Sigma Lambda Alpha (sorority)

This article is about the Latina sorority. For the honor society, see Sigma Lambda Alpha (honor society).

Sigma Lambda Alpha Sorority, Inc. (ΣΛΑ) or Señoritas Latinas en Acción Sorority, Inc. is an American Latina based Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women. Sigma Lambda Alpha Sorority, Inc. was founded in the summer of 1992, at Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas, by Angeles Gonzalez and the help of five other young women. Sigma Lambda Alpha Sorority, Inc. is a Latina-founded organization and is open to all women regardless of race, nationality, or religion. The sorority is currently present in 12 campuses in Texas and Oklahoma. Though Latina-based, Sigma Lambda Upsilon Sorority, Inc. is a non-discriminatory organization. The sorority is a former member of the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations (NALFO) and was the third former sororal member to have left the umbrella organization.

Sigma Lambda Alpha
ΣΛΑ
Founded	October 20, 1992 (1992-10-20) Texas Woman's University
Type	Social and cultural interest
Affiliation	NALFO (former)
Emphasis	Latina
Scope	National
Mission statement	The mission of Sigma Lambda Alpha Sorority, Inc. is to promote the importance of community service involvement and academic achievement as well as to educate and excel the stance of Latino cultures in this diversely enriched society.
Motto	Latinas Helping Others
Colors	Burgundy   Forest green   Gold
Flower	Red rose
Jewel	Green topaz
Mascot	Bald eagle
Philanthropy	Boys & Girls Clubs of America
Chapters	12
Nicknames	Señoritas Latinas en Acción, SLA, Texas Señoritas
Headquarters	National Board of Directors P.O. Box #134 Denton, Texas 76202 USA
Website	Official website

History

Establishment

Sigma Lambda Alpha Sorority, Inc. (ΣΛΑ), otherwise known as Señoritas Latinas en Acción, was founded in the summer of 1992 by Angeles Gonzalez. As a student at Texas Woman's University, Gonzalez read an article in a Hispanic magazine about a national Hispanic sorority called Sigma Lambda Upsilon/Señoritas Latinas Unidas Sorority, Inc. Upon reading this article, she came to the realization that Latina Greek organizations were a cultural median at universities. She became interested in forming an organization that would serve as a cultural outlet on her campus.

Gonzalez wrote to the sorority for more information regarding their organization and Latino Greeks in general. She promptly received a response and was advised to begin an interest group, elect officers and choose an organizational name to start the sorority process. With the assistance of Director Linda Weber in the Office of Student Development and Robin Zaruba, Assistant Director of Activities and Orientation, Angeles Gonzalez began the process of establishing a Latina sorority at Texas Woman's University.

In the fall of 1992, Gonzalez began recruiting girls to be the “founding mothers” of the sorority and attend the first meeting. In this meeting, they discussed goals of the organization, elected officers and chose their organizational/interest group name. Sigma Lambda Alpha/Señoritas Latinas en Acción was founded on October 20, 1992 on the campus of Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas.

With the interest group of Sigma Lambda Alpha established, excitement grew with the thought of having Latina representation at TWU, however the sorority in Pennsylvania decided against beginning a chapter in Texas, because of the distance between the two states. Determined to have Hispanic representation at TWU, the founding mothers did not let this hinder the establishment of an organization. They chose to launch a new sorority based on their original group goals and combined beliefs. They elected to carry on the name of Sigma Lambda Alpha/Señoritas Latinas en Acción Inc., and created a sisterhood on the basis of cultural awareness, community service, leadership and academic achievement. The first pledge class of the Alpha chapter was inducted in the spring of 1993.

21st century

In 2011, Sigma Lambda Alpha became the youngest member organization of the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations (NALFO). In 2015 however, after only four years within the umbrella organization and for reasons unknown to the public, it would become the fifth former member to leave NALFO.

The sorority would have its first chapter outside of the state of Texas chartered in 2016 with the establishment of the Theta chapter at Oklahoma State University.

Activities

The mission of Sigma Lambda Alpha Sorority, Inc. is to promote the importance of community service involvement and academic achievement as well as to educate and excel the stance of Latino cultures in this diversely enriched society. They aim to achieve this specifically through the principles of:

• Community service
• Academic achievement
• Cultural awareness
• Sisterhood

Philanthropy

The philanthropy of the sorority is the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Mentoring programs

The mentoring program of Sigma Lambda Alpha is the ROSAS program.

Chapters

Active chapters are indicated in bold. Inactive chapters are indicated in italic.

Chapter	Chartered/Range	Institution	Location	Status	Reference
Alpha		Texas Woman's University	Denton, Texas	Active
Beta		Texas Christian University	Fort Worth, Texas	Active
Gamma		Midwestern State University	Wichita Falls, Texas	Active
Epsilon		University of Texas at San Antonio	San Antonio, Texas	Active
Zeta		University of Texas at Dallas	Richardson, Texas	Active
Eta		University of Texas at Austin	Austin, Texas	Active
Theta		Oklahoma State University–Stillwater	Stillwater, Oklahoma	Active
Iota		University of Central Oklahoma	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	Active
Omega		reserved for deceased sisters
TAMUC Associate chapter		Texas A&M University-Commerce	Commerce, Texas	Active
UCO Associate chapter		University of Central Oklahoma	Edmond, Oklahoma	Active
OCU Associate chapter		Oklahoma City University	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	Active
OU Associate chapter		University of Oklahoma	Norman, Oklahoma	Active