Founding Date

May 31st, 1981

The University of California San Diego began as the Marine Biological Association of San Diego, chartered in 1903. In 1910, the first permanent marine science facility in the western hemisphere known as the George H. Scripps Memorial Marine Biological Laboratory opened. On July 12, 1915, the Marine Biological Association was transferred to the Regents of the University of California and was renamed the Scripps Institution for Biological Research. The institution was again renamed in 1925 as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In 1958, the University of California Regents established an Institute of Technology and Engineering on the San Diego campus, which consisted of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In May 1959, the Regents approve La Jolla as the site for a new university campus to encompass the Institute of Technology and Engineering as well as Scripps. Initially called the University of California, La Jolla, the Regents changed the name shortly thereafter in 1960 to UC San Diego, as it is known today. At Convention in 1978 the University of California, San Diego was approved as an expansion site because of the potential for growth and strong alumnae support for a chapter. It was Joy Peterson Cavan, Gamma Kappa-UC Santa Barbara, a delegate to the San Diego Alumnae Panhellenic Association, who helped Sigma Kappa and Alpha Omicron Pi establish the University of California, San Diego College Panhellenic Association in 1980. During a fall recruitment orientation party in 1980, potential new member Mitzi Merino asked Panhellenic advisers Joy Cavan and Martha Jane McFarland Weston, Gamma Lambda-Cal State, Fresno, how to establish another NPC group. During the conversation, Mitzi was asked if she had some group in mind and she responded, "Yes, DG!" She did not know the advisers were Delta Gammas. When asked why that group, she said, "Because it is a top sorority and many of my friends are DGs at UCLA, UCSB, and USC." A survey visit to the campus was made by Barbara Griswold Laederach, Lambda-Minnesota, Director of Expansion, on October 13. She met with school administrators to discuss a possible new chapter at the school and after receiving positive feedback, spoke with local alumnae and assigned them the task of finding prospective Delta Gamma candidates. Ten women selected by the alumnae were sent Delta Gamma information packets to help them recruit other women for a Delta Gamma presentation party in January. A committee of five alumnae also helped locate prospective candidates by calling all San Diego collegiate Delta Gammas home for the holidays for names of friends attending the University of California, San Diego. Twenty-two women attended the presentation on January 15, 1991. Four days later, these women met and organized a local group called Gamma Delta II. On February 2, Fraternity President Elizabeth Beach Norris, Beta Kappa-Kansas, and Vice-President: Collegians Virginia Reese Sperber, Beta Upsilon-Oregon, visited the group, now numbering over 30, and told them they would accept their petition to become a Delta Gamma chapter. The petition was eagerly signed. On February 22, 31 women were pledged in a ceremony conducted by Delta Phi-UC Irvine. A reception followed at The Bishop's School in La Jolla. Installation weekend started on Saturday May 30 at the home of Sana Washburn Felix, Alpha Pi-Arizona. Fraternity representatives, advisers, and collegians from Gamma Chi-Long Beach attended. The group gathered outdoors where decorated sailor hats were arranged in an anchor shape on the lawn. As each new member was introduced, she received an Epsilon Iota sailor hat with her name on it. Each new member also received a red rose, symbolic of the cream rose to come, and a paper anchor on which she wrote or drew her impressions of Delta Gamma. A buffet supper followed. The inspirational evening ended at the home of Susan Eaton Coleman, Alpha Lambda-Drake, where each new member received a notebook topped with a sealed envelope which contained her personal statement written at a retreat early in the new member period. The new members were asked to silently compare the statement with their present feelings about Delta Gamma. Initiation was held on Sunday afternoon, May 31, at the home of Elaine Mallory Triolo, Beta-Washington. Members of Delta Phi conducted the ceremony. In the evening, a banquet and reception for family and friends was held at The Westgate Hotel. The keynote address, "Delta Gamma – Hooray for You!" was given by Dr. Georgette Foster McGregor, Alpha Sigma-UCLA. Gifts to the new chapter included a pearl pin to be known as the Esther McRoberts Richter Perpetual Scholarship Award in honor of its donor from Nu-Idaho. The pin was to be given annually to the new sister with the highest grades. The chapter received its first award the night after Installation. It was a tray from the city Panhellenic in recognition of the highest-grade point average among campus sororities – a 3.2 overall average. The second Epsilon Iota pledge class started the tradition of new member class names beginning with the letters P and A to represent Pi Alpha. The classes include Perfectly Anchored, Proudly Anchored, Parfaites Amies, Precious Alliance, Piece of the Action, Pour Toujour Amies, Pride of the Anchor, Perfect Addition, Precious Assets, Perfectly Anchored, and Proudly Aboard, among others. The chapter owns a condo in the La Jolla Vista Townhouse complex. Although it only sleeps four members, the chapter enjoys holding new member and chapter management meetings, as well as fun activities like trunk shows, pot lucks, and viewings of the Bachelor.