The sisterhood of Sigma Omicron Pi was established at San Francisco State University in 1930 by ten Asian American women pursuing the interest of teaching. They chose the Greek letters, S, O and P to represent themselves as the "Sisters of Pedagogy." The Constitution was derived from an existing "Honorary Society of Education."

The sorority was active in the Asian Community for the next 15 years. At the advent of World War II, the organization was forced to become inactive. In 1946, a group of women from UC Berkeley re-established Sigma Omicron Pi on their campus. Since its inception, SOPi has grown in membership with student chapters at:

Beta Chapter - San Francisco State University, 1988
Gamma Chapter - San Jose State University, 1992
Delta Chapter - UC Davis, 1993
Epsilon Chapter - Sacramento State University, 1993
Zeta Chapter - UC Santa Cruz, 1995
Eta Chapter - University of Maryland, 1997
Theta Chapter - UC Irvine, 2001
Iota Chapter - Pennsylvania State University, 2001
Kappa Chapter - UC San Diego, 2002
Lambda Chappter - Baltimore, Maryland, 2002
Mu Chapter - UC Riverside, 2003
Nu Chapter - Binghamton University, State University of New York, 2008

Though the sorority was no longer centered around the interest of teaching, it still maintained its commitment to the Asian American Community. All of the chapters became extremely involved in their respective communities, volunteering their time at community agencies and raising money to donate to favorable charities. Sigma Omicron Pi earned a respectable reputation as a benefactor to the Asian American cause.

The purpose of Sigma Omicron Pi is to promote unity, lifelong friendships, leadership, and community service. This organization offers women a supportive network of sisters to achieve academic and social growth. The sisterhood of Sigma Omicron Pi provides an environment where sisters may utilize and develop their organizational skills.

Each one of our sisters has different interests and aspirations, yet we all share one common ground - Sigma Omicron Pi. We have based our sisterhood on four objectives - UNITY, FRIENDSHIP, LEADERSHIP and SERVICE. In addition, Sigma Omicron Pi has a tradition of lifelong friendship that has prevailed for over 7 decades.

 

In the Spring of 2001, the sisterhood of Sigma Omicron Pi recognized twelve exceptional women from the University of California, Irvine, as their Theta Chapter. This story began more than a year before as these girls joined together with the shared desire of eternal sisterhood to establish this eighth chapter as the first in Southern California. These women sought out a sisterhood based on friendship, trust and loyalty that could match the dreams that they saw within each other. In order to make this dream a reality, these 12 women willed together their determination, heart, and minds, and dedicated themselves to their goal.

As group of young freshman, these women began their journey to Sigma Omicron Pi in March of 2000. Their perseverance led them to being granted Charter Pledge Class status on November 18, 2000. All existing chapters of Sigma Omicron Pi took part in teaching this Theta Chapter, Charter Pledge Class, exactly what it meant to be a part of such a strong sisterhood. The sisters of SOPi instilled within this class, a foundation passed along through over seven decades of sisters, from which Theta Chapter was to be built upon. The Charter Class learned not only unity, friendship, leadership, and service as the objectives of Sigma Omicron Pi, but they also came to understand the true meaning of these words from the many lessons taught by the sisters.

Under the guidance of their Gamma Chapter based pledge coordinator Kelly Morrow, Theta Chapter's Charter Pledge Class completed their pledge period and crossed into the sisterhood of Sigma Omicron Pi on March 31, 2001. Their goal had been reached, and their expectations for an eternal sisterhood and lifelong friendships had been surpassed by the reality of what Sigma Omicron Pi had to offer to all of its sisters. Their lives had been changed by this unmatchable learning and growing experience, and they set forth to making the Theta Chapter experience as strong and powerful to all women who crossed into its house, as it had been for these first twelve in Charter Class.