colleges named in honor of a Greek
 

As your purveyor of useless, but hopefully interesting, information about our Greek heritage I was wondering if a college or university had ever been named for a fraternity or sorority member. Thus far I have found six:

Kettering University in Michigan was named in honor of Charles F. Kettering, a Delta Upsilon from Ohio State

Roosevelt University in Chicago was named in honor of Franklin D. Roosevelt, an Alpha Delta Phi from Harvard

Rowan University in New Jersey was named in honor of Henry M. Rowan, a Delta Upsilon from Williams

Rhodes University in Memphis was named in honor of Peyton N. Rhodes, a Delta Chi from Virginia

Samford University in Birmingham was named in honor of Frank P. Samford, an Alpha Tau Omega from Auburn

Truman State University in Missouri was named in honor of Harry S Truman, an honorary Lambda Chi Alpha

I could find no institution named for a sorority woman. If I have missed anyone, please advise. Ironically only Truman State has a chapter of the fraternity of the person for whom the instition was named.

I know that you will sleep better tonight with this valuable knowledge at your disposal!

Bethune-Cookman University, Daytona Beach, FL -- Mary McLeod Bethune, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Mary McLeod Bethune is such a role model. I never knew she was a DST, though. She did SO much great work for her students, and persevered through so much! Thanks for the info, Senusret!

Just a slight correction: It's Rhodes College, not Rhodes University. And Rhodes College is the instutution's 7th name; it's nominal history might be of marginal interest to Greeks.

Founded in 1848 in Clarksville, Tenn., as the Masonic University of Tennessee, it was later called Montgomery Masonic College and then Stewart College, after its President, William M. Stewart. While Stewart was president, the school passed from the Masons to the Presbyterian Church (1855). In 1875, a School of Theology was added and the name became Southwestern Presbyterian University. The School of Theology closed in 1917, and in 1925 the school moved to Memphis, where it was renamed simply Southwestern (no "College," no "University" added). It later was renamed again, this time as Southwestern at Memphis (again no "College," no "University" added). In 1984, it was renamed the last time, as Rhodes College, after a former president.

BTW, the Clarksville campus became Austin Peay State University.

Just a little more useless yet interesting information to help you sleep better.

I had the opportunity to tour her house this summer, which is now historically preserved and holds some type of archive as well. Her bed room and office were decorated with all sorts of elephants motifs to signify her membership. :) Our tour guide said she was an honorary initiate?

To some it may be usless info, but I am sure many find it very interesting as I do!:cool:

Thanks for the post!:)

MysticCat, have been to that campus and wondered why it was even there. Did not seem that big as many of the original relegious related coleges usually are. Enjoyed that info too.

The Memphis campus or the orginal Clarksville (Austin Peay) campus?

It's purely my non-scientific observation, but at least with the church-affiliated (or historically church-affiliated) colleges in the South, many if not most are relatively small. There are exceptions, of course, which are mostly Baptist or Methodist it seems to me -- Duke, Emory and Wake Forest (the Winston-Salem campus, not the original Wake Forest campus) come to mind. But all the Southern Presbyterian colleges I know of have relatively small campuses: Davidson, Hampden-Sydney, Queens, Rhodes and Agnes Scott are examples that come to mind.

John F. Kennedy, alumni initiate of Phi Kappa Theta.

John F. Kennedy University. It's a school that has undergrad, but primarily focuses on grad degrees. It even has a law school. It is located in a suburb of San Francisco.
http://www.jfku.edu/

Robert E. Lee was the president of Washington College in Lexington, VA during the post-Civil War years until his death. He is considered the "spiritual founder" of Kappa Alpha Order although he was never initiated as a brother. Washington College was renamed Washington and Lee University after he was gone.

This isn't a university...but there's a Pi Beta Phi School. I'm not sure what the official title of it is, but I think it's an elementary or middle school.

That's pretty sweet to have a school named after your entire org!

There's a dorm named after an SAI founder (Mary Storrs Andersen, I think:confused:) at the school where SAI was founded.

