This article is about the professional funeral service practitioners fraternity. For the dormant national social fraternity with the same letter name, see Sigma Phi Sigma.
Sigma Phi Sigma was formed in the fall of 1965 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.[1] Its mission is to promote continuing education, professionalism, and a sense of social responsibility amongst college students studying to be licensed funeral directors throughout the United States.
Membership in Sigma Phi Sigma is limited to college students studying funeral services.[2] The fraternity does not hold a rush for membership.[3] It is coed.[4]
The fraternity admits chapters at four-year schools as well as community colleges that offer funerary service and mortuary science programs.
The fraternity sponsors service projects such as cleaning headstones in local cemeteries.[5][6] Its members have also supported charities by participating in food drives and blood drives; holding fundraisers such as bake sales, haunted houses, and golf tournaments; and volunteering.[5][2][7][3][8] They also create educational displays for professional conventions.[3] The Gamma chapter at the University of Central Oklahoma has a restored horse-drawn hearse that is used in the university's homecoming parade.[3][9]Gamma also provides two scholarships to funeral service majors each year.[3]
^The chapter name and charter date are approximated from a 1966 graduate of the Kentucky School of Mortuary Science who was a member of Sigma Phi Sigma. The school closed in September 1980.
^"Completes Course". Idaho State Journal. Pocatello, Idaho. 1970-08-30. p. 25. Retrieved 2023-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Pfrang-Arvin". The Times-Mail. Bedford, Indiana. 1980-11-02. p. 33. Retrieved 2023-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Davis Joines Buckner-Jones Staff". St. Mary and Franklin Banner-Tribune. Franklin, Louisiana. 1981-12-04. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.