The Eta Chapter of Mortar Board was founded in 1923 at Carnegie Mellon University (then Carnegie Institute of Technology). Since that time our chapter has become the premier Senior honors society at the university. Each year we invite the top students in each Senior class to apply for membership. Students are chosen because they have demonstrate excellence in academics, leadership, and community service. We then extend membership to the top 50 applicants. As one of the oldest Mortar Board chapters in the country the Eta Chapter has a long standing tradition of serving our campus and surrounding community. For our current volunteer events please see the Calendar of Events.

Before becoming a part of Mortar Board, Carnegie Mellon had a Senior womens honors society called "The Sphinx," which was created in 1922. This group was composed of 12 members from the Margaret Morrison Carnegie College and the College of Fine Arts. The members were chosen on the basis of activities, scholarship and personality. At this time, there were eight other honorary societies, but they were all for men. The Sphinx's purpose was to bring the girls of Margaret Morrison and CFA "into closer harmony and to promote new ideas and activities which further the interest of girls on the campus." Only a year after forming, the Sphinx joined Mortar Board as the Eta chapter.

Our chapter has steadily grown over the years, starting with 12 founding members; we now invite 50 new members to join each year. We continue to be a group that emphasizes leadership, scholarship, and service. One of the most popular events for Mortar Board to hold is the Turkey Fundraiser which raises money for Habitat for Humanity by getting donations for a professor to dress in a turkey suit for a day.

Being an organization with 100% turnover each year allows for a constant flow of new ideas and the opportunity to pass inspiration down from class to class. The activities we do each year reflect the desires of the senior class, what they think would benefit the community and how they think they can best add to our campus.