Alpha Omega (fraternity)

"ΑΩ" redirects here. For other uses, see Alpha and Omega (disambiguation).

Alpha Omega (ΑΩ, sometimes AO), is a professional Jewish dental fraternity. It was founded in Baltimore, Maryland in 1907 by a group of dental students originally to fight discrimination in dental schools. The headquarters is currently located in Clarksville, TN.

Alpha Omega
ΑΩ
Founded	1907; 117 years ago (1907) Baltimore, Maryland
Type	Professional
Affiliation	Independent
Former Affiliation	PFA PIC
Status	Active
Scope	International
Publication	The Alpha Omegan
Chapters	125
Members	6,000 active 15,000 lifetime
Headquarters	P.O. Box 30847 Clarksville, Tennessee 37040 United States
Website	www.ao.org

Objectives

The objectives of the fraternity are to promote the profession of Dentistry; to establish, foster and develop high standards of scholarship, leadership and character; to inculcate a spirit of fellowship amongst all its members; to create and bind together a body of professional people, who, by scholarly attainments, faithful service and the maintenance of ethical ideals and principles, have achieved distinction; to honor achievement in others; to strive for breadth of vision, unity in action and accomplishment of ideals; to commend all worthy deeds, and if fraternal welfare demands, to call and counsel with its members; to accept, sponsor and develop the cultural and traditional achievements of our faith; to build within our fraternity a triangle, the base of which is Judaism, the supporting sides, professionalism and fraternalism.

Achievements

In 1953, the fraternity founded The Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine in Jerusalem. The fraternity also founded The Tel Aviv University School of Dental Medicine, now called the Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine, in Tel Aviv, Israel. It continues to raise funds through campaigns and grants from its various foundations to provide continual support for both schools.^[1][2][3]

History

• 1907: At the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in Philadelphia, a group of students joined to create an organization called Ramach, the predecessor to Alpha Omega
• 1907: A similar group with similar objectives known as Alpha Omega was organized in Baltimore. These two groups joined as the Alpha Omega Fraternity in 1907
• 1912: First Alpha Omega Fraternity Convention was held in New York with 40 men in attendance
• 1916: Constitution and bylaws were adopted
• 1916: First alumni chapter was established in Philadelphia - prior to that Alpha Omega was made up of student chapters
• 1917: First issue of the Alpha Omegan was published
• 1921: Pi Student Chapter was formed in Toronto thereby expanding Alpha Omega into an international scope
• 1924: First non-US alumni chapter was founded in Toronto
• 1932: (October 7), merger with Alpha Zeta Gamma completed with chartering of Alpha Kappa and Alpha Lambda.
• 1936: Alpha Omega establishes the Achievement Medal. Given to an individual outstanding in Dentistry or its allied sciences, in recognition of his or her professional contribution. Alpha Omega has honored many giants in the field of dentistry and medicine, which included Albert Einstein, Jonas Salk, Charles Best, Harry Sicher, D. W alter Cohen, Ronald Goldstein, Gordon Christensen and most recently R. Bruce Donoff, Dean of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine
• 1941: Alpha Omega donates a mobile dental ambulance to the Royal Canadian Dental Corps
• 1942: Three additional mobile dental ambulances were donated to the United States Army
• 1946: Alpha Omega commitment in the creation of a dental school in Israel serves as impetus for the formation of its first chapters outside of North America
• 1948: With the creation of the state of Israel Alpha Omega donated materials, including hospital and field equipment, as well as qualified teachers to help train Israeli personnel. Estimated value of the materials, service and equipment sent to Europe and Israel exceeded over $500,000
• 1949: Alpha Omega Biological Laboratory at Brandeis University established - first corporate gift received by this newly established first Jewish-sponsored non-sectarian college
• 1950: Headquarters relocated to New York City from Philadelphia
• 1952: Founded the Hadassah, Hebrew University School of Dental Medicine (interim provisional school)
• 1952: Harry Jolly of Canada becomes first non US president of Alpha Omega
• 1953: Hebrew University Hadassah School of Dental Medicine, founded by Alpha Omega was formally dedicated in Jerusalem - Alpha Omega's contributions to date over $1.5 million
• 1954: Israeli chapters chartered in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa
• 1963: First European chapter established in Paris
• 1965: Pegasus Chapter Puerto Princessa City Palawan Philippines
• 1967: Bicol Camarines sur Philippines Chapter UNC
• 1969: The US Alpha Omega Foundation incorporated in the state of New York as a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization
• 2015: ΑΩ in partnership with Henry Schein launched the Alpha Omega Henry Schein Cares Holocaust Survivors Oral Health Program

