ATΩ Facts
- ATΩ was founded by Otis Allan Glazebrook, Erskine Mayo Ross and Alfred Marshall, at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 upon Christian-not Greek-principles.
- ATΩ was not established in imitation of or in opposition to any existing fraternity.
- The ATΩ Foundation was officially recognized in June of 1935 at the 34th Congress in Memphis, Tenn.
- The LeaderShape Institute, Inc. was created in 1986 by Alpha Tau Omega, and is considered one of the finest leadership skills training programs in the country.
- ATΩ was honored by the Smithsonian Institute for innovative use of technology with an award for Information Technology in the field of Government and Non-Profit Organizations in June 1995. The award was given for ATΩ’s innovative use of CompuServe as a communications tool.
- After more than 84 years with its national office in Champaign, Ill., the ATΩ National Headquarters moved to Indianapolis,Ind., on December 13, 1995.
- ATΩ annually ranks among the top ten national fraternities for number of chapters and total number of members. ATΩ has more than 240 active and inactive chapters with more than 181,000 members and more than 6,500 undergraduate members.
- The ATΩ Foundation provides more than $150,000 in annual scholarships to members-including scholarships to attend the LeaderShape Institute, Inc.
- Alpha Tau Omega is a participating member in the National Interfraternity Conference, the Fraternity Executives Association, the College Fraternity Editors Association, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, FIPG, Inc., and the Fraternal Risk Management Trust.
- In 1950 Indiana University Worthy Master Robert Lollar created “Help Week” setting the pledges to doing good deeds around campus and replacing the traditional “Hell Week.”
- ATΩ was the first fraternity founded after the Civil War in 1865, striving to heal the wounds created by the devastating war and help reunite the North and South.
- ATΩ was the first fraternity founded as a national fraternity.
- The first meeting of ATΩ was at 114 E. Clay St. in Richmond, Va., where Glazebrook read the Constitution of ATΩ to Marshall and Ross for the first time.
- The first chapter north of the Mason-Dixon line, was chartered at the University of Pennsylvania 16 years after the founding of ATΩ, helping to bring a realization to the founders’ dreams.
- In 1880, the ATΩ chapter at the University of the South (Sewanee) became the first of any fraternity in the South to have a chapter house.
- ATΩ’s first fraternity west of the Rockies and first of any fraternity in the Northwest was at Oregon State University in 1882.
- Thomas Arkle Clark, the first initiate of the Gamma Zeta chapter at the University of Illinois, was the nation’s first collegiate dean of men.
- The first World War I Medal of Honor was given to Captain C. L. Irwin, Wyoming ‘13, as one of the first American heroes mentioned in dispatches to the U.S.
- ATΩ was the first national fraternity to start a chapter free of alcohol and tobacco on fraternity property.
- ATΩ was the first national fraternity to sponsor and conduct coeducational leadership conferences nationwide in 1992.
- ATΩ was the first fraternity to implement a spiritual development program.
- ATΩ was the first to develop and implement a member success initiative.
Local ATΩ Facts
- ATΩ at UAH has received the UAH top GPA award for 16 years in a row.
- ATΩ at UAH received the 2004 UAH Presidents Cup awarded to the top fraternity on campus.
- ATΩ at UAH has had 9 of the last 12 UAH Homecoming Kings, including the current Homecoming King Jeremy Harper.
- ATΩ at UAH has boasted 3 out of the last 6 UAH Student Government Association Presidents.
- The ATΩ chapter at UAH has consistently ranked in the top 10 ATΩ chapters in the nation on ATΩRoadshow since its conception.
- The ATΩ chapter at UAH received Top Chapter Award for all ATΩ chapters in the Nation in 2001.
- The ATΩ Chapter at UAH was honored in 2001 for its scholastic, leadership, and civic achievements with a Resolution from the Alabama State Senate.
- The ATΩ Chapter at UAH held the largest car show in the Huntsville Metro area for 5 years in a row (ATΩ Auto-emporium).
- ATΩ has had one of the largest Fall recruitment classes at UAH for the last 5 years.
- ATΩ at UAH is a strictly NO-Haze chapter that builds its members up through activities and morals such as our semesterly HELP Weekend and other positive projects that benefits ourselves as well as those around us.
- ATΩ at UAH has won the coveted true merit award, which goes only to the top ATΩ chapters in the nation, 8 out of the last 9 years.