Keramos History
The current Keramos Fraternity is the result of the merging of two older ceramic engineering fraternities. Beta Pi Kappa was established at Ohio State University in 1902 and Keramos was formed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the inter of 1914-1925. The merging of the two fraternities with similar objectives occurred in 1932.
The records of Arthur Greaves-Walker, a Cofounder of Beta Pi Kappa, provided the majority of the history for the fraternity. The records state that Beta Pi Kappa was founded on September 30, 1902 and consisted of five officer positions:
Master Potter (President)
1st Assistant Master Potter (Vice President)
2nd Assistant Master Potter (Secretary)
3rd Assistant Master Potter (Treasurer)
4th Assistant Master Potter (Herald)
The main objectives of Beta Pi Kappa were:
- the promotion of ceramic engineering,
- the attainment of a place in the engineering profession for ceramic engineers
- assisting brother members in finding jobs in the ceramic industries.
The Keramos Fraternity was founded on February 10, 1915 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The Alpha Chapter consisted of 14 young men, who decided on the name Keramos, based on the Greek word for “burnt earth.” The Illinois Chapter attempted to expand the fraternity by contacting different ceramic schools. The Illinois Chapter discovered in 1925 Ohio State University already had a similar fraternity, Beta Pi Kappa. The merger of Keramos and Beta Pi Kappa as a national fraternity was complete by 1932 and Illinois was named the Alpha Chapter.
Keramos has since grown to include twelve student chapters throughout the nation and is now open to qualified students in all disciplines of Materials Science and Engineering. Keramos participates in a host of activities throughout the College of Engineering and within the Department of Materials Science of Engineering.
