University of Connecticut

Connecticut Alpha

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Our Roots

Connecticut Alpha was officially installed on April 10, 1943, by past Grand President Amy Burnham Onken, Illinois Epsilon. Installation activities took place at the Community House on campus, and the banquet featured wine and silver blue decorations and programs hand painted by Vermont Beta Suzanne Hopson. Many fraternities also sent celebratory flower arrangements, including Sigma Chi which was installed the same day.

Notable Chapter Alumnae

Patricia Pritzkau MacLachlan

Children’s Author

Patricia Pritzkau MacLachlan

Children’s Author

Patricia MacLachlan is one of the most celebrated voices in American children’s literature, with a career spanning several decades and more than 60 published books. Her writing is known for its spare, lyrical prose and its tender treatment of themes like family, loss and belonging—qualities that have made her books staples in classrooms and homes across North America.

She is best known for “Sarah, Plain and Tall,” a novel about a mail-order bride joining a frontier family on the prairie. Published in 1985, the book was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1986, one of the most prestigious honors in children’s literature, and was adapted into a 1991 television film starring Glenn Close and Christopher Walken. The book’s success launched a series of four sequels.

Patricia was initiated in 1958.

Chapter Awards

2008

Spirit Award

2019

Spirit Award

2019

Spirit Award