Kappa Alpha Society
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The Kappa Alpha Society (ΚΑ) is the oldest college fraternity in the United States. It was formed at Union College in Schenectady, New York on November 26, 1825 by a group of college students. Kappa Alpha was the first to combine aspects of secret Greek-letter societies, literary societies and formalized student social groups and is thus considered the first modern fraternity. Kappa Alpha is also the oldest collegiate secret society still in existence. From 1825 to the present, no more than 8,000 gentlemen and a few women have been honored with membership to the society.
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Emblem of the Kappa Alpha Society
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Emblem of the Kappa Alpha Society
This organization is not to be confused with the Kappa Alpha Order, a completely separate (and much larger) fraternity that operates primarily at schools in Southern and border states.
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Chapters
- University of Toronto (VT)
- Lehigh University (VL)
- McGill University (VM)
- University of Pennsylvania (VP)
- University of Western Ontario (VOO)
- University of Alberta (VA)
- Hobart College (CH)
Chapters at Williams College (CG), the University of Virginia (VV), Cornell University (VC), Princeton University (CNC), Union College (CC), University of Calgary (VAC) and Wesleyan University (VW) are dormant.
Plans are underway to recolonize the founding chapter at Union College (CC) for Fall 2005/Spring 2006.
(Latin abbreviation)
Notable members
Medicine
- James Collip, University of Western Ontario, 1948. Discoverer of cortisone and co-discoverer of insulin. Shared John James Richard Macleod portion of the 1923 Nobel Prize for medicine.
- William Lawerence Estes Jr., Lehigh University, 1901. President of the American College of Surgeons, 1957-1958.
Arts and Humanities
- James Phinney Baxter III. Winner of the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for History.
- Hume Cronyn, McGill University, 1930. Actor.
- Fitz Hugh Ludlow, Union College, 1856. Author and explorer.
- Raymond Hart Massey, University of Toronto, 1914. Actor.
- Christopher McDonald, Hobart College, 1977. Actor, commonly known for his character "Shooter McGavin" in Happy Gilmore (1996).
- Lewis H. Morgan, Union College, 1840. "Father of American Anthropology"
- Kurt Varnedoe, Wiliams College, 1968. Chief Curator of painting and sculpture, Museum of Modern Art (New York City).
Business
- Verschoyle Philip Cronyn, University of Western Ontario, 1948. Former Director of John Labatt Ltd. Chancellor of the University of Western Ontario, 1961-1967. Brother of Hume Cronyn and cousin of Arthur Labatt.
- Arthur Labatt, McGill University, 1953. Founder of Trimark Investment Management, currently the Chancellor of the University of Western Ontario and Officer of the Order of Canada in 1996.
- Augustus Schell, Union College, 1830. Railroad magnate and the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, 1872-1876.
- Thomas Wellington, University of Pennsylvania, 1913. Industrialist and raptor,(New York City).
Canadian Politics and Law
Prime Minister
- William Lyon Mackenzie King, University of Toronto, 1893. Prime Minister of Canada, 1921-1926, 1926-1930, and 1939-1945.
Member of Federal Parliament
- Denton Massey. University of Toronto, 1919. MP for Toronto-Greenwood, 1935-1946. Officer, Order of the British Empire, 1946.
American Politics and Law
Congress
- Leander Babcock, Union College, 1828. U.S. Representative from New York, 23rd District, 1851-1853.
- Charles Lewis Beale, Union College, 1842. U.S. Representative from New York, 12th District, 1859-1861.
- Gabriel Bouck, Union College, 1846. Wisconsin State Attorney General, 1858-1860. U.S. Represenative from Wisconsin, 6th District, 1877-1881.
- John M. Carroll, Union College, 1845. U.S. Representative from New York, 18th District, 1871-1873.
- Charles Tappan Dunwell, Cornell Univeristy, 1870. U.S. Representative from New York, 3rd District, 1903-1908 (Died in office).
- Rodney Frelinghuysen, Hobart College, 1969. New Jersey General Assebly, 1983-1994. U.S. Representative from New Jersey, 11th District, 1995-present.
- Lewis Henry, Cornell University, 1905. U.S. Representative from New York, 37th District, 1922-1923.
- Levi Augustus Mackey, Union College, 1835. U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, 20th District, 1875-1879.
- Jesse Olds Norton, Williams College, 1833. U.S. Representative from Illinois, 11th District, 1853-1857, 1863-1865.
- Edward Overton Jr., Princeton, 1854. U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, 15th District, 1877-1881.
- Charles Edward Pearce, Union College, 1861. U.S. Representative from Missouri, 12th District, 1897-1901.
- Rufus Wheeler Peckham (1809-1873), Union College, 1826. U.S. Representative from New York, 14th District, 1853-1855; Justice of the New York Supreme Court, 1861-1869; Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, 1870-1873 (died in office).
- John Benedict Steele, Williams College, 1835. U.S. Representative from New York, 1861-65 (11th District 1861-63, 13th District 1863-65).
Senate
- James Dixon, Williams College, 1833. U.S. Representative from Connecticut, 1st District, 1845-1849; Conneticut State Senate, 1st District, 1849; U.S. Senator from Connecticut, 1857-1869.
- Preston King, Union College, 1826. U.S. Representative from New York, 18th District, 1843-1847, 1849-1853; U.S. Senator from New York, 1857-1863.
Governor
- Herbert James Hagerman, Cornell University, 1890. Second secretary, U.S. Embassy to Russia, 1898-1901; presented the Order of St. Anne (Russia) by the Czar, 1901; Governor of New Mexico Territory, 1906-07.
- Henry M. Hoyt, Williams College, 1849. Governor of Pennsylvania, 1879-83.
- Horace White, Cornell University, 1883. Member of the New York State Senate, 1896-1908; Lieutenant Governor of New York, 1909-1910; Governor of New York, 1910-1911.
Supreme Court
- Ward Hunt, Union College, 1828. Founder of the New York Republican Party, 1856. Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1872-1882.
Military
- Albert James Myer, Hobart College, 1845. "Father of Army Signal Corps" and founder of the U.S. Weather Bureau
External link
- Kappa Alpha (http://www.ka.org/), a history