In the spring semester of 2008 at the University of Southern California, seven leaders were brought together in a course taught by then USC president, Dr. Steven B. Sample and leadership guru Dr. Warren G. Bennis. This course focused intensively upon leadership development, bringing together some of the most prolific leaders on campus to study past leaders, collaborate with one another, and engage in dialogue about issues facing the world.

One of the focuses of the class was a group project with a simple objective: to observe and practice leadership.  Seven leaders—Chris Cass, Raquel Lucente, Jeffrey Okita, Kristen Priddy, Max Slavkin, Mike Thomsen, and Miya Williams— were teamed up to complete this group project.  The seven founders saw an opportunity in that there were no existing professional fraternities whose focus was to actively train their members to further their development as leaders.  Thus, our fraternity, originally named Delta Omega Zeta, was formed.  In January 2010 our name was changed to Delta Omicron Zeta in order to facilitate the process of incorporation and expansion.

The Founding Seven envisioned what is now Delta Omicron Zeta as a fraternity that trains its members to introspectively analyze and critique their own leadership style while also giving leaders from all over campus a venue in which to collaborate with each other.  Delta Omicron Zeta would provide its members with the ability to study leadership in a practical way such that the lessons learned could be transmitted back to each active’s respective organizations. The fraternity would thus become a hub for leadership on every college campus with which it is affiliated.

An arduous semester of planning, recruiting, and training ensued.  Due to time constraints, recruitment began just one week after the Delta Omicron Zeta idea was born.  The Founding Seven took on the role of facilitating the Journeyman Program for the Alpha Class—planning events, leading discussions, securing guest speakers, and organizing the chapter operations.  After six weeks were up and the Journeyman Program completed, the Founding Seven decided to pass the general operations of the Alpha Chapter to the Alpha Class.  While the new members took up leadership of the Alpha Chapter of Delta Omicron Zeta, the Founding Seven took on the roles of the National Council, each taking a crucial position in the national entity, now an official 501(c)(3) corporation, with the intention to expand the fraternity to other campuses in the coming years.

The history of Delta Omicron Zeta is still new and dramatically changing.  We invite you to take part in creating it.