Pi Lambda Theta is an honor society for educators which was founded in 1910 by the Dean of Education at the University of Missouri, Dr. W.W. Charters. As a member of Phi Beta Kappa, an honor society who admitted only men at the time, Dr. Charters sought to create a similar honor and professional society for women educators. Six other Midwestern institutions had joined the University of Missouri in creating local charters by 1916. In 1917, the society increased its regional scope to a national one, and by the 2000s, it had sixty-three regional, national, and international charters and 15,000 men and women members.
The mission of the Pi Lambda Theta is to honor academic excellence, promote leadership among educators, encourage educational research, and make available to members activities and resources for pursuing these goals.
Pi Lambda Theta installed the Lambda Chapter at the University of Chicago in June, 1921. Its meetings were held on campus in Judd Hall where the Department of Education was housed. Different members of the Education Faculty served as Faculty Advisers to the Chapter. It appears that the Lambda Chapter was dissolved in the mid 1990s when the University of Chicago closed the Department of Education.
From the guide to the University of Chicago. Pi Lambda Theta, Lambda Chapter. Records, 1921-1989, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)
