Kappa Psi

Kappa Psi

Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity, Incorporated, (ΚΨ) is both the oldest and largest professional pharmaceutical fraternity in the world. It was founded on May 30, 1879, by F. Harvey Smith on the campus of Russell Military Academy in New Haven, Connecticut. The Central Office of Kappa Psi is located in Richardson, Texas. Kappa Psi first chartered a Chapter at a College of Pharmacy in 1898 at Columbia University. At that time Kappa Psi was a medical and pharmaceutical Fraternity. In 1924, the fraternity split into Kappa Psi and Theta Kappa Psi, the medical fraternity. Currently, there are 82 active collegiate chapters and 59 graduate chapters across the United States, Canada, and The Bahamas, and over 80,000 people have been initiated into the fraternity since its inception.

Nationally, Kappa Psi is divided into nine provinces, which meet annually and is divided as follows:

• Province I - Chapters in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Eastern New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire.
• Province II - Chapters in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
• Province III - Chapters in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington DC.
• Province IV - Chapters in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and the Bahamas.
• Province V - Chapters in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Western New York, and Wisconsin. (Province V and VI merged several years ago)
• Province VII - Chapters in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.
• Province VIII - Chapters in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North and South Dakota.
• Province IX - Chapters in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.
• Province X - Chapters in Alaska, British Columbia, Canada, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.

In 1976, Kappa Psi admitted females into the fraternity, and now the vast majority of the chapters are co-ed. Those chapters that remain all-male have done so because of the strong activity of other professional fraternities and sororities on campus who attract those interested in alternative bases of membership, such as co-ed or all-female.