Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® was founded January 15, 1908 based on a mission comprised of five basic tenets that have remained unchanged since the sorority’s inception more than a century ago. Alpha Kappa Alpha’s mission is to cultivate and encourage high scholastic and ethical standards, to promote unity and friendship among college women, to study and help alleviate problems concerning girls and women in order to improve their social stature, to maintain a progressive interest in college life, and to be of “Service to All Mankind".
This three-sectioned stained glass window in Rankin Chapel of Howard University was designed by Lois Jones Pierre-Noel, includes the names of the founders of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. The window was dedicated during the weekend celebration of the sorority's seventieth-anniversary Founders' Day, January 13-15, 1978.
Zeta Sigma Omega Chapter
Zeta Sigma Omega Chapter
Zeta Sigma Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., located in Portland, Oregon, was chartered on November 25, 1955, at Ireland's Lakeside Restaurant in Lake Oswego, Oregon. We are a service organization with a membership comprised of graduate members who reside in the Portland metropolitan area, Eugene, Corvallis, and Vancouver, Washington. The charter members of Zeta Sigma Omega were: Susie Anderson*, LaVerne Bagley, Emma Chiles*, Mary Henderson, Allie Jacobson*, Mamie Jones*, Martha Jordan*, Annabelle Mohler*, Mildred Reynolds*, Alma Ruth Spencer*, Roberta Vann*, and Althea Williams*.
Emma Chiles was the first president of Zeta Sigma Omega Chapter. Zeta Sigma Omega has been active in the Portland community for more than 50 years. We have awarded numerous scholarships to college-bound students. We have also conducted many reading programs and have continuously provided mentoring and tutoring to students in the North/Northeast Portland, Eugene, Springfield, Corvallis, and Salem communities. Our members have volunteered with the local Red Cross, Oregon Food Bank, assisted with Child Safety Belt Clinics, and participated in Race for the Cure. We served as hosts for the Far Western Regional Conference of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. in the years 1959, 1972, 1988, 2004, and 2016. The Regional Conferences brought members of our sorority to Portland from seven states. Many of our International Leadership were also in attendance to these conferences bringing sorority members from throughout the United States to Portland. Zeta Sigma Omega Chapter continues to serve in the Portland/Vancouver, Salem, Eugene, Corvallis, Salem, and Springfield communities. We offer programs of service in the areas of Education, the Black Family, Economics, Health, the Arts, Voter Registration, Entrepreneurship, and many more.
