Kappa Mu Epsilon

KAPPA MU EPSILON is a specialized honor society in Mathematics. KME was founded in 1931 to promote the interest of mathematics among undergraduate students. Its chapters are located in colleges and universities of recognized standing which offer a strong mathematics major. The chapters' members are selected from students of mathematics and other closely related fields who have maintained standards of scholarship, have professional merit, and have attained academic distinction. Both men and women are eligible for membership.

The society has grown steadily since its founding and today has one hundred eighteen chapters and approximately sixty-one thousand members in thirty-four states.

The rapid growth of colleges and universities in the United States during the latter part of the 19th Century led to the development of professional societies in every field. Local clubs were formed in educational institutions to promote the rising professionalism, and the desire for affiliation with other groups of similar interest led to the organization of these local clubs into state and national fraternities. Various fields, such as law, medicine, science, engineering, and teaching, were eventually represented by fraternities with large memberships, and toward the beginning of the 20th Century, Pi Mu Epsilon became the leading society that was formed to encourage and honor professionalism among the nation's students of graduate mathematics. Since the first fraternities open to undergraduate students were organized by engineering and science departments in which more students tended to specialize, the need for a national society for encouraging and honoring serious students of undergraduate mathematics began to arise. Kappa Mu Epsilon was organized by Dr. Emily Kathryn Wyant in 1931 to fill this need.

Today Kappa Mu Epsilon has become a specialized honor society with one hundred twenty-nine or more active chapters, located in colleges and universities of recognized standing, which offer a strong mathematics major, in thirty-four states. The chapters' members are selected from students of mathematics or closely related fields, who have professional merit and attain academic distinction. Approximately sixty-three thousand students have been initiated so far, and since Kappa Mu Epsilon was founded, they have helped it to become more than a group of isolated chapters devoted solely to the recognition of honor students. Indeed, each chapter is encouraged to be a functional organization with extra-curricular activities that add interest to student life and departmental offerings throughout the academic year.

**If you want to know more about the Oklahoma Gamma Chapter, please feel free to contact our faculty sponsor, Dr. Mike Raney.**

Southwestern Oklahoma State University 100 Campus Drive Weatherford, OK 73096 (580) 772-6611