Early in 1923, several seniors in the College of Engineering at the University of Maryland who had high scholastic rankings met to organize a local honorary engineering fraternity. As a result of this meeting, and with the approval of the president of the university, the honorary engineering fraternity Phi Mu was officially formed at the University of Maryland with the adoption of its constitution on March 27, 1923. The founders as well as the first charter members were: J. H. Harlow, M. J. Baldwin, L. G. Simmons, J. P. Schaefer, H. M. Boteler, and Professor S. S. Steinberg. One of Phi Mu's stated purposes was the inspiration of scholarship among the students of the College of Engineering. Eligibility for membership was based on excellence of scholarship. All candidates for Phi Mu were required to present a thesis upon initiation. This thesis was to be original research upon some phase of engineering practice within or in the vicinity of the state of Maryland. These theses are valuable sources of information of a historical nature on many of the larger engineering and industrial projects within the state. Because of the high scholastic requirements, membership to Phi Mu was rather limited and, therefore, election to it was a great honor among all engineering students. Another of the avowed purposes of Phi Mu was to achieve the recognition of and the granting of a charter by Tau Beta Pi, the national honorary engineering fraternity, which was founded at Lehigh University in 1885. In the spring of 1928, President A. D. Moore of Tau Beta Pi inspected the College of Engineering and the local fraternity Phi Mu and expressed his appreciation of the Engineering College and the work of Phi Mu. Encouraged by this, Phi Mu sent its vice president, H. H. Hine, in October 1929 to Iowa City, Iowa, where the annual convention of the Tau Beta Pi Association was held, to present Phi Mu's application. On November 21, 1929, Phi Mu was formally inducted as the Maryland Beta chapter of Tau Beta Pi. Twenty alumni, five active students, and three faculty members were initiated in a ceremony held in the newly built Home Economics Building. The transition from the local Phi Mu to a national chapter of Tau Beta Pi embodied the Association's goals, as outlined in the preamble to the constitution, which were to mark in a fitting manner those who have conferred honor upon their Alma Mater by distinguished scholarship and exemplary character as undergraduates in engineering, or by their attainments as alumni in the field of engineering, and to foster a spirit of liberal culture in the engineering colleges of America. Nowadays, as one of the most outstanding chapters in Tau Beta Pi, Maryland Beta performs many service projects for the benefit of the University of Maryland, the College of Engineering, and the College Park community.
From the guide to the Phi Mu Fraternity, 1923-1945, 1923-1945, (University of Maryland)
