Alpha Gamma Sigma (; commonly known as AgSig or AGS) is a national collegiate social and professional agricultural

fraternity A fraternity (; whence, "wikt:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular ...

in the United States.

History

Alpha Gamma Sigma began as a local agricultural fraternity at

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

, on January 28, 1923. A similar organization called the National Agriculture Club formed at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

on October 23, 1922; its name was changed to Tau Gamma Phi fraternity during its first year. The two organizations met in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

in March 1931 to develop a plan for merging. The meeting resulted in the establishment of a new national agricultural fraternity, Alpha Gamma Sigma. The meeting's participants also created a new constitution, a National Chapter, and its officers, including Clair E. Jones, president; Wayne Johnson, vice president; Don Rush, treasurer, O. E. Allen, secretary; and Delmer Glenn, historian. With the merger, Tau Gamma Phi became the ''Alpha chapter'' and Alpha Gamma Sigma became the ''Beta chapter''.Lurding, Carroll and Becque, Fran. (May 1, 2023)
Alpha Gamma Sigma
.
Almanac of Fraternities and Sororities
'. Urbana: University of Illinois. Accessed July 9, 2023. On November 28 and 29, 1931, the fraternity held its second general convention in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. There, the fraternity adopted a revised constitution and by-laws, a member's badge and pledge pin, a crest, colors, a flower, a motto, and a ritual. It also appointed a committee to work on the fraternity's songs. At the November 1951 convention, the fraternity approved expansion to other campuses. A delegation from ''Beta chapter'' met with interested students at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln on March 14, 1953. This meeting resulted in the ''Gamma chapter'' which was chartered on November 7, 1953. This was followed by the founding of ''Delta chapter'' at

Tennessee Tech Tennessee Technological University (commonly referred to as Tennessee Tech) is a public research university in Cookeville, Tennessee. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, and before that as University of Dixie, the name unde ...

in 1961, the ''Epsilon chapter'' at

Missouri State University Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second-largest u ...

on February 16, 1970, and ''Zeta chapter'' at

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. Once West ...

on April 3, 1971. Alpha Gamma Sigma joined the

National Interfraternity Conference The North American Interfraternity Conference (or NIC; formerly known as the National Interfraternity Conference) is an association of intercollegiate men's social fraternities that was formally organized in 1910. However, it began at a meetin ...

on June 19, 1971. Alpha Gamma Sigma absorbed the local IlliDell Cooperative Fraternity at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

as the ''IlliDell chapter'' in January 1981; the new chapter's name broke with the fraternity's Greek letter nomenclature to honor the predecessor's history. The ''Iota chapter'' at Arkansas Tech received its charter on November 20, 1999. As of 2023, Alpha Gamma Sigma has six active chapters and 4,350 initiates. Its headquarters are located in Columbus, Ohio.

Symbols and traditions

The fraternity's original motto was "Cultivate that ye may reap" and its publication was ''The Rake''. Its current motto is "Preparing Men for Life by Coming together as Scholars, Living as Brothers, Becoming Leaders of Tomorrow". The fraternities colors are royal blue and silver. Its flower is the American red rose and its symbol is the plow. The mission statement of Alpha Gamma Sigma is "Preparing men for life by coming together as scholars, living as brothers, becoming leaders of tomorrow."

Chapter houses

The ''Beta chapter'' leased its first chapter house in the fall of 1923. In 1953, the newly established ''Gamma chapter'' rented a house at 3256 Holdrege Street in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...

; this was the first chapter house in the fraternity's history. The chapter resided there until it purchased the former

FarmHouse FarmHouse (FH) is a men's social fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 34 active chapters in the United States and Canada.FarmHouse Fraternity New Memb ...

chapter house at 4013 Holdrege Street in 1953. In 1971, the chapter built a new house at 4001 Holdrege Street, moving into this apartment-style dwelling in 1972. ''Beta chapter'' completed the construction of its new house at the University of Missouri in 2016.

Chapters

Following is a list of the chapters of Alpha Gamma Sigma. Active chapters are indicated in bold. Inactive chapters are in ''italics''.

References

External links