Members of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. at the NPHC Yard dedication during NIU’s 115th Homecoming celebration.
As members of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. commemorate 100 years of sisterhood, scholarship and service with a lineup of nationwide events, NIU is joining in the celebration.
Huskies are invited to an open house and display from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Nov. 10 at Founders Memorial Library. The event will honor members of the sorority and its NIU chapters—Zeta Nu and Iota Upsilon Sigma Alumna.
Also in honor of the centennial celebration on Nov. 10, the lights of the Holmes Student Center will turn blue. The national colors of the sorority are royal blue and gold.
Many of NIU’s alumni remain actively involved in the sorority, one of the “Divine Nine” historically African American National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) organizations. Membership in NPHC Fraternities and NPHC Sororities is a lifetime commitment to community awareness and action through educational, economic and cultural service.
“This will be an opportunity for us to say thank you to NIU faculty, staff and students for their support and encouragement since 1975 and 2004 when Zeta Nu and Iota Upsilon Sigma chapters were chartered respectively,” said Dr. LaVerne Gyant, a sorority member, professor emeritus in the Department of Counseling and Higher Education and former advisor to the Zeta Nu Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. at NIU.
Dr. LaVerne Gyant
Known as “Dr. G.,” Dr. Gyant also connects Black/African American College of Education students and alumni as part of the Dr. LaVerne Gyant Alumni Mentoring Program.
The centennial celebration of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. is a milestone, she said. As one of the leading service sororities, it was founded by seven young educators before the Civil Rights Movement.
Founded on Nov. 12, 1922, on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis—a predominantly white university at the time—the international sorority now boasts more than 100,000 members in over 500 chapters across the U.S., Africa, Bahamas, Bermuda, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada, Germany and Korea.
Today, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. remains a strong sisterhood of educated women, whose members strive for “Greater Service, Greater Progress,” said Dr. Gyant, who joined as a student at Penn State University in 1988.
Sigma Gamma Rho offers its members opportunities to develop their unique talents through leadership training and involvement in various sorority activities.
Among those members, NIU alum Venika Goode, credits the sorority and its founders for inspiring advocacy. Goode, now a pre-K educator in DeKalb, joined Zeta Nu on Feb. 28, 2004, and founded the graduate chapter of Iota Upsilon Sigma on Nov. 5, 2004.
“The 100th year is such a big celebration for us, just being able to really acknowledge the impact our founders made and how we’ve been able to grow as a community and advocate for ourselves and others who are perhaps less fortunate than us,” Goode said. “I just think that being an educator myself, and a lot of my sorority sisters are educators, it’s important to reflect on the things the founders went through.”
Through the years at NIU, members of the sorority have served in mentorship and leadership roles with numerous organizations on campus, and often have held the highest GPAs among NPHC organizations.
Campus projects have included collecting school supplies for those in need, hosting step shows, working with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and countless other initiatives, Goode said.
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. continues to put an emphasis on social action and community impact as part of its commitment to serve.
