Founders

In the early 1980s there was a national push to interest women in engineering. The female engineering students at Marquette University, including Little Sisters of both Sigma Phi Delta and Triangle Fraternities, started meeting in hopes of forming an organization to increase the number of women in engineering. They decided to form a Sorority, and Alpha Omega Epsilon was founded on November 13, 1983. On March 22, 1984, the Associated Students of Marquette University voted on and approved the constitution, and Alpha Omega Epsilon became a recognized student organization on Marquette University's campus. As a recognized local sorority, Alpha Omega Epsilon was represented at the 1984-85 Panhellenic Conference winning the Presidential office and attaining representatives. The first Alpha Chapter candidate class was initiated in the Fall of 1984 which nearly doubled its membership from the twenty-seven founding members.

Alpha Omega Epsilon Founding Members

Margaret Denzin (EECS) Catherine Lewis (BE) Kristin Schneider (EE)
Marie Ferris (BE) Chris Ludwig (EE) Lori Ann Sienicki (EE)
Brenda Kay Herold (EECS) Lisa MacIsaac (BE) Mary Ruth Szews (EE)
Deborah Hoffman (ME) Ann Mahnke (BE) Tu Quynh Tran (EE)
Kimberly Hubbard (EECS) Kathy Rectenwald (EE) Sheri Weber (EE)
Maureen Kerrigan (CE) Eileen Robarge (EE) Teresa Williamson (EE)
Susanne Koth (EE) Felice M. Roberts (EE) Susan Wimmer (EE)
Linda Kresmer (EE) Patricia Rogers (EE) Carmen Valazco (ME)
Lou Ann Lathrop (EE) Victoria Schlicht (CE) Lily Ying (EE)

"Challenges probably arose more often than we would like to admit … but in the end where there is a will, there is a way and we proved that! " ~ Brenda Herold

"it was the desire to provide a network for women in engineering that would meet our needs, both professionally and socially" ~ Susan (Wimmer) Golen Paulson

"We were starting a new trend and creating a new way for women in Engineering to benefit from the friendships and camaraderie of a sorority."  ~ Deborah Hoffman

"...months and years of hard work had come to fruition"  ~ Lou Ann Lathrop