Delta Kappa Alpha

Delta Kappa Alpha
ΔΚΑ
Founded	March 16, 1936 University of Southern California, (Los Angeles, California)
Type	Professional
Emphasis	Cinematic Arts
Scope	National
Mission statement	The mission of Delta Kappa Alpha is to foster lifelong character, collaborative and creative storytelling, ethical and productive business practices, philanthropic action, and fraternal bonds by and between students of the cinematic arts.
Vision statement	The vision of Delta Kappa Alpha is to be recognized as the premier institute of upstanding entertainment industry leaders.
Motto	Truth in Illusion
Slogan	Cinematic Artists of Character
Colors	Deep Royal Blue      Old Gold
Symbol	Movie camera
Flower	White Carnation
Mascot	Dragon
Publication	"CineJournal"
Homepage	Delta Kappa Alpha National Website

Delta Kappa Alpha (ΔΚΑ) is a national gender-inclusive cinematic professional fraternity founded in 1936, at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California.

According to USC's cinema website, "Recognized by the School of Cinematic Arts as the official professional cinema fraternity at the University of Southern California, DKA engages the community through philanthropic, social, and professional events. The goal of this gender-inclusive fraternity is to establish meaningful relationships and camaraderie between students highly committed and interested in the film industry and in the cinematic arts."^[1]

History

Delta Kappa Alpha was founded in 1936, at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, originally as a group for cinematographers. Soon the Alpha chapter encompassed all undergraduate divisions at the School of Cinematic Arts, including Film & TV Production, Critical Studies, Writing for Screen & Television, Animation & Digital Arts, and most recently Interactive Entertainment.^[2] Today, ten men are honored as Delta Kappa Alpha's founding members:^[3]

• Allen K. Dallas
• William A. Halpern
• John W. Findlater
• Donald Fischer
• Jack H. McClelland
• Terry Bissinger
• Robert V. Rogers
• Louis Tarleton
• Robert Turner
• Peter Kinnel

Allen K. Dallas served as the first President of Delta Kappa Alpha.

The Alpha chapter had considerable influence in its first incarnation from 1936 until the mid-1980s. The fraternity had its own office within the School of Cinematic Arts building, equivalent to the current Student Production Office in today's SCA complex.

The fraternity also held annual banquets to honor notable contributors to the cinematic arts. Film legends such as Alfred Hitchcock and Fred Astaire were inducted into the fraternity as honorary members.^[4] Hollywood heavyweights such as Sophia Loren, George Cukor, and Judy Garland were known to attend these events.^[5]

The fraternity was in its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, when Dirty Dozen members George Lucas and Howard Kazanjian were among its members. There were 5 national chapters with a membership of 1500 in 1965.^[6] However, by the mid-1980s the Alpha chapter as well as other chapters in the United States and South America had disbanded.^[7] Despite no longer being on campus, USC still held a "DKA film series" of screenings from 1982 until the late 2000s at the Norris Cinema Theater on campus, drawing hour-long lines every Friday.^[8][9] All of the chapters deactivated because the National Fraternity lacked an Executive Office, keeping it from surviving the anti-establishment period that shut down chapters and Greek organizations across the country. Former National President and National Secretary Herbert E. Farmer protected the Fraternity’s History through his well-preserved archive. This made it possible for the Fraternity to be resurrected at the University of Southern California in 2009 by Grace Lee and Hillary Levi. With the help of leading fraternity experts and consultants, the Fraternity now thrives with its overhauled and significantly improved national structure, growing expansion projects, passionate membership, and close-knit alumni.

Today

In the spring of 2009,^[10] a group of students at USC resurfaced the Alpha chapter, and has since grown to be the largest undergraduate student group at the School of Cinematic Arts,^[11] again encompassing all divisions of study and bringing guests such as Alan Myerson,^[12] John Landis,^[13] and John C. McGinley (on behalf of Spread the Word to End the Word)^[14] to campus as part of its DKA Speaker Series. In 2012, the National Organization was revived and improved to allow for structure for organization and growth, continuity, national identity, expansion to other campuses, and much more.

