Sarah is the President of Kappa Pi

The Alpha Tau Chapter of Kappa Pi re-chartered in September with 21 Charter members and 2 faculty advisors: Dan Gunderson (a faculty sponsor of Kappa Pi in the 1970s as well) and Katya Kudryavtseva. As art students at Stetson, we feel it is our responsibility to provide a haven for fellow artists while also furthering the best interest of art on campus and in our community.
Kappa Pi fosters art students and professionals in their success, talent, creativity, and scholarship.

We are bringing Kappa Pi back to Stetson to raise the artistic awareness and influence that we feel has been lost at Stetson.

Kappa Pi National Art Fraternity was originally founded in 1911 at the University of Kentucky. It is the oldest art fraternity among colleges and universities. The original purpose of Kappa Pi was to promote an interest in art and to create a sincere love of beauty and appreciation of art.

The original group of art students organized Kappa Pi as a sort of “study group” to discuss and critique their own works. After three years of support and growth, nearby universities took interest in the art club’s success. By 1914, four additional chapters were established at Center College in Kentucky, Columbia University, Vanderbilt University, and Purdue.

Today, Kappa Pi has over 70 active chapters, but has had over 360 chapters since it was founded. Kappa Pi became an international organization in 1963 by establishing a chapter in the Philippines. Chapters followed in Mexico and Germany. Kappa Pi recently changed their name to Kappa Pi International Art Honor Society to emphasize their global encouragement of academics and scholarship.

The Hatter Art Club was formed at Stetson University in 1935 with Ms. Edith Harvey as director. In May 1946, the art club was chartered as the Alpha Tau chapter of Kappa Pi National Art Fraternity, but sadly disassembled in the late 1970s.

This year, we plan to create a strong foundation of goals, traditions, and community relationship. Kappa Pi will establish artistic experiences and events for students to broaden their understandings of art, strengthen Stetson’s artistic community as a whole, and form coalitions with local school district’s art departments to support and promote their students and art appreciation. Our members represent the diversity of art students at Stetson. Each member encompasses their own personalized style and artistic preference based on their own experiences, inspirations, and goals.

Kappa Pi is very excited to bring a major positive impact on the Stetson community.