Delta Sigma Pi
Our Purpose
“Delta Sigma Pi is a professional fraternity organized to foster the study of business in universities; to encourage scholarship, social activity and the association of students for their mutual advancement by research and practice; to promote closer affiliation between the commercial world and students of commerce, and to further a higher standard of commercial ethics and culture and the civic and commercial welfare of the community.”
Beliefs
As the world’s leading professional fraternity for men and women, Delta Sigma Pi develops principled business leaders for the future by providing a lifetime of opportunity for our members. Since 1907, our values and mission have guided our commitment to scholarship, service and professionalism. Delta Sigma Pi members, who are as diverse as the business world, gain experiences in professionalism, leadership, ethics, and philanthropy.
This all leads to personal development and success—both in the business world and the civic realm. Delta Sigma Pi doesn’t just develop professionals; the Fraternity provides members with relationships, skills, and ideals necessary for them to make a significant impact wherever life leads. Delta Sigma Pi is a lifetime commitment that has a lifetime of opportunities.
History
In the autumn of 1906, there were only a handful of business schools in the United States. One such school—The School of Commerce, Accounts, and Finance—enrolled 300 students as part of New York University. Four members of the Class of 1909—Alexander Frank Makay, Alfred Moysello, Henry Albert Tienken, and Harold Valentine Jacobs—started a fraternity for business majors that became what is known today as the International Fraternity of Delta Sigma Pi.
The response to their idea was positive and immediate. The Fraternity’s constitution was drafted and adopted in the fall of 1907. Then the first officers were elected and November 7, 1907 was declared Founders’ Day. In April of 1908, the name Delta Sigma Pi was adopted and bylaws were approved, with the Fraternity’s badge and colors approved shortly thereafter. By 1911, the Fraternity was publishing a newsletter that evolved into the official publication still in circulation today, The DELTASIG. In 1912, the Delta Sigma Pi Scholarship Key Award was established and continues to the present day. Delta Sigma Pi chartered its second chapter—at the Northwestern School of Commerce in Chicago—in 1914 at its national convention, Grand Chapter Congress.
After two world wars and the Great Depression, Delta Sigma Pi renewed its expansion efforts, establishing a permanent national headquarters to handle administrative services for the organization and a Foundation to support educational endeavors and offer valuable financial support to members through scholarships. Social change in the 1960s and 1970s led the Fraternity to examine its ideals and, in 1975, Delta Sigma Pi became the first business fraternity to initiate women. Since that time, Delta Sigma Pi has continued to expand and refine its operations, determined to equip members for future professional and personal success and is proud of its reputation as the world’s foremost fraternity for business majors.
Today, nearly 300 universities and colleges in the United States, Canada and Mexico are a part of the Delta Sigma Pi network and history.
Learn more about our history on the National Fraternity website.