Alpha Zeta Gamma

Alpha Zeta Gamma was a Jewish Dental Fraternity that officially merged with Alpha Omega on September 17, 1932.^[4]: 37

Alpha Zeta Gamma was founded at the Chicago College of Dental Surgery in 1910 with their Alpha chapter there and chartered in the State of Illinois on April 21, 1914. Additional chapters were at Northwestern (Beta) in 1914(?), Illinois (Gamma), Western Reserve (Delta) in 1912, Maryland (Theta) in 1921, Harvard (Eta), Pittsburgh (Kappa) in 1922 and Tufts (Phi) in 1923. Alumni Clubs were Illinois Alumni Club, Alpha Zeta Gamma Study Club of Chicago, The Boston Alumni Club and the New York Alumni Association.

A fire at the National Office in 1925 destroyed many early records. In November 1931, an invitation was extended to Alpha Omega to send representatives to meet with the Supreme Council of Alpha Zeta Gamma. With the merger viewed favorably, Alpha Omega invited representatives of Alpha Zeta Gamma to their 1931 convention in Buffalo, New York. Terms of the merger were approved at the convention by Alpha Omega and one week later by the Supreme Council of Alpha Zeta Gamma. At the January 18, 1932 meeting of the Chicago Dental Society, a joint banquet of Alpha Omega and Alpha Zeta Gamma showed positive sentiment on both sides. On September 17, 1932 the merger contract was signed and on October 7, 1932, the Alpha Zeta Gamma chapters at Chicago College of Dental Surgery (Loyola of Chicago) and Northwestern were chartered as chapters of Alpha Omega.

Chapters

This is a list of the chapters for Alpha Omega, in order of founding:^[1][4][5]