I toured Bethune-Cookman College and Soror Bethune's house in 2000. We took photos by some of the elephants that were outside her home, if memory serves me correctly.

She is honorary.

If my greek history is correct, RE Lee is also an honorary initiate of Phi Mu, making Washington and Lee also named for a sorority.

Well, actually they are honorary initiates of the Philomathean Society, which eventually became Phi Mu. I was just reading my Phi Manual and I remember reading that part again because it specifically says Philomathean Society honorary initiates and not Phi Mu honorary initiates. Not too much difference, but I guess they were specific for a reason.

just some random facts i know...

Samford was originally established as Howard College, and when they started to grant master's they changed it to Samford because there was already a Howard University in DC.

Rowan was founded as Glassboro Normal School, then became NJ State Teachers College, then became Glassboro State College before being renamed Rowan.

Truman State was founded as First Missouri Normal School and Commercial College and went thru 5 other name changes before finally becoming Truman State in 1996.

How appropriate considering that W&L is nearly 80% Greek! :)

I think you're talking about the Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, which is a Pi Phi philanthropy?

Stetson University in Florida is named for John B. Stetson, a Delta Upsilon from Harvard

Other possibilities:

Lyon College in Arkansas is named for Frank Lyon Sr., a graduate of University of Alabama ca. 1930. Is he Greek?

Lynn University in Florida is named for Eugene M. Lynn a 1941 graduate of Stetson University and probably a Greek.

Albertson College in Idaho is named for Kathryn & Joseph Albertson, both possibly members of local groups at that institution.

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana is named for Anton Hulman, a 1921 graduate of Yale and probably a Greek.

Anyone have more information on the above?

There is a Pi Beta Phi Elementary School in Gatlinburg- started out being run by the sorority, then was named in their honour when the local school system took it over - did I get that right, Pi Phis?

I'm not a PiPhi, but here's a link to the school's website. I think it is really cool that they have a grade school named after them!
http://www.pbp.sevier.org/

The school was discussed in this post a few weeks ago.

[QUOTE=BlueNYC2;1578579]just some random facts i know...

Samford was originally established as Howard College, and when they started to grant master's they changed it to Samford because there was already a Howard University in DC.



Samford was a big benefactor for Howard College and they changed to his name for all of the money he gave them.

Duke was founded with money from a tobacco family and cannot think of the name or company at the moment.

American Tobacco Company

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The American Tobacco Company was founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke as a merger between a number of tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1896.

Akin to the domination of Standard Oil in the same era, the American Tobacco Company dominated the industry by acquiring the Lucky Strike Company and over 200 other rival firms. The company built processing plants and warehouses in Reidsville, North Carolina and Durham. Antitrust action begun in 1907 against the American Tobacco Company, which broke the company into several major companies in 1911. Those companies include:

• American Tobacco Company
• R. J. Reynolds
• Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company
• Lorillard

*****************
It doesn't appear to me that either Washington Duke or JB Duke went to college, but I'm not sure. Anyone know? Also, I suppose, they could be honorary members of fraternities.

Very nice and thank you dukedg!

Hmmm... I've never heard of either of them being members of greek orgs at the school. I'd be interested to hear your source on that.

As a fairly recent correction, though, the name of the school has reverted back to "College of Idaho," which was the college's original name until the early 1990s. The college did so to avoid the confusion as to whether the school was affiliated with Albertson's grocery stores (which was the source of many "do you want your diploma in paper or plastic?" jokes") and the Albertson's Foundation, an Idaho non-profit org.

In case you're wondering, changing a college's name is quite expensive. The college estimated it would cost them about 2 million.

Here is a link about the name change: http://www.collegeofidaho.edu/admini....asp?PRID=1132

A questioner asked whether Tony Hulman (of Rose-Hulman) was in a fraternity at Yale. He was not in a fraternity at Yale, but was initiated by Alpha Tau Omega at Rose-Hulman. He grew up next to the Rose ATO house, so he actually did have a close association with ATO.

So add Rose-Hulman to the list under Alpha Tau Omega.