Kean University Foundation Receives Endowment from Lambda Theta Alpha on Historic Anniversary

Lambda Theta Alpha (LTA), founded at Kean University in 1975 as America’s first Latina sorority, marked its 50th anniversary with a campus celebration and a $50,000 endowment to support the success of first-generation women students. 

“I see this endowment as a gift to our founding mothers,” said Rosa Diaz ’04 M.A., national president of LTA. “They gave us this incredible organization that has helped guide women who needed a support system. Now, we can ensure that this support system will be there for future first-generation students.” 

As a permanent endowment, the gift will be invested, and its earnings will be used to provide scholarships each year. Undergraduate or graduate students who are committed to scholarship, service and leadership and have a GPA of at least 3.0 and demonstrate financial need are eligible to apply. Candidates are not required to be members of LTA. 

Kean President Lamont O. Repollet, Ed.D., pledged to supplement the endowment with a $1,000 personal donation in honor of his grandmother. 

“From their earliest days, the sisters of Lambda Theta Alpha advocated for equity, mentored their peers and created pathways for Latina students to thrive,” Repollet said. “This new endowed scholarship will transform lives for generations, and we are proud to be part of this historic moment.” 

Diaz, who has known Repollet since high school, later worked with him in the Carteret school system, where she now serves as superintendent. 

“I’m so grateful for his donation and commitment to LTA,” she said. “He sees the work we do and understands the value we bring.” 

Viviana Zambrano, who directs the Office for Student Retention and Educational Innovation at Kean and is an LTA member and a first-generation college graduate, also donated $1,000 to the endowment. 

“Students often don’t realize they can ask for help paying for books or tuition,” Zambrano said. “They think they have to do it alone, but with help from organizations like LTA, many who are at risk of dropping out can continue their journeys and persist to graduation.” 

With more than 175 chapters, including the original one at Kean, and over 10,000 members across the United States and Puerto Rico, LTA is the nation’s largest Latina sorority. But the organization is “Latina by tradition, not by definition,” Zambrano said, “meaning that it’s open to any member who supports its ideals of unity, love, respect, activism and service.” 

LTA’s endowment to Kean, along with a matching $50,000 anniversary gift to the sorority’s own foundation, which supports education and service, are among the organization’s most significant accomplishments, Diaz said. 

In addition to helping students pursue degrees, the gift to Kean will raise awareness about LTA and the support it provides to its members through alumni mentorship, political advocacy training and professional networking, she said. In Carteret, Diaz has recruited LTA alumnae to discuss college and career readiness with students. 

“The point of the sisterhood is to elevate each other and our communities and to give access and opportunity where we might not have had it before,” she said. 

Diaz, a first-generation college student, is especially excited about the Kean University endowment because she earned her M.A. in educational administration from the University in 2004. 

“I think about the social mobility that’s given me, what an incredible opportunity that is, and how it's changed my life,” she said. “Without that master’s from Kean, I wouldn't be able to have the success that I've had.”