Chapter	Installed Date and Range	Institution	Location	Country	Status	Reference
Ramach (see Theta-Ramach)	1907–1916	Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery (later Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia)	Philadelphia, PA	USA	Merged	[a][b][c]
Zeta (see Zeta-Mu)	1908–1923	University of Maryland	Baltimore, MD	USA	Merged	[d][e]
Beta	October 9, 1910	University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia, PA	USA	Active
Gamma	1911	Tufts University	Boston, MA	USA	Active
Iota	1911	NYU (Square)	New York, NY	USA	Active	[f]
Delta	1912–19xx	Harvard University	Boston, MA	USA	Inactive
Eta Originally "Achim"	1914	Columbia University	New York, NY	USA	Active
Theta (see Theta-Ramach)	1914–1916	Temple University	Philadelphia, PA	USA	Merged
Theta-Ramach	1916	Temple University	Philadelphia, PA	USA	Active	[g]
Sigma	October 1916–1918	Jersey City College of Dentistry	Jersey City, NJ	USA	Inactive	[h][i]
Alpha	December 1916	SUNY Buffalo	Buffalo, NY	USA	Active
Epsilon	1917	Georgetown University	Washington, D.C.	USA	Active	[j]
Kappa (see Kappa-Nu)	1918–1929	University of the Pacific (College of P&S)	San Francisco, CA	USA	Merged
Lambda	1919–19xx	Oregon Health & Science University School of Dentistry	Portland, OR	USA	Inactive	[k]
Mu (see Zeta-Mu)	1919–1923	Baltimore College of Dental Surgery	Baltimore, MD	USA	Merged	[l]
Nu (see Kappa-Nu)	1920-1929	University of California at San Francisco	San Francisco, CA	USA	Merged	[m]
Xi	1920–1926	Colorado College of Dental Surgery	Denver, CO	USA	Inactive	[n]
Omicron	1920–1988	University of Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh, PA	USA	Inactive
Pi	1921	University of Toronto	Toronto, Ontario	Canada	Active	[o]
Rho	1922–1968+	University of Minnesota	Minneapolis, MN	USA	Inactive	[p]
Zeta-Mu	1923	University of Maryland, College Park	College Park, MD	USA	Active	[q]
Tau	1924	University of Southern California	Los Angeles, CA	USA	Active	[6]: 41
Upsilon	1924–1987	Marquette University	Milwaukee, WI	USA	Inactive	[6]: 41
Phi	1925–1987	University of Louisville	Louisville, KY	USA	Inactive
Chi	1926	University of Michigan	Ann Arbor, MI	USA	Active
Psi	May 15, 1927	Ohio State University	Columbus, OH	USA	Active
Alpha Alpha	1928	University of Illinois	Chicago, IL	USA	Active
Alpha Beta	1928	Virginia Commonwealth	Richmond, VA	USA	Active
Alpha Gamma	1928	Indiana Dental College	Indianapolis, IN	USA	Active
Alpha Delta	1928–1988	Emory University	Atlanta, GA	USA	Inactive	[7][r]
Alpha Epsilon	1929–1991	Washington University in St. Louis	St. Louis, MO	USA	Inactive	[s]
Kappa-Nu	1929	University of the Pacific (College of P&S) and University of California at San Francisco	San Francisco, CA	USA	Active	[m][t]
Alpha Eta	February 14, 1931	University of Iowa	Iowa City, IA	USA	Active
Alpha Iota	April 22, 1931	University of Missouri	Kansas City, MO	USA	Active	[u]
Alpha Theta	1932–1971 ?	Loyola University	New Orleans, LA	USA	Inactive	[8][v]
Alpha Kappa	October 7, 1932	Northwestern University	Evanston, IL	USA	Active	[w]
Alpha Lambda	October 7, 1932	Loyola University	Chicago, IL	USA	Active	[x]
Alpha Mu	1932–19xx	Dalhousie University	Halifax, Nova Scotia	Canada	Inactive
Alpha Nu	1933	Detroit Medicine	Detroit, MI	USA	Active
Alpha Zeta	1935–1984	University of Tennessee	Memphis, TN	USA	Active
Omega	1936	Case Western University	Cleveland, OH	USA	Active
Alpha Chi	1945–19xx, 1988	Texas A&M University College of Dentistry	Dallas, TX	USA	Active	[y]
Alpha Pi	1956	McGill University	Montreal, Quebec	Canada	Active
Alpha Sigma	1958	Hebrew University	Jerusalem	Israel	Active
National Undergraduate Chapter	1959–19xx	Howard University	Washington, D.C.	USA	Inactive
Alpha Psi	1959–19xx	Seton Hall University	South Orange, NJ	USA	Inactive	[9]
Alpha Rho	1959–19xx	University of Manitoba	Winnipeg, Manitoba	Canada	Inactive
Alpha Upsilon	1960–19xx	University of Alabama	Birmingham, AL	USA	Inactive
Alpha Tau	1970	University of California Los Angeles	Los Angeles, CA	USA	Active
Beta Alpha	1971–19xx	Meharry Medical	Nashville, TN	USA	Inactive
Beta Beta	1974–19xx	University of Florida	Gainesville, FL	USA	Inactive
Beta Chi	1975-1988	Harwood University	Washington, DC	USA	Inactive
Beta Delta	1976	University of Western Ontario	London, ON	Canada	Active
Beta Epsilon	1977	Boston University	Boston, MA	USA	Active
Beta Eta	1979-1988	UT Houston (Texas Dentistry)	Houston, TX	USA	Inactive
Beta Gamma	1980-19xx	University of Texas, San Antonio	San Antonio, TX	USA	Inactive
Beta Iota	1980	University of Colorado	Aurora, CO	USA	Active
Beta Kappa	1982-19xx	Tel Aviv University	Tel Aviv	Israel	Inactive
Beta Lambda	1984-19xx	University of Connecticut	Farmington, CT	USA	Inactive
Sigma Beta	1986-19xx	SUNY, Stony Brook	Stony Brook, NY	USA	Inactive
Delta Rho	1987-1990	Fairleigh Dickinson University	Rutherford, NJ	USA	Inactive	[z][aa]
Beta Upsilon	1990-19xx	University of Buenos Aires ?	Buenos Aires	Argentina	Inactive
Sigma Alpha	1990-19xx	University of the Witwatersrand	Johannesburg	South Africa	Inactive
Tau Alpha Mu	19xx ?	Nova Southeastern University	Fort Lauderdale, FL	USA	Active
Capítulo Lambda	19xx ?	University of Monterrey	Monterrey, Nuevo León	Mexico	Active
Gamma Beta	19xx ?	Midwestern University	Downers Grove, IL	USA	Active
Nu Gamma	19xx ?	University of North Carolina	Chapel Hill, NC	USA	Active
Nu Epsilon	19xx ?	University of New England	Portland, ME	USA	Active

