In 1915, Southwestern University President Charles M. Bishop created an honor society to encourage and promote superior students. Faculty at Southwestern reached out to four other colleges and universities in Texas to create an intercollegiate honor society. On February 22, 1922, the Scholarship Societies of Texas was formed. A year later, representatives from thirteen schools met on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin and six other schools mailed in votes to establish the organization's first constitution. These nineteen schools went on to establish their own chapters of the organization including the Nolle Scholarship Society at Southwest Texas State Normal College, now known as Texas State University–San Marcos. Between 1926 and 1927 the honor society expanded to schools in Arkansas and Louisiana resulting in the name changing to the Scholarship Societies of the South. Dean Alfred H. Nolle, after whom Southwest Texas' chapter was named, became President of the newly named organization; Nolle would later serve as the secretary-treasurer for nearly fifty years. With plans for further expansion, in 1934 the organization voted to change its name again, this time to Alpha Chi. The name was chosen such that its initials AX would come from the Greek wordsaletheia for truth and χαρακτήρ for character. At the 2007 National Convention a membership category for graduate students was created allowing them to join the society as well as college juniors and seniors. Its current headquarters is located in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Membership
The Alpha Chi Honor Society is open to college juniors, seniors and graduate students who are in the top 10% of their class. Invitations to join the organization are issued directly to eligible students by faculty sponsors of active Alpha Chi organizations. Alpha Chi membership is a lifetime membership for a one-time fee of $75. The society inducts about 12,000 new members each year through its 403 chapters.
Awards
The national headquarters for Alpha Chi sponsors twenty-six scholarships and fellowships to active members, totaling each year. Undergraduate students can receive the Gaston/Nolle Scholarship to help fund their senior year of college. Members who will be attending their first year of graduate school can compete for the Sledge/Benedict Fellowship. Other active members who are currently, or will be, a graduate student can earn the Pryor Fellowship. Alpha Chi's regional headquarters and university chapters may also offer their own scholarships.
