Халықаралық әйелдер студенттік қауымдастығы Зета Тау Альфа

International women's collegiate fraternity

Zeta Tau Alpha (known as ΖΤΑ or Zeta) is an international women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1898 at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University) in Farmville, Virginia. Its International Office is located in Carmel, Indiana. It is a member of the National Panhellenic Conference and currently has more than 300,000 initiated members.

This women's fraternity was founded by nine women on October 15, 1898, at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University) in Farmville, Virginia. ZTA is the third organization founded of the "Farmville Four." In order, these are: Kappa Delta (1897), Sigma Sigma Sigma (1898), Zeta Tau Alpha (1898), and Alpha Sigma Alpha (1901). ΖΤΑ's nine founders were: Maud Jones Horner, Della Lewis Hundley, Alice Bland Coleman, Mary Campbell Jones Batte, Alice Grey Welsh, Ethel Coleman Van Name, Helen May Crafford, Frances Yancey Smith, and Ruby Leigh Orgain. When Alice Bland Coleman was approached by another women's fraternity on campus to join, the founders pushed forward with starting the fraternity. In 1902, a member of the Alpha Chapter of ΖΤΑ, Grace Elcan Garnett, attained a charter for ΖΤΑ from the State of Virginia, cementing its official purpose: "The object of said association shall be to intensify friendship, promote happiness among its members, and in every way to create such sentiments; to perform such deeds, and to mould such opinions as will conduce to the building up of a nobler and purer womanhood in the world." In 1909, the organization joined the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), an umbrella organization consisting of women's fraternities and sororities, to expand. This resulted in the first closure of its Alpha chapter at Longwood University. In 1954, Zeta Tau Alpha established the Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation. The ZTA Foundation is a non profit organization devoted to funding scholarships for sisters, providing educational programming, and supporting the national philanthropy of ZTA which is breast cancer education and awareness. In 1974, Zeta Tau Alpha Housing Corporation was founded. The organization serves to manage official ZTA facilities used by its chapters. In 2021, as a result of ongoing efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in ZTA, the national council officially eliminated the Legacy Policy as a factor in membership selection. Previously, a legacy was given preferential consideration during recruitment. As part of its official announcement, the fraternity said, "Removing the Legacy Policy is an important step toward providing a more equitable recruitment experience for all potential new members. It allows collegiate chapters and PNMs to focus on the mutual selection process, gives chapters full accountability for the members they select, and will ensure that non legacy PNMs have the same access and opportunity to join."

In 1928, Zeta Tau Alpha started its first national philanthropic effort in the creation of a health center servicing the community of Currin Valley, located in Appalachia Virginia. When the health center closed in 1946, ΖΤΑ partnered with the Easterseals until 1970 and the ARC until 1992. During the partnership with the Easterseals, the Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation (known as the ΖΤΑ Foundation) was established in 1954. In 2010, Zeta Tau Alpha trademarked the phrase "Think Pink" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Since then, this term has become the umbrella theme for all of their breast cancer education and awareness projects. The ΖΤΑ Foundation currently has partnerships with the American Cancer Society, in which the Foundation is the National Survivor Ambassador of Making Strides Against Breast Cancer; the National Football League (partnership established in 1999), for which the Foundation distributes pink ribbons as part of the NFL's "A Crucial Catch" campaign; and Bright Pink, in which the Brighten Up Educational Workshop is brought to each collegiate chapter's campus to provide to tools for assessing breast cancer risk. Such programs are referred to My Sister, My Responsibility and contain content emphasizing social responsibility, duty of care, and engaging conversations about risk. ZTA is also a member of the Harm Reduction Alliance, a group that collaborates on providing programming to college students. The Harm Reduction Alliance has generated programming such as Generation Rx, targeted towards drug use in college aged individuals, and a partnership with ActiveMinds to help facilitate conversations around mental health within their chapters. In response to the COVID 19 Pandemic, the ZTA Foundation provided "Grace Grants" to members of ZTA experiencing hardship. "Grace" refers both to the act of grace given to each other as members and to Grace Estelle Elcan, one of the fraternity's first new members. Chapter officers for both collegiate and alumnae groups are also given leadership training by ZTA. Chapter officers can attend either the Emerging Leaders Academy and the Officers' Leadership Academy which allow members to learn more about their specific officer roles.

The member badge of ΖΤΑ is a small black shield superimposed on a gold or silver shield bearing the letters ZTA, a five pointed crown, and the name "Themis" written in Greek. Designed with the help of Mebane Smith, Maud Jones Horner, Frances Yancey Smith, and Mary Campbell Jones Batte chose the final design. The size was regulated at the 1912 convention to be modeled after that of Dr. May Agnes Hopkins, ZTA's national president at the time. Adopted in the 1903 National Convention, the award winning publication regularly features collegiate and alumnae chapter news, photos and achievements. Originally provided as a newspaper, Themis is now a quarterly magazine sent out to all members of ZTA.

Written by Shirley Kreasan Strout and adopted at the 1928 National Convention, the Creed of Zeta Tau Alpha is the embodiment of the organization's values. ZTAlways is a virtual alumnae chapter for members who do not have the opportunity to interact with sisters among a land based chapter. As an alumna, a woman is still considered a member of ZTA. The Epsilon chapter at the University of Arkansas is the longest standing ZTA chapter in the world.

Zeta Tau Alpha is structured into three separate organizations that facilitate fraternity operations: Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity, Zeta Tau Alpha Housing Corporation, and Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation. These organizations are each supported by volunteers working at the local and national level as well as staff based at the International Office, based in Carmel, Indiana. The ZTA Foundation also provides Leadership Consultants to help provide direct national support for chapters during major events and for leadership development.