Date of Award
Spring 5-18-2019
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts - History
Department
History
First Advisor
Dr. Dana Cooper
Second Advisor
Dr. Scott Sosebee
Third Advisor
Dr. Paul J. P. Sandul
Fourth Advisor
Ms. Linda Reynolds
Abstract
Shortly after Stephen F. Austin Teachers College (SFA) opened in 1923, students began organizing social clubs. By the late 1920s, women formed the Amities and Pine Burrs to develop friendships and a sense of belonging. The Fideles and Sigma Gammas arrived on campus in the late 1940s as more women began attending SFA. Dr. Ralph W. Steen’s appointment as president brought significant changes to SFA and inadvertently to the social groups.
Responsible for adding more classrooms and dormitories, expanding course work and faculty, the new president also influenced the campus population by attempting to bring in students from metropolitan areas. In an effort to entice a broader student body, Steen supported Ernestine Henry, dean of women, as she helped guide each group’s transformation into national sororities. The result of Steen’s desire to expand SFA brought subtle changes, but ones that had a lasting impact on the campus environment.
Repository Citation
Clark, Lea Brannon, "Ripple Effects: The Transformation of SFASU Women's Social clubs to National Sororities" (2019). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 278.
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/278
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
