Tau Kappa Epsilon

Tau Kappa Epsilon (ΤΚΕ or Teke, pronounced T-K-E or Tēk) is an international all-male secret and social college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters in the United States, Canada, and an affiliation with a German fraternity system known as the Corps of the Weinheimer Senioren-Convent (WSC). As of Fall 2015 there were 251 active TKE chapters and colonies throughout the United States and Canada. In 1928, TKE became one of the first fraternities to abolish "hell week", instead replacing it with a secret initiation period.

History

On January 10, 1899, Charles Roy Atkinson, Clarence Arthur Mayer, James Carson McNutt, Joseph Lorenzo Settles, and Owen Ison Truitt met at 504 East Locust Street in Bloomington, Illinois to draw up the first constitution for a new fraternity at Illinois Wesleyan University. The purpose of the new organization was to be an "aid to college men in mental, moral and social development." The founders sought to be a different organization than the other fraternities at the time by establishing a fraternity where membership would be based on personal worth and character rather than wealth, rank, or honor. Mental development would be emphasized by the study of classic literature at weekly meetings, and thus the new fraternity became known as the Knights of Classic Lore. The first public announcement of the Knights of Classic Lore appeared in the February 1, 1899 issue of the Argus, which is the student publication of Illinois Wesleyan University.

Kappa Epsilon

Kappa Epsilon (ΚΕ) is a professional pharmacy fraternity founded by Zada M. Cooper on May 13, 1921. It was founded with the purpose of uniting female pharmacy students in an era when women were a minority in the profession. Today, KE has 43 collegiate chapters and 10 alumni chapters. Over 20,000 women and men have been initiated into ΚΕ since its founding.

Kappa Epsilon's National Project is the promotion of breast cancer awareness. Many ΚΕ chapters participate in the Race for the Cure or Relay For Life. KE chapters are also encouraged to promote awareness of other women's health issues such as osteoporosis. KE's recently added the Pharmacy Career Opportunity Recruitment Project (Pharm-CORP) to their National Project. Pharm-CORP works to introduce pharmacy careers to middle and high school aged students and encourages them to excel in math and the sciences.

Kappa Epsilon sponsors one scholarship and one fellowship. The Zada Cooper Scholarship, named for the fraternity's founder, is given to six students every year. The Nellie Wakeman Fellowship is given to a member in his/her last year of pharmacy school who wishes to pursue graduate study. For both awards, the recipient must be a fraternity member in good standing.