| HISTORY OF LAI The first meeting of Lambda Alpha International (LAI) was held November 5, 1930. It was officially recognized as a professional fraternity by Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois on February 20, 1931. Professor Richard T. Ely was the first active member, along with four students and two faculty members from Northwestern. By 1934, Lambda Alpha had 16 members of which only 3 were students. It became a national organization in 1935.
The inspiration for LAI was Professor Ely (1854-1943), commonly called the "Father of Land Economics", who was born in upstate New York and educated in Germany. He taught economics at four great universities -- Johns Hopkins, Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Columbia. Dr. Ely also founded the American Economic Association and was a principal contributor to the idea of academic freedom where "we should encourage that continual and fearless shifting and winnowing by which alone truth can be found." He was the first honorary member of LAI.
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