HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY AND CHAPTER

Sigma Theta Tau was founded by six nurses at Indiana University School of Nursing in 1922. The founders chose the name from the Greek words Storga, Tharos, and Tima meaning "love," "courage" and "honor." The founders' vision for the society helped bring recognition to nursing as a science.

The society became incorporated in 1995 as Sigma Theta Tau International, Inc., to support and connect the global community of nursing scholars who enhance health care worldwide. The society is a not-for-profit organization.

The Zeta Kappa Chapter was founded in 1982 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas by the School of Nursing. Since that time, approximately 600 UNLV nursing students and community nurses have been inducted into the Zeta Kappa Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, and at the present time, we have over 300 current members. We celebrated our 20th anniversary celebration in the Fall, 2002.

MISSION AND MEMBERSHIP

The mission of Sigma Theta Tau is to foster, develop and connect nurse scholars and leaders worldwide to improve health care worldwide. The society promotes nursing excellence through its initiatives in research, leadership, an electronic library, programming and publications as well as developing and distributing nursing knowledge for use in practice.

The membership includes more than one quarter of a million nurse scholars. It is the second largest and one of the most prestigious nursing organizations in the world. The society's members are active in more than 78 countries and territories, and 383 chapter honor societies are located on more than 450 college and university campuses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia.

Membership is by invitation to baccalaureate and graduate nursing students who demonstrate excellence in scholarship, and to community leaders who demonstrate exceptional achievement in nursing.