Lambda Alpha International (LAI) began as an undergraduate fraternity organized November 5, 1930 by students and professors at the School of Commerce at Northwestern University's McClintock Campus (Chicago) who were impressed by the teaching and philosophy of Richard T. Ely, then professor of economics at Northwestern University. The students were James (Jack) J. Harrington, George S. Stone, James Neal Massey, and Annis Gordon Thompson. In addition to Professor Ely, two other professors collaborated in the founding of the fraternity: Professor Albert G. Hinman and Professor Adrian Theobold.
LAI evolved into an honorary professional fraternity (formerly the International Fraternity of Lambda Alpha) to foster the study of land economics. The first chapter was organized in Chicago, named "Ely Chapter" in his honor (February 23, 1931). Over time, the organization broadened into an honorary professional society whose members (men and women) are chosen from the community at large.
Logos Agroikos
The name of the society, Lambda Alpha, comes from the Greek letters LA for logos agroikos (pronounced low'-gos ah-groy'-kos), which roughly translates into "the science or study" and "one who lives in the countryside" or simply "the study of the land" or "the science of land utilization."
Dr. Richard Theodore Ely
The evolution of LAI is intimately related to the life of Dr. Richard Theodore Ely, today
considered the Father of Land Economics. He was an economic and political contrarian with an immense social conscience.
Dr. Ely received an undergraduate degree from Columbia University (New York, NY) and a doctorate in economics from the University of Heidelberg (Germany). He was a professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD) from 1881 to 1892, where his views on land reform brought bitter opposition. Today, the Department of Economics at JHU honors Dr. Ely with an Ely Lecture Series in Economics.1
He moved on to the University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI) where he taught from 1892 to 1925. He co-founded the American Economic Association (AEA) with fellow academicians in 1895 as an alternative to the conservative political economic groups of his time. He was the association's secretary (1885 to 1892) and president (1899 to 1901). Today, the AEA is one of the oldest and most prestigious professional economic organizations.2
In December 1917, Dr. Ely helped organize the American Association for Agricultural Legislation to promote sound agricultural legislation.
He founded the Institute for Research in Land Economics and Public Utilities (1920), which was incorporated as an independent research institute two years later. Dr. Ely chose the Institute's motto: "Under all, the land."
Again, he was the target of accusations that his teachings and writings were "utopian, impractical, or pernicious doctrines" promoting radical social anarchy. Ultimately, his accusers were discredited, and Wisconsin became a center for academic freedom of thought. In commemoration, there is a plaque on the wall of Bascom Hall that reads:
"Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe that the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found."3
In 1925, Dr. Ely left Wisconsin, accepting an invitation to move his Institute
to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. While at Northwestern, the Institute expanded and began publishing the Journal of Land and Public Utility Economics.
In 1933, he relocated to New York and moved the Institute with him. He died in 1943.
The Law of Society is Service
Dr. Ely's book The Social Law of Service4, (Eaton & Mains, 1896), revealed both the ethical and social foundation for his work and for the formation of Lambda Alpha as an honorary land economics society. In many regards, Dr. Ely anticiated today's "social responsibility and accountability" movement by a century.
"To upbuild human character in men you must establish for them right social relations... Social solidarity means the oneness of human interests; it signifies the dependence of man upon man... Social solidarity implies not only fellowship in interests and responsibilities, but that unity in nature which is brought before us by the expression, `human brotherhood.'"5
Membership in Lambda Alpha
Membership in Lambda Alpha International is an honor. At the cornerstone of this honor is Dr. Ely's maxim, "the law of society is service" -- an obligation to provide service to the community by working to find ways to contribute professionally to the enrichment of our planned environment.
LAI seeks to promote a higher degree of association between the theory and the practice of our work; to raise ethical standards in all aspects of land utilization; and to elevate the standards of scholastic endeavor in this field.
Lambda Alpha members view land economics as a field of endeavor that includes the social organization that utilizes land resources in the attainment of the objectives which the community, as a whole, desires for itself.
The invitation to become a member of LAI recognizes some outstanding contribution which the individual has made in the field of land economics and real estate, either theoretical or applied.
LAI members have performed outstanding work in one or more of several inter-disciplinary fields of endeavor: architecture, engineering, appraisal, construction, planning, mortgage-lending, development, marketing, and other facets of land use.
The organization fosters cooperation among members for their mutual enlightenment and to enhance the welfare of all our communities in all things relating to land use. Chapter members meet in their communities to discuss their own particular problems, the problems of the group, and those of the community. Chapters gather together in Spring and Fall "LAI Weekends" to share their personal knowlege of their own urban and rural spaces with their colleagues from around the world.
Lambda Alpha brings together, in a common bond of fellowship, persons of stature, accomplishment, and responsibility who are engaged in various aspects of land economics to foster an open dialog and shared community of interest. By means of both discussion and research, we try to be of assistance in solving those problems, in the continuing spirit of Dr. Richard T. Ely's example.
Lambda Alpha International Awards
Lambda Alpha International gives a Richard T. Ely Distinguished Educator Award to recognize outstanding contemporary educators and to honor the memory of its founder at the Bienneial Congress held on alternate LAI Fall Weekends.
"This award is presented to the person who has achieved excellence within the academic world in the field of land economics."
International Awards, including the Skyline Award, recognize leadership in different professions within the land economics and real estate fields of endeavor.
Lambda Alpha Affiliate Entities
Lambda Alpha International Student Association (LAISA) was founded in 1991 a student organization whose membership is available to all undergraduates and graduate students in the disciplines of land economics and related fields at accredited colleges and universities.
LAI Land Economics Foundations: two foundations, one in the U.S. and the other in Canada, are not-for profit charitable organizations which provide grants for graduate scholarships, programs, publications, speaker sessions, symposia, research and other endeavors that advance the educational goals of LAI in land economics and related fields.
LAI Literary Archives were established at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 1968 as a repository for historical documents and papers contributed by the members of Lambda Alpha International, world-wide.
