Chi Delta Theta () (also Chi Delt) is an Asian-American Interest

sorority Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradua ...

based in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. The organization strives to promote sisterhood,

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always perform ...

, academics, cultural awareness and social activity in the lives of its members.

History

Establishment

Chi Delta Theta was established at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the ...

on October 13, 1989 by Alison Suto and Joanne Yamaoka. With nineteen founding members, Chi Delta Theta became the first Asian-American interest sorority to be recognized by the university. The main archive URL i
The Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage

Founding Mothers

Alison Suto and Joanne Yamaoka along with seventeen founding sisters formed the ''Alpha chapter'' of Chi Delta Theta, the first Asian-American interest sorority on the

campus.

Expansion

Additional chapters were soon established, and growth has continued over the following 30 years. Chi Delta Theta's regional expansion began with a colony at Cal Poly, SLO which chartered as the ''Beta chapter'' in 1993. It reached Northern California with establishment of ''Epsilon chapter'' in 2000 at