Phi Mu was founded in 1852 by Mary (DuPont) Lines, Mary (Myrick) Daniel, and Martha (Hardaway) Redding at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. Initially, Phi Mu started as a literary society - The Philomathian Society - and is the second oldest female fraternal organization in the United States. In 1904, the society joined the National Pahlenneic Conference and gained the Greek letters "Phi Mu'".

Now 172 years later, Phi Mu has 131 active collegiate chapters, 119 alumni chapters, and over 215,000 initiated members nationally. Throughout that time, Phi Mu has provided personal and academic development, service to others, commitment to excellence, and lifelong friendships through a shared tradition. Phi Mu promotes vibrant living encouraging members to achieve their personal best.

Phi Mu First

In 1968, Phi Mu became the first sorority to introduce a new concept of chapter programming: chapters would have one business meeting and three program meetings per month called “Chapter Developments.”
In 1996, Phi Mu became the first sorority to establish an endowed fund within the newly created National Panhellenic Conference Foundation. The fund was for an academic excellence program.
In 1999, Phi Mu became the first sorority to establish a National Philanthropy Day, a day dedicated to hands-on philanthropic service which takes place on the third Monday in October.
In 2011, Phi Mu introduced National Ritual Celebration Week, a week to raise awareness of the importance of ritual and allow collegiate and alumnae members to reflect personally on our ritual and embrace the ritual of other interfraternal organizations. Phi Mu invited all interfraternal Greek organizations and campuses with a fraternity/sorority community to participate in National Ritual Celebration Week.

Phi Mu - Zeta Eta was installed at the University of Minnesota on January 8th, 1925. The original chapter was highly active on campus for 45 years before closing its doors in 1970. Zeta Eta was chartered to campus in 2016, making us currently the youngest sorority on the University of Minnesota campus.

Past archives regarding Zeta Eta can be found in the Phi Mu Digital Archives here