Beta Gamma Sigma
Biography
In the spring of 1907, a group of commerce students at the University of Wisconsin received permission from faculty to organize a commerce honor society, which they proposed to call Beta Gamma Sigma. Around the same time students at the University of Illinois and the University of California organized similar groups on their campuses. In 1913 the three groups, aware of their co-existence and common purpose, merged to form Beta Gamma Sigma, making it a national organization.
The fraternity's stated purpose was "to encourage and reward scholarship and accomplishment along the lines of business activity among students, to promote the advancement and spread of honesty and integrity in business practice, and to encourage a friendlier attitude of the business public toward graduates of commercial courses."
Beta Gamma Sigma is the only scholastic honorary society recognized by the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). By 1919, the fraternity boasted 7 chapters, and by 1925 there were 21 chapters. A milestone was reached in 1933 when women became eligible for membership. The business administration college of the University of Nebraska became a charter member of the AACSB in 1916.
The Alpha chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma at the University of Nebraska was established in 1924. Membership in Beta Gamma Sigma is the highest national recognition a student can receive in an undergraduate, masters, or doctoral program in business administration. To be eligible for membership, a student must rank in the top seven percent of the junior class, the top ten percent of the senior class, the top twenty percent of the masters class, or be a doctoral graduate.
