Clay Eastwood and Michael Yeater, graduate students in the Meat Science Section of the Department of Animal Science, were inducted into the Texas A&M University of the Gamma Sigma Delta in a recent ceremony. Clay is finishing her M.S. degree, and Michael is working on his Ph.D. degree.

Gamma Sigma Delta was initiated at the Ohio State University on December 1, 1905 under the name Delta Theta Sigma. The name of the organization was changed in 1913 to “The Honor Society of Agriculture, Gamma Sigma Delta.” Since 1917, the Society has been strictly honorary in character with election to membership limited to juniors, seniors, graduate students, alumni, and faculty of the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Veterinary Medicine.

The charter for the Texas A&M Chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta was awarded on July 1, 1965. The stimulus for the development of an A&M chapter came from faculty at Louisiana State University who offered the predecessors assistance in forming a chapter in 1964. This invitation resulted from a challenge issued at the 1962 national conclave of Gamma Sigma Delta that proposed that active chapters assist neighboring universities in forming a new chapter. The first officers of the Texas A&M University Chapter were Richard C. Potts, Carl Vanderzant, Willie Krueger, Otto Kunze, and James Smith. The first initiation of new members was on February 24, 1966, when 10 faculty members, 8 graduate students, 25 students from Veterinary Medicine, and 25 undergraduates in Agriculture were initiated.

This year, Gamma Sigma Delta initiated in excess of 150 undergraduate and graduate students from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Since its inception, the Texas A&M University chapter has initiated over 6,000 individuals.