The Phi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Chi Rho at Penn State traces its roots to the Pioneer Club. From the October 1917 edition of the Garnet & White:

“The students in central Pennsylvania have much the same ambition and moments of seriousness as characterize collegians all over the country. In fact, it was because they felt the need of further developing social intercourse and democratic fellowship among themselves and of encouraging high scholarship and active participation in college activities that a group of students at Penn State organized the Pioneer Club on the third of March, 1912. That these purposes have been realized at least in part, is readily shown by the large number of Pioneers prominent in college life. The Club has been represented in all forms of college activities: by class officers; commissioned officers of the cadent regiment; varsity captains; also, on varsity teams, on student government bodies, in the musical organizations, in scholarship awards, in the various campus societies and honorary fraternities, and on all the student publications.

Within the last few years the Pioneer Club began to appreciate the advantages which might be gained through affiliation with some national organization. Upon close examination of the Panhellenic field, Alpha Chi Rho was recognized as the Fraternity most closely embracing the ideals of the Pioneer Club. In the spring of 1916, therefore, the preliminaries of petitioning the Fraternity of Alpha Chi Rho were begun, and after petitioning for one year a charter was granted.

On June 2, 1917, the Phi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Chi Rho was instituted in the Pennsylvania State College. The chapter house proving inadequate, the Odd Fellows’ Hall was used for the ceremonies.”

Further mention from the October 1917 edition of the Garnet & White about the Phi Lambda chapter’s strong graduate participation holds true to this day:

“It may have been a daring thing, on the very threshold of the Great War, to institute a new Phi, but at Penn State there are almost ideal relations between faculty and fraternities and likewise among the several Greek letter societies, and the Brothers of Phi Lambda seem unanimously to be dominated by a quiet, dogged determination to do their duty and to live according to our Landmarks. Moreover, they can count on the special assistance of some able and enthusiastic Graduates, who, be it noted, formed a Graduate Chapter on the first day following the institution of the Resident Chapter. All these considerations augur well for the success, in trying times, of Phi Lambda, and confirm in our opinion the soundness of the Fraternity’s judgement in establishing a fortress of Alpha Chi Rho on the mountains of central Pennsylvania.”

As the chapter continued to grow, the Phi Lambda chapter house was built in 1922 at 425 Locust Lane. The house is unique as it was designed and built by Phi Lambda brothers. Over the years the Phi Lambda chapter has had its ups and downs like many fraternities at Penn State and across the country as a whole. Throughout that time the Phi Lambda chapter has had a strong Graduate Chapter and Property Association. As with most fraternities, there were times where Phi Lambda laid dormant at Penn State, most recently from 2018-2021. However, a band of young men got together during the height of the pandemic to form the Phi Lambda colony in 2021, and they were officially reinstituted as a chapter again on April 22, 2023. The future is bright for the Phi Lambda chapter, as it once again stands as “a fortress of Alpha Chi Rho on the mountains of central Pennsylvania.”