Promoting excellence in nursing

IU School of Nursing was an early champion of the profession of nursing in the United States.

In 1922, six IU students established the Alpha Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau (Sigma)—a nursing honor society designed to recognize scholarship, represent the best in nursing, encourage future leaders, and provide a social forum for nursing students. The name “Sigma Theta Tau” was derived from the Greek words storgé, tharsos, and timé, meaning love, courage, and honor.

Sigma is now one of the most well-known and highly respected organizations in the nursing profession. It was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1985. Today, it operates approximately 540 chapters at more than 700 institutions in 90 countries and has more than 135,000 active members.

You can be invited into Sigma if you are a baccalaureate or graduate nursing student who demonstrates excellence in scholarship. Nursing leaders with exceptional achievements in the field also are candidates for membership.

Members are able to take advantage of Sigma’s education and research conferences; online continuing education; $200,000 annually in nursing research grants, scholarships and monetary awards; career development; leadership programs; and the Virginia Henderson Global Nursing e-Repository, an online digital library.

Members also have access to various Sigma publications such as the Journal of Nursing Scholarship, Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, STTIconnect, Reflections on Nursing Leadership and more.