The Professional Fraternity Association was founded in 1978 by a merger between the Professional Interfraternity Conference (representing men’s fraternities) and the Professional Panhellenic Association (representing women’s sororities).
In the late 1920s, both PIC and PPA held conventions in Washington DC simultaneously. Delegations from each group attended the other’s meetings, and ideas were shared. In 1974, PIC formally invited PPA to attend and take part in their convention. In 1976, both organizations held social and discussion sessions, where Alan Adams, PIC president, suggested a more formal collaboration would benefit both organizations.
Title IX’s implementation in 1972 was a significant factor in the merger of these two organizations. By 1976, many of the organizations had already become co-ed. When the two organizations voted to combine and adopt a new constitution, Mary Ellin Frohmader, a Phi Beta, became PFA’s first president.
Learn more about the PFA, and it’s mission, at professionalfraternity.org.
