Epsilon Eta

Epsilon Eta (ΕΗ), also known as Ep Eta, is an American professional gender-inclusive fraternity for students interested in careers in environmental science and sustainability. It was founded in 2006 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It was the first national environmental fraternity in the United States and has grown to include chapters across the United States. There is no national organizational structure as of December 2024.

Epsilon Eta
ΕΗ
Founded	2006; 19 years ago (2006) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Type	Professional
Affiliation	Independent
Status	Active
Emphasis	Environment and sustainability
Scope	National
Pillars	Volunteerism, Sustainability, Professional Development, Social, and Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion
Colors	Kelly green,   Navy blue and   Sky blue
Tree	Oak
Chapters	20 active
Nicknames	Ep Eta, Eta (University of Michigan)
Headquarters	United States

History

Liza Schillo, an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, founded Epsilon Eta Environmental Honors Fraternity in 2006.^[1][2] It was established as a professional, gender-inclusive fraternity for individuals seeking post-graduate positions and careers in environmental science and sustainability.^{[3][1][4][5][6]} The fraternity's mission is "to promote a healthy and sustainable environment and connect students to industries, community service, and academia in pursuit of these goals."^[6]

Beta chapter at the University of Michigan was conceived by Julia Austin, Zach Fogel, Daly Kleaveland, and Julia Wang in the summer of 2014. They recruited Caitlin Climes, Sam McMullen, Josh Musicant, Dylan Nelson, and Matt Sehrsweeney to complete the group of nine founders. Beta chapter was chartered and initiated its first class in 2015.^[7] With this chapter, Epsilon Eta became first national environmental fraternity in the United States.^[1]

Originally meeting in a freshman environmental earth sciences seminar, nine sophomores formed an Epsilon Eta colony at the University of Pennsylvania in the October 2015; the colony later became Gamma chapter.^[8][9] Other chapters followed in 2016 and 2017, with North Carolina State University becoming the seventh official chapter in 2017.^[10] The twelfth chapter was established at the University of Delaware in 2018.^[10] This was followed by chapters at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and San Diego State University in 2018, and Boston University and University of Maryland, College Park in 2019.^[11][12]

By 2000, the Alpha chapter had initiated ninety members, and an executive committee was established to oversee the national fraternity.^[6] However, in the fall of 2020 three of Alpha chapter's former members publicly criticized the group "for fostering white supremacy."^[13] The fraternity's executive board and Alpha's members decided to close the chapter in September 2020. The Daily Tar Heel shared the chapter's statement: "As a historically exclusive and majority-white institution with semblances of Greek life, we have contributed to the preservation of white supremacy on UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus. Our actions have marginalized and silenced BIPOC voices. To address these injustices, we view abolition as the most direct course of action to dismantle white supremacy."^[13]

Despite this setback, new chapters formed at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2020, the University of Arizona in 2022, and the University of Virginia in 2023.^[14][15] The Alpha chapter was re-established at the University of North Carolina in September 2022 by Tayton Alvis, Sarah Masters, Zachary Miller, Gregory Mink, and Sanjana Venkatraman.^[1]

Symbols

The Greek letters Epsilon Eta stand for science and morality.^[16] Epsilon Eta's colors are Kelly green, navy blue, and sky blue.^[17][18] Its original emblem is a sky-blue shield edged in navy blue and decorated with a white three-pronged geometric knot entwined around an oak tree.^[17] A later variation of the emblem features a light green shield with a dark green emblem of leaf veins on the right half and an overlaying tree in dark green across the center.^[18]

Epsilon Eta's pillars are volunteerism, sustainability, professional development, social, and diversity, equality, and inclusion.^[19]

Membership

Membership to Epsilon Eta is not limited by major but initiates must be interested in the environmental field.^[5] The fraternity's members are divided into regular, associate, and alumni.^[6][17] Associate members are undergraduates who fail to meet the GPA or service hour requirements.^[6] Regular members and alumni may wear the fraternity's insignia.^[6]

Instead of "Bigs" and "Littles" like traditional Greek Life, some Epsilon Eta chapters use the terms "Oaks" and "Saplings".

Chapters

Following are the chapters of Epsilon Eta, with active chapters indicated in bold and inactive chapters in italics.

Chapter	Charter date and range	Institution	Location	Status	References
Alpha	2006 – September 2020; September 2022	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Chapel Hill, North Carolina	Active	[6][20][1][21]
Beta	2015	University of Michigan	Ann Arbor, Michigan	Active	[5]
Gamma	October 2015	University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Active	[22][8][a]
Delta	January 27, 2017	Longwood University	Farmville, Virginia	Active	[23][24][b]
Epsilon	2016	University of Oregon	Eugene, Oregon	Inactive?	[25]
Delta	2017	University of Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Active	[26][27][b]
Iota	2017	North Carolina State University	Raleigh, North Carolina	Active	[16][28]
Kappa	2017	Cornell University	Ithaca, New York	Active	[4][29][30]
Lambda	2017	University of California, Berkeley	Berkeley, California	Active	[31][32]
Mu	201x ?	Drake University	Des Moines, Iowa	Active	[33][c]
Mu	2018	University of Delaware	Newark, Delaware	Active	[34][35][10][c]
	2018	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	Urbana, Illinois	Active	[11][36]
Omicron	2018	San Diego State University	San Diego, California	Active	[20][37]
Pi	2018	Boston University	Boston, Massachusetts	Active	[38][6][39]
Sigma	2019	Nova Southeastern University	Fort Lauderdale, Florida	Active	[40][41]
Upsilon	2019	University of Maryland, College Park	College Park, Maryland	Active	[12][42]
	2020	Virginia Commonwealth University	Richmond, Virginia	Active	[43]
Tau	2022	University of Arizona	Tucson, Arizona	Active	[15]
Upsilon	2023	University of Virginia	Charlottesville, Virginia	Active	[14]
Phi	2025	Vanderbilt University	Nashville, Tennessee	Active	[44]
Psi	2025	Indiana University Bloomington	Bloomington, Indiana	Active	[45]

1. Chapter colonized in October 2015.
2. Both the Longwood University and the University of Pittsburgh chapters call themselves the Delta chapter in their constitution/bylaws.
3. Both the Drake University and University of Delaware chapters refer to themselves as Mu chapter on their Instagram profile.

See also

• Professional fraternities and sororities