Alpha Upsilon Alpha

Alpha Upsilon Alpha Honor Society (or ΑΥΑ) is an academic honor society recognizing excellence in reading and language arts at the undergraduate and graduate level. Founded in 1985, it is governed by the International Literacy Association.

Alpha Upsilon Alpha
ΑΥΑ
Founded	May 1985; 40 years ago (1985-05) Newark, Delaware
Type	Honor
Affiliation	International Literacy Association
Status	Active
Emphasis	Reading and language arts
Scope	National
Motto	Lege sapere aude "Read, dare to be wise."
Colors	Gold and   Silver
Publication	Literacy Today    Reading Research Quarterly Journal
Chapters	19
Headquarters	c/o International Literacy Association PO Box 8139 Newark, Delaware 19714-8139 United States
Website	Alpha Upsilon Alpha at ILA

History

In 1985, delegates to the assembly of the International Reading Association (now International Literacy Association) agreed to form Alpha Upsilon Alpha.^[1] Its first seven chapters were approved a year later at the International Reading Association's convention in April 1986.^[1] The first chapter was chartered at the University of Northern Iowa.^[2][3]

Alpha Upsilon Alpha was established as an honor society that recognizes excellence in reading and language arts by undergraduate and graduate students.^[1][2] It also develops personal and professional leadership skills, promotes literacy and encourages community service related to reading.^[4][5]

It is governed by the International Literacy Association which is headquartered in Newark, Delawrare.^[6]

Symbols

The Greek letters Alpha Upsilon Alpha were selected to stand for Anagnosis (reading); Upotrophia {scholarship, and Archon (leadership).^[5][6][7]

Alpha Upsilon Alpha's motto is Lege sapere aude which translates as "Read, dare to be wise."^[8][5] Its colors are gold and silver. Members may wear honor cords that are gold and silver at graduation.^[9]

Membership

Current logo of ΑΥΑ

There are five categories of membership in Alpha Upsilon Alpha: undergraduate, graduate, faculty, professional, and honorary.^[4][1] Members are selected for their scholarship, leadership, and service in reading.^[2]

Undergraduate members must have finished five semesters or 76 credit hours and be in the top 25 percent of their class.^[10][11] Graduate members must be majoring in reading or language arts and have finished at least nine credit hours with a 3.5 GPA or higher.^[10][12]

Faculty members need to be active in reading or the language arts as an academic subject and either have a doctoral degree or meet the graduate-level membership GPA requirement during their Master's degree work. Professional members, such as elementary and secondary school teachers, must meet the requirements for members based on their level of education. Chapters can also select honorary members.

Chapters

Following is an incomplete list of Alpha Upsilon Alpha chapters, with active chapters in bold and inactive chapters and institutions are in italics.^[6][13][14]