Delta Kappa Alpha chapters are organized into Resident Councils, which include the current student members of a chapter and Graduate Councils made up of all members who have graduated or left school. Each council of a chapter is entitled to a vote at the National Convention, which meets every two years and is the highest level of authority in the organization. The convention elects National Council members who serve as a board of directors for the fraternity and governs between conventions. In the off-year where National Conventions are not held, a convention called 'Conclave' is held. The purpose of Conclave is to further create community between the chapters and share ideas.

The National Organization is made up of multiple corporations, including the Delta Kappa Alpha Foundation. The Delta Kappa Alpha Foundation was created in 2013 as a separate charitable organization. As a public, charitable, and educational Foundation the mission of the Delta Kappa Alpha Foundation is to insure the development of philanthropic support necessary to sustain high levels of educational programming by fostering lifelong relationships and commitment to the Fraternity’s ideals. The key functions of the separate organization are rooted in the idea that the Foundation must provide vehicles for members to fulfill their lifelong commitment to Delta Kappa Alpha and to fellow brothers and sisters.

The Chief Executive Officer executes the National Council’s plan and serves as a mediator between the Council and Foundation Board. The Fraternity Executive Offices staff assists with implementing said plan. The staff is divided into four departments: Chapter services, education (career support), finance, and communications.

Delta Kappa Alpha's national partner is SeriousFun.

Type of Fraternity: National, Honorary, Values-Based, Professional, Gender-Inclusive

Fraternity Colors: Deep Royal Blue and Old Gold

Fraternity Symbol: Film Camera

Fraternity Mascot: Dragon

Fraternity Flower: White Carnation

Verbal Fraternity Nickname: DeKA (Pronounced ˈdekə) Meaning: "10" / "ten" in Greek, representing the 10 Founders and the 10 Jewels of a Delta Kappa Alpha Member. (Ex. I am a DeKA. DeKA’s having a screening tomorrow.)

Public Slogan: Cinematic Artists of Character

Open Motto: “ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑ ΣΤΗΝ ΠΑΡΑΙΣΘΗΣΗ” or “Truth in Illusion”

Meaning of Fraternity Letters: Delta (Dramatic), Kappa (Kinematic), Alpha (Aesthetic)

Collegiate Chapters

Greek	Chapter	Established	University	City	State	Region
Α	Alpha	1936 *	University of Southern California	Los Angeles	California	Pacific
Β	Beta	1949 *	Boston University	Boston	Massachusetts	New England
Γ	Gamma	1950 *	New York University	New York	New York	Mid-Atlantic
Δ	Delta	1953 *	University of California, Los Angeles	Los Angeles	California	Pacific
Ε	Epsilon	2010	San Francisco State University	San Francisco	California	Pacific
Ζ	Zeta	2013	Chapman University	Orange	California	Pacific
Η	Eta	2013	University of California, Berkeley	Berkeley	California	Pacific
Θ	Theta	2013	Loyola Marymount University	Los Angeles	California	Pacific
Ι	Iota	2013	George Mason University	Fairfax	Virginia	Mid-Atlantic
Κ	Kappa	2013	University of Tampa	Tampa	Florida	South Atlantic
Λ	Lambda	2013	University of Texas at Austin	Austin	Texas	West South Central
Μ	Mu	2013	Columbia University	New York	New York	Mid-Atlantic
Ν	Nu	2014	American University	Washington	D.C.	Mid-Atlantic
Ξ	Xi	2014	University of Miami	Miami	Florida	South Atlantic
Ο	Omicron	2014	Syracuse University	Syracuse	New York	Mid-Atlantic
Π	Pi	2014	Ithaca College	Ithaca	New York	Mid-Atlantic
Ρ	Rho	2016	Emerson College	Boston	Massachusetts	New England
Σ	Sigma	2016	University of Arizona	Tucson	Arizona	Mountain

* previously inactive.