Notes

1. This was the oldest chapter of the fraternity. In 1909 the young chapter was moved to Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia, which had absorbed the Penn College of Dental Surgery. Later that year, on December 20, 1909 it joined in a friendly merger with another local, which became the Zeta chapter, located in Baltimore. A decade later, when "Medico-Chi" merged into Penn, the 1933 history states that "when Medico-Chi passed out of existence, the members of Ramach were transferred, resulting in formation of Theta-Ramach chapter (p.65). The passive voice may indicate that they had little say in the matter, while their school was absorbed by Penn, the students of the chapter went to Temple. The History further remarks on the Theta-Ramach chapter's friendly relations with nearby Beta chapter (at Penn).
2. In 1909 this school merged its assets into the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia, which in 1916 would itself merge into the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. The school had previously lost some faculty to create the dental school at Temple University, but this action pre-dated the formation of Alpha Omega by several decades.
3. Formed at Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery which become Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia in 1909. That school would merge with the University of Pennsylvania in 1916.
4. This was the first chapter to carry the name Alpha Omega, formed as a local in 1908. It joined in a friendly merger with the Ramach local in Philadelphia on December 20, 1909, taking the name Zeta chapter.
5. At formation, this chapter served three Baltimore area dental schools.
6. Chapter was originally called "Ididim", Hebrew for friend
7. Result of merger of Theta and Ramach chapters.
8. With the school's closure, most students transferred to Epsilon chapter at Georgetown.
9. This school closed in 1918.
10. Originally chartered at George Washington Dental College, a department of George Washington University. In 1904, what was then Columbian University changed its name to George Washington University, about a decade prior to establishment of the chapter. The chapter originally accepted members from both George Washington University and Georgetown Dental Colleges. The chapter officially moved to Georgetown University after closure of the George Washington Dental School (a department of GWU) in May 1920.
11. Originally at North Pacific College
12. This school merged into the University of Maryland in 1923, prompting the mergers of Zeta and Mu chapters that year.
13. First formed at the nearby University of California.
14. This school closed in 1926.
15. First Canadian chapter.
16. This chapter originated as Tau Beta Phi (local), in 1920.
17. Result of merger of Zeta and Mu chapters.
18. Emory's dental school closed in the early 1990s.
19. Washington University's dental school closed in 1991.
20. Result of merger of Kappa and Nu chapters.
21. Originated as The Pulp Club (local) in 1929.
22. Loyola's dental school was closed in 1971.
23. Originated as the Beta chapter of Alpha Zeta Gamma, formed in 1914. A separate group of petitioners for a chapter of Alpha Omega was held in abeyance while the pending matter of a national merger was effected. Both groups were initiated to become Alpha Kappa chapter of Alpha Omega.
24. Originated as the Alpha chapter of Alpha Zeta Gamma, formed on October 1, 1910, at the Chicago College of Dental Surgery. That school had briefly affiliated with Lake Forest University, then with Valparaiso, an arrangement that ended following WWI. It was independent for almost a decade until a 1926 merger with Loyola of Chicago.
25. Originally at Baylor College of Dentistry
26. FD University has since moved from Rutherford to several other locations.
27. The Fairleigh Dickinson School of Dentistry closed in 1990.

See also

• Professional fraternities and sororities
• List of dental schools in Israel
• List of Jewish fraternities and sororities
• List of dental schools in the United States
• List of defunct dental schools in the United States

References

1. Anson, Jack L.; Marchenasi, Robert F., eds. (1991) [1879]. Baird's Manual of American Fraternities (20th ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Baird's Manual Foundation, Inc. p. V-8–9. ISBN 978-0963715906.
2. Noted, for example in this press released by the American Friends of Tel Aviv University, dated November 21, 2012, accessed 18 May 2022.
3. SDM Newsletter (PDF). Tel Aviv University. December 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2022. The Maurice and Gabriela Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine: Founded by the Alpha Omega International Fraternity
4. Alpha Omega History. 1933.
5. William Raimond Baird (1977). Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities (19th ed.). Baird's Manual Foundation, Incorporated. p. 501.
6. The 1933 History of the fraternity has a typo on scanned p.41, where the chapter list swaps the locations of Tau and Upsilon chapters. The body text of that book confirms the correct schools.
7. Noted in Emory Magazine, in an article about Anti-Discrimination
8. "Open Wide".
9. Seton Hall College of Medicine and Dentistry records span the years 1946-1965