Pi Beta Phi installed the 82nd chapter of the fraternity at Vanderbilt University on November 9, 1940. The Grand President at the time, Amy Burnham Onken, installed the chapter. Mrs. Gilbert Marshall was the local chairman of the installation. 

The installation of Tennessee Beta was the culmination of many years of activity on the part of the Nashville alumnae. In 1939, three Pi Phi’s, Edith Cale Thorton (Indiana Beta) of Fort Wayne, IN, Katsy Aycock (Virginia Alpha) of Little Rock, AR, and Miriam Freeman (Alabama Alpha) of Birmingham, AL transferred from other campuses to Join Virginia Handyman (D.C. Alpha) in colonizing the chapter on the Vanderbilt campus. 

After a period of successful recruitment in the fall of 1939, nine women were pledged to the new chapter of Pi Beta Phi. These nine women formed the charter group of Tennessee Beta.