy of this committee and the success of the program as evidenced by the GAP-initiated women present at Convention, the GAP Program was officially established and became the first of its kind for multicultural sororities. Founding Monarchs Melissa Murchison-Blake and Janelle Poe, along with Sorors Holly Woodard and Rebecca Treherne, officially chartered the first GAP chapter on April 11, 2002.

Being the first multicultural sorority to offer an established Graduate, Alumnae and Professional Program, Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority, Inc. began receiving numerous inquiries from interested women. As more women were initiated at this level, and as undergraduate members graduated, the GAP program became a crucial component of the Sorority's structure.

GAP women now serve on the National Board, support the undergraduate sisterhood as advisors, and participate in all aspects of Sorority operations including expansion teams, national committees, ONEVision - the official Sorority newsletter, and more.

Founding Monarchs^[3][]

• Geeta Nadia Kapur
• Natalie Nicole Barker
• Peggy Virginia Long
• Melissa Jo Murchison-Blake
• Brenda Imade Eribo
• Katherine Ellen Stanley
• Janelle Kalia Poe

Values^[4][]

The mission of Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority, Inc. is to promote leadership, multiculturalism, and self-improvement through academic excellence, involvement in and service to the campus and community, as well as being living examples of sisterhood across different races, cultures, religions, backgrounds, and lifestyles.

The tenets of the Sorority are Scholarship, Service, Sisterhood, Leadership, and Multiculturalism.

The motto of the Sorority is "Sisters of Diversity, Together as ONE".

The objectives of the sorority are to incorporate separate cultures into one life, to build self-esteem through sisterhood, to participate in service activities, especially those concerning diversity in the community, to encourage academic excellence and overall self-improvement, and to promote unity among Greek organizations.

Structure[]

Regions^[5][]

Undergraduate chapters[]

Chapters of Theta Nu Xi:^[6]

• Alpha chapter - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [1] - Apr 11, 1997
• Beta chapter - North Carolina State University [2] - Mar 31, 1999
• Gamma chapter - University of North Carolina at Greensboro [3] - Apr 21, 1999
• Delta chapter - Duke University [4] - Apr 14, 2000
• Epsilon chapter - Utah State University [5] - Apr 22, 2000
• Zeta chapter - Georgia State University [6] - Dec 10, 2000
• Eta chapter - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) [7] - Feb 25, 2001
• Iota chapter - University of Utah [8] - Feb 24, 2001
• Kappa chapter - Texas A&M University [9] - Commerce - Apr 1, 2001
• Lambda chapter - Florida State University [10] - July 28, 2001
• Mu chapter - University of Arizona [11] - Dec 2, 2001
• Nu chapter - University of Pittsburgh [12] - Apr 14, 2002
• Omicron chapter - University of Houston [13] - Dec 4, 2002
• Pi chapter - University of Virginia [14] - Dec 7, 2002
• Rho chapter - Muhlenberg College [15] - Apr 27, 2003
• Sigma chapter - Syracuse University [16] - Nov 1, 2003
• Tau chapter - Arizona State University [17] - Nov 8, 2003
• Upsilon chapter - Indiana University, Bloomington [18] - May 2, 2004
• Phi chapter - University of Texas at Austin [19] - Austin - Oct 17, 2004
• Chi chapter - Columbia University [20] - Nov 20, 2004
• Psi chapter - University of New Mexico [21] - May 2, 2005
• Alpha Alpha chapter - University of Florida [22] - June 4, 2005
• Alpha Beta chapter- Wayne State University [23] - July 8, 2005
• Alpha Gamma chapter - The College of New Jersey [24] - Dec 3, 2005
• Alpha Delta chapter - East Carolina University [25] - April 14, 2006
• Alpha Epsilon chapter - University of Michigan [26] - December 9, 2006
• Alpha Zeta chapter - University of Colorado at Boulder [27] - November 8, 2008
• Alpha Eta chapter - University of Texas at El Paso [28] - March 21, 2009
• Alpha Theta chapter - Ramapo College [29] - April 3, 2009
• Alpha Iota chapter - SUNY Plattsburgh [30] - April 10, 2010
• Alpha Kappa chapter - Virginia Commonwealth University [31] - May 2, 2010
• Alpha Lambda chapter - Worcester Polytechnic Institute [32] - December 2, 2010
• Alpha Mu chapter - Florida Gulf Coast University [33] - April 25, 2014
• Alpha Nu chapter - Emory University [34] - April 3, 2015
• Alpha Xi chapter - University of Denver [35] - April 14, 2015
• Alpha Omicron chapter - University of Kentucky [36] - March 5, 2016
• Alpha Pi colony - Our Lady of the Lake University [37] - April 21, 2017
• Alpha Rho chapter - University of Oklahoma [38] - April 28, 2017
• Alpha Sigma chapter - University of Georgia [39] - April 14, 2018
• Alpha Tau colony - Oklahoma State University [40]- March 11, 2020
• Alpha Upsilon colony - Florida International University

Graduate, Alumnae, and Professional (GAP) chapters^[7][]

• Xi Alpha chapter - New York City, NY [41] - April 11, 2002
• Xi Beta chapter - Greensboro, NC [42] - Sept 30, 2002
• Xi Gamma chapter - Mid-Atlantic (DC, MD, VA, WV, DE) [43] - Nov 2, 2002
• Xi Delta chapter - North-East TX [44] - Aug 4, 2003
• Xi Epsilon chapter - Atlanta, GA [45] - Jan 15, 2004
• Xi Zeta chapter - South FL - Jan 23, 2004
• Xi Eta chapter - Arizona & Southern CA [46] - March 9, 2004
• Xi Theta chapter - Raleigh, Durham, & Chapel Hill, NC [47] - April 16, 2004
• Xi Iota chapter - Midwestern (IL, WI, IN, OH, MO, MI, KY, MN, IA) [48] - Aug 25, 2004
• Xi Kappa chapter - Salt Lake City, UT [49] - Dec 9, 2005
• Xi Lambda chapter - North FL [50] - Aug 21, 2006
• Xi Mu chapter - Orlando, FL [51] - December 16, 2007
• Xi Nu chapter - Houston, TX [52] - January 26, 2009
• Xi Xi chapter - Mahwah, NJ [53] - February 26, 2011
• Xi Omicron chapter - Richmond, VA [54] - August 9, 2013
• Xi Pi chapter- Detroit, MI [55] - April 1, 2014
• Xi Rho chapter- Boulder, CO [56] - July 6, 2014
• Xi Sigma chapter - Austin, TX - October 8, 2014
• Xi Tau chapter - Tampa, FL
• Xi Upsilon chapter - Indianapolis, IN [57] - July 18, 2014
• Xi Phi chapter - Charlotte, NC [58]
• GAP Anchor chapter
• Pacific Coast colony - Northern California, Oregon, & Washington
• Tucson GAP colony - Tucson, AZ
• Las Vegas GAP colony [59] - Las Vegas, NV
• MAR GAP Anchor colony - Mid-Atlantic Region
• Rio Grande GAP colony [60] - Albuquerque, NM
• Harrisburg GAP colony - Harrisburg, PA

References[]

External links[]

• National Website
• National Philanthropy - Girl Up, a campaign of the United Nations Foundation