Chapter	Charter date	Institution	Location	Status	References
Alpha	1986	University of Northern Iowa	Cedar Falls, Iowa	Inactive	[1][2][3]
Beta	1986			Inactive	[1]
Gamma	1986	Iowa State University	Ames, Iowa	Inactive	[1][15]
Delta	June 1986	New Jersey City University	Jersey City, New Jersey	Inactive	[16]
Epsilon	1986	West Chester University	West Chester, Pennsylvania	Active	[1][10]
Zeta	1986	Saint Xavier University	Chicago, Illinois	Inactive	[1]
Eta	1986	Murray State University	Murray, Kentucky	Active	[8][1]
Iota		University of West Alabama	Livingston, Alabama	Inactive	[17]
Mu	June 1987	Western Illinois University	Macomb, Illinois	Inactive	[12]
Xi		University of Georgia	Athens, Georgia	Inactive
Omicron		Boston College	Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts	Inactive
Pi		Loyola University Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	Active	[18]
Rho		Chicago State University	Chicago, Illinois	Inactive
Tau		Roosevelt University	Chicago, Illinois	Inactive
	March 1, 1988	Eastern Kentucky University	Richmond, Kentucky	Inactive	[19]
Alpha Alpha		Manhattan College	The Bronx, New York City, New York	Inactive	[20]
Alpha Beta		Dowling College	Oakdale, New York	Inactive	[a]
Alpha Gamma		Georgia State University	Atlanta, Georgia	Active	[5]
Alpha Delta		Northern Illinois University	DeKalb, Illinois	Inactive
Alpha Zeta		Saint Joseph's University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Active
Alpha Eta		University of Nebraska Omaha	Omaha, Nebraska	Inactive
Alpha Theta		University of Wisconsin–Whitewater	Whitewater, Wisconsin	Inactive
Alpha Iota		Buffalo State University	Buffalo, New York	Active
Alpha Kappa	1992	Purdue University	West Lafayette, Indiana	Inactive	[21][22]
Alpha Lambda		Troy University at Dothan	Dothan, Alabama	Inactive	[23]
Alpha Mu		Winona State University Rochester Center	Rochester, Minnesota	Inactive
Alpha Xi		Providence College	Providence, Rhode Island	Inactive	[24]
Alpha Pi (First)	1994	Framingham State University	Framingham, Massachusetts	Inactive	[7][25]
Alpha Pi (Second)		Bridgewater State University	Bridgewater, Massachusetts	Active
Alpha Sigma		Fayetteville State University	Fayetteville, North Carolina	Active
Alpha Tau		Minnesota State University Moorhead	Moorhead, Minnesota	Inactive
Alpha Upsilon		Philippine Normal University	Manila, Philippines	Inactive
Alpha Chi		West Virginia University at Parkersburg	Parkersburg, West Virginia	Inactive
Alpha Psi		Widener University	Chester, Pennsylvania	Active	[26]
Alpha Omega	1996	Governors State University	University Park, Illinois	Inactive	[27]
Beta Alpha		Southern Utah University	Cedar City, Utah	Inactive
Beta Beta		Arizona State University	Tempe, Arizona	Inactive
Beta Gamma		Purdue University Calumet	Munster, Indiana	Inactive	[b]
Beta Delta		North Greenville University	Tigerville, South Carolina	Active
Beta Epsilon	March 12, 2002	Holy Family University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Active	[28]
Beta Zeta		Weber State University	Ogden, Utah	Active
Beta Eta		University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	Champaign, Illinois	Inactive
Beta Theta		Adelphi University	Garden City, New York	Inactive
Beta Iota		Fordham University	New York City, New York	Active	[11]
Beta Kappa		Central Connecticut State University	New Britain, Connecticut	Inactive
Beta Lambda		Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania	Lock Haven, Pennsylvania	Inactive
Beta Mu		Worcester State University	Worcester, Massachusetts	Inactive
Beta Nu		Canisius College	Buffalo, New York	Inactive
Beta Xi		University of South Carolina Upstate	Valley Falls, South Carolina	Inactive
Beta Omicron		Northeastern Illinois University	Chicago, Illinois	Inactive
Beta Pi		Monmouth University	West Long Branch, New Jersey	Active
Beta Rho		Florida Memorial University	Miami Gardens, Florida	Inactive
Beta Sigma		Queens College, City University of New York	Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York	Inactive
Eta Rho	April 2012	Texas Woman's University	Denton, Texas	Inactive	[4]
Sigma Beta		St. Bonaventure University	St. Bonaventure, New York	Inactive
Alpha Delta Alpha		Hofstra University	Hempstead, New York	Inactive
Alpha Gamma Mu		University of Texas at San Antonio	San Antonio, Texas	Active
Alpha Epsilon Chi		Judson University	Elgin, Illinois	Active
Lambda Tau Alpha		Albany State University	Albany, Georgia	Active

1. The college closed in 2016.
2. Merged to form Purdue University Northwest in 2016.

See also

• Honor cords
• Honor society
• Professioal fraternities and sororities