Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority will return to campus for formal recruitment next semester after a five-year hiatus from Penn State. Penn State’s chapter was closed by its national organization in 2013 due to low recruitment numbers. Before it shut down, the chapter had been on campus for 25 years.

Shortly after the chapter closed five years ago, the national organization began planning its return to Penn State. The return came earlier than expected at the university’s request due to fewer chapters on campus and an unchanged level of interest in sorority recruitment, according to Tri Sig Director of Growth Initiatives Katelyn Whitty. 

“We’re going to fit in as much as we can into the Panhellenic community,” Whitty said. “But we want to stand out in those ways that are really great: providing leadership opportunities, providing leadership development programming, giving them a place they can grow, and to decide what their traditions will be here at Penn State.”

Tri Sig works with the Sigma Serves Children, which partners with March of Dimes to provide prenatal care and pediatric assistance.

Because the chapter is reopening at Penn State, leadership positions are wide open for potential new members.

“I think the best part of being in a new chapter at a large and old school like Penn State is being able to write yourself into the history,” said Ellen Elmore, Tri Sig’s assistant director of new chapter growth. “Thinking about charter classes from 50, 60, or 100 years ago, you get to be that for Tri Sigma here.”

Formal sorority recruitment for the Panhellenic Council begins January 29, 2019. Bid Day is set for February 18, 2019.