Local History

Every great organization has a beginning, and for the Omicron Gamma Chapter at the University of California at Davis, the beginning was a modest one. It started on April 24th, 2004 when a small group of ambitious electrical engineers, later known as the Founding Fathers, met together to prepare for their upcoming IEEE elections. This group initially consisted of the individuals Hoang Do, Christopher Lee, Binh Nguyen, Jeff Sheng, Xuong Tran, and Andy Tzou and were later joined by Brothers Felix Chan, Eric Chen, Ryan Iwahashi, Trang Le, Devin Lu, Michael Moon and Jenna Nguyen, each character epitomizing the most desired ideals of any good leader: charisma, commitment, initiative, and passion, among others. The Founding Fathers realized that our university previously had no student organization on campus that encompassed the diverse engineering student body and saw an opportunity to create something great. What began as a desire to start a small organization to help not only student engineers of a specific field but also the greater student engineering community became something bigger. Through extensive research, the name Theta Tau emerged.

In their next meeting, the group contacted the then West Coast Regional Director of Theta Tau, Michael Abraham, to get more information. Abraham, excited to hear from group, quickly became our official advisor and helped to execute the plan to start the colony at UC Davis. He came to visit the campus on September 18th, 2004, both touring one of the largest UC campuses in the state and familiarizing the group about pertinent information regarding the creation of a local colony. The group then discovered that if a colony were to be started, it would be the only one on the West Coast; a former chapter located at UC Berkeley had fallen apart not too long ago. This news brought a new resolve to the ambitious individuals and on September 30th, 2004 they elected their first round of officers.

What came after was nothing short of stellar. Class after class, our members continued to characterize the best of the best, bringing with them not only attributes that make them great Brothers but also attributes that make them great people. It is these people who, through hard work, sacrifice, and perseverance, strived for Chapter status.

Obtaining Chapter status was no easy task, as any Brother can attest. It was a long and arduous journey that consisted of many representative trips to National Conventions and to neighboring chapters (the word "neighboring" in this context does not necessarily mean "close" as the closest chapter is several hundred miles away) before we made a name for ourselves in the eyes of the National Brothers. After fulfilling the numerous requirements to file for Chapter status, our colony finally wrote, revised, revised again, and submitted the chapter petition. With the support of several respected Fraternity Brothers, our colony received five letters of recommendation for our petition. It was not long before the National Fraternity recognized our hard work and commitment and granted us the name of Omicron Gamma Chapter of UC Davis. The Brothers of Omicron Gamma celebrated the auspicious occasion by holding a Banquet on April 29th, 2007, at which time our colony and every member was officially initiated into the Fraternity.

To this day, our UC Davis Chapter of Theta Tau is ever growing with strong members who share the same resilience as the Founding Fathers of our chapter. We will not forget what we have been through to get where we are today while we strive forward into the future of many great things to come.