Phi Psi () is a professional fraternity in the field of textile arts and manufacturing engineering.
History
Phi Psi was established as a professional textiles fraternity on at the Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its five Founders were: Harold H. Hart Charles A. Kalenbach Henry W. Eddy Robert M. Baeny Paul Benninghoffen
Established at the turn of the 20th Century, Phi Psi had three aims: to promote fellowship among men of textile colleges and universities with textile departments; to encourage high standards in textile work; and, to assist, by every honorable means, the advancement of its members.
The fraternity quickly expanded to several Massachusetts textile schools, then the center of textile manufacturing in the US. Its Beta chapter was formed at Southeastern Massachusetts (at Dartmouth, Massachusetts), and Gamma chapter at Lowell Tech, just a year () after its national founding.
The fraternity's first alumni chapter was established in in Boston, Massachusetts.
The nation's textile industry center, previously in New England, shifted to the southern states. With this, chapters were opened in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Alabama. A total of ten collegiate chapters were formed, and twelve alumni chapters.
Members from the Fraternity's Alpha chapter began a search for a national social fraternity to join. In what appears to be a friendly schism, a majority or all of its members formed a separate organization from Phi Psi, their original professional fraternity, on when they were accepted as the Pennsylvania Omicron chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon. Yet the Alpha chapter of Phi Psi continued independently on the campus, remaining active today.
Chapter naming traditions may have diverged: the Gamma chapter at Lowell Tech may have inserted the Gamma from its name into its national name, calling itself the Phi Gamma Psi fraternity.
Traditions and insignia
Phi Psi's colors are black and gold.
The fraternity flower is the Yellow Tea Rose.
The official badge is described as a diamond-shaped emblem with a gold border and four perpendicular gold bars on a black face. The Greek letters and are in the center, rendered in gold.
The quarterly publication is The Phi Psi Quarterly.
Chapters
Chapter information from Baird's Manual (20th), which at that time reported approximately 6,000 members. Apparently, some chapter names of the standard alphabetical order were not used. Merged chapters noted in italics. As of 2020, Eta chapter at North Carolina State University is the last remaining active chapter due to it having the last freestanding textile college in the United States.