On November 2, 1883, 11 men from the University of Michigan, located in Ann Arbor, founded Phi Chi, the first professional organization in the field of pharmacy. A quotation from early records of the fraternity reads: "Both students and faculty recognized that such an organization would bring students of pharmacy together for the discussion of scientific questions pertaining to pharmacy and its sister sciences." These 11 founding fathers, C. Bond, F. Frazee, L. Gardner, C. Godfrey, A. Hoffman, A. Hopper, C. Hueber, G. Lemon, A. Rogers, A. Thurston, and A. Waggoner, under the guidance of Dean Albert Prescott, formed an organization that now encompasses over 70 chapters and 50,000 brothers. Many of these men were pioneers and purveyors of excellence in the field of pharmacy, and Dean Prescott’s name has been associated with the highest and finest traditions and awards of the fraternity throughout 125 year history of the organization.
In its infancy, Phi Chi was an all male fraternity. Over the next few years, major changes in the name and the looks of the fraternity would modernize it, make it stand apart from other professional organizations, and make it more inclusive. In 1887, four years after founding the organization then known as Phi Chi, symbols, rituals, signs, and regalia for the fraternity were adopted. In 1909, with 14 chapters on its official roster, the Grand Council held at Chicago in March of that year voted and agreed to change the name of the fraternity to Phi Delta Chi to avoid confusing the pharmacy organization with 2 other medical fraternities of the same name. Phi Delta Chi originally accepted men in the fields of both pharmacy and chemistry. During the depression era, PDC faced the challenges of trying to accommodate 2 fields of study and decided to change their membership requirements to include only persons in the field of pharmacy. In 1975, amid Title IX legislature over women’s rights, Phi Delta Chi moved to incorporate women into its brotherhood. This marks the beginning of Phi Delta Chi as we know it today.
Although Phi Delta Chi has been around for 125 years this November 2nd, the strong values and characteristics of our 11 founding fathers has not changed and are still the basic requirements for a brother to be admitted into the fraternity. Phi Delta Chi Brothers have accounted for 41 presidents of APhA, 20 presidents of ASP (and its predecessors, including the first 8 in a row), 48 AACP presidents, 9 Rho Chi presidents, 8 ASHP presidents, 4 Phi Lambda Sigma presidents, 29 Remington Medalists, and 8 Whitney Lecturers. Excellence both in the profession of Pharmacy and in life are what set the PDC brother apart from others in the field. All brothers of Phi Delta Chi strive to live by our motto, “Alterium Alterius Auxilio Eget”, meaning “Each Needs the Help of the Other” and the success of both the fraternity and its members is a reflection of the purpose of the fraternity as it was written in 1883: “To advance the science of pharmacy and its allied interests and to foster and promote a fraternal spirit among its members".