Alpha Psi Omega
honor society

Alpha Psi Omega National Theatre Honor Society (ΑΨΩ) is an international recognition fraternity for participants in collegiate theatre. It was established in 1925 at Fairmont State Normal School, now Fairmont State University. The society has established more than 1,000 chapters in the United States, Canada, and Egypt. In 1929, Alpha Psi Omega helped established its sister organizations: Delta Psi Omega, an honor society for junior colleges, and the International Thespian Society honor society for high schools.
History
Alpha Psi Omega
Alpha Psi Omega National Honorary Dramatic Fraternity was founded by Paul F. Opp, professor of English, speech, and drama at Fairmont State Normal School, in 1925 in the Hardway Administration Building. Opp founded the fraternity after both Theta Alpha Phi and the National Collegiate Players/Pi Epsilon Delta denied charter petitions for Fairmont State College because teacher training schools did not qualify for membership.
Alpha Psi Omega chartered its first cast or chapter on August 12, 1925, formed from The Masquers drama club at Fairmont State University. Elinor B. Watson and Robert Sloan were the first student members. This was followed by the chartering of Beta cast at Marshall College. Eighteen additional casts were chartered in the next twelve months.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4735109. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1925 and 1929.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alpha Psi Omega” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.