Notable alumni

• Alfred Hitchcock^[15]
• Lucille Ball^[15]
• Joe E. Brown^[15]
• Frank Capra^[15]
• George Cukor^[15]
• John Cromwell^[15]
• Irene Dunne^[15]
• Kirk Douglas^[15]
• Blake Edwards^[15]
• Gene Fowler^[15]
• John G. Frayne^[15]
• Arthur Freed^[15]
• Karl Freund^[15]
• William Goetz^[15]
• James Wong Howe^[15]
• John Huston^[15]
• Ub Iwerks^[15]
• Chuck Jones^[15]
• Gene Kelly^[15]
• Stanley Kramer^[15]
• Jack Lemmon^[15]
• Harold Lloyd^[15]
• Michelle Manning^[15]
• Steven Spielberg^[15]
• Arthur Miller^[15]
• Jack Oakie^[15]
• Gregory Peck^[15]
• William Perlberg^[15]
• Mary Pickford^[15]
• Miklos Rosza^[15]
• Rosalind Russell^[15]
• George Seaton^[15]
• Mark Serrurier^[15]
• Robert Snyder^[15]
• George Stevens^[15]
• Gloria Swanson^[15]
• Norman Taurog^[15]
• Slavko Vorkapich^[15]
• King Vidor^[15]
• Hal Wallis^[15]
• Jack L. Warner^[15]
• Wally Westmore^[15]
• Haskell Wexler^[15]
• Billy Wilder^[15]
• Elmo Williams^[15]
• Robert Wise^[15]
• William Wyler^[15]
• Fred Zinnemann^[15]
• Adolph Zukor^[15]
• Cecil B. DeMille^[15]
• Sir Cedric Hardwicke^[15]
• Jesse Lasky^[15]
• William Cameron Menzies^[15]
• William Seiter^[15]
• Gregg Toland^[15]
• Jerry Wald^[15]
• Julie Andrews^[15]
• Orson Welles^[15]
• Fred Astaire^[15]
• Lucien Ballard^[15]
• Anne Baxter^[15]
• William Castle^[15]
• Stanley Cortez^[15]
• Delmer Daves^[15]
• Stanley Donen^[15]
• Allan Dwan^[15]
• Rudi Fehr^[15]
• Sylvia Fine^[15]
• Glenn Ford^[15]
• Lee Garmes^[15]
• Greer Garson^[15]
• John Green^[15]
• Conrad Hall^[15]
• Henry Hathaway^[15]
• Howard Hawks^[15]
• Edith Head^[15]
• Ross Hunter^[15]
• Mervyn LeRoy^[15]
• Norman Jewison^[15]
• Sol Lesser^[15]
• Rouben Mamoulian^[15]
• Walter Matthau^[15]
• Steve McQueen^[15]
• Paul Newman^[15]
• David Raksin^[15]
• Hal Roach^[15]
• Barbara Stanwyck^[15]
• Jimmy Stewart^[15]
• Daniel Taradash^[15]
• William Tuttle^[15]
• Mae West^[15]
• Charles Wheeler^[15]
• Joanne Woodward^[15]
• William A. Fraker^[15]
• Jerry Goldsmith^[15]
• Albert Whitlock^[15]
• Charles Brackett^[15]
• John Ford^[15]
• Fritz Lang^[15]
• Frances Marion^[15]
• Lawrence Weingarten^[15]
• Director George Lucas^[15][16]
• Producer Howard Kazanjian^[15][16]
• Steve Bloom^[15]
• Editor Arthur Schneider^[17]

Delta Kappa Alpha dinners and honorees

Delta Kappa Alpha had an annual banquets in January/February which honored figures in the Cinema industry and presented them with honorary membership in the fraternity. Honorees include:

• 1953 Arthur Charles Miller^[18]
• 1957 William A. Seiter^[19]
• 1957 (November) Gene Kelly^[20]
• 1958 Cecil B. Demille^[21]
• 1959 George Cukor^[21]
• 1961 Greer Garson and Kirk Douglas^[22]
• 1963 (25th anniversary) Mary Pickford and Harold Lloyd^[23]
• 1964 Gloria Swanson, Adolph Zukor, Jack Lemmon, Charles Brackett, and Billy Wilder^[24][25]
• 1965 Rosalind Russell, Norman Taurog and Robert Wise^[6]
• 1966 Lucille Ball, Gregory Peck and Hal Wallis^[26]
• 1967 Irene Dunne and Jack Oakie^[27]
• 1968 Mae West, Mervyn LeRoy and James Stewart^[28]
• 1969 Conrad Hall and Kathryn Ross ^[29]
• 1970 Julie Andrews and Norman Jewison^[30]
• 1972 Edith Head, Alfred Hitchcock, Walter Matthau and Sidney J. Solow, president of Consolidated Film Industries^[31][32]
• 1973 Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Daniel Taradash and Lester Novros^[33]
• 1974 Barbara Stanwyck, Johnny Green and William Castle^[34]
• 1975 Fred Astaire and Stanley Donen^[35]
• 1976 Glenn Ford^[36]
• 1977 Albert Whitlock^[37]
• 1978 Disney's Nine Old Men^[38] and Neil Simon ^[39]
• 1979 Russ Meyer^[40]
• 2014 Herbert E. Farmer ^[41][42]

Additional Honorary Members

• 1959 John G. Frayne^[43]

References

1. USC School of Cinematic Arts website
2. SCA Undergraduate Programs
4. DKA Alpha chapter website
5. "USC President Rufus von KleinSmid, Sophia Loren, George Cukor, and Judy Garland at a DKA event circa 1959."
6. USC's El Rodeo Yearbook 1965 p178
7. DKA Beta chapter website
8. Daily Trojan article, "DKA movies a Friday tradition"
9. "Oct 2, 2007 ... Friday, DKA Film Series is showing Pirates of the Caribbean."
10. "Delta Kappa Alpha (DKA) is the resurrected cinema fraternity..."
11. DKA Alpha chapter website
12. DKA Presents a Q&A with Alan Myerson
13. A Question and Answer Session lead by USC’s Cinema Fraternity
14. Daily Trojan article, "Spread the Word to End the Word’ comes to USC"
15. Delta Kappa Alpha History
16. Skywalking: the life and films of George Lucas
17. George Schlatter and Arthur Schneider, Jump Cut: Memoirs of a Pioneer Television Editor, McFarland & Co Inc (31 Jul 1997), ISBN 978-0-7864-0345-5
18. Lensman to Be Honored by Fraternity
19. Fraternity to Induct
20. Fraternity to Honor Gene Kelly
21. Tierney Film return set
22. Greer Garson and Kirk Douglas with Awards
23. America's Sweetheart remembered
24. Past, Present Merge for Mutual Love of Movies
25. Realistic Locales Seen Aiding Actors
26. USC Fraternity Cites 3 Film-TV Personalities
27. Hollywood Celebs Send Second String for Awards
28. Nostalgia was the keynote, Mae West stole the show
30. Bouquets for Notables at Film Banquet
31. Film Notables Receive Honorary Tribute
32. Journal of the University Film Association Vol. 24, No. 1/2, 1972
33. Paul Newman joins Ingmar Bergman Cult
34. Fraternity Fetes Stanwyck, Green, Castle
35. Tributes to Fred
36. Glen Ford's Delta Kappa Alpha Certificate
37. The late Albert Whitlock was one of movie history’s most skilled illusionists.
38. Chronology of the Walt Disney Company
39. Neil Simon to Move Back to New York
40. Russ Meyer--the life and films: a biography and a comprehensive, illustrated
43. Journal of the University Film Producers Vol. 11, No. 4, SUMMER, 1959

External links

• Delta Kappa Alpha National Website
• Delta Kappa Alpha, USC (Alpha)
• Delta Kappa Alpha, SFSU (Epsilon)
• USC School of Cinematic Arts