Grand Polemarch is the highest office that can be held by a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. The holder of this office serves as the fraternity's national president and chairman of the Grand Board of Directors, which is tasked with managing the affairs of Kappa Alpha Psi. The Grand Polemarch also serves as the fraternity's head of state at gatherings that include heads of other Greek-letter organizations, university officials, business executives, politicians, and community leaders.
Etymology[]
The term polemarch comes from Ancient Greece. The title is derived from polemos, meaning war, and archon, meaning ruler or leader. The name suggests that the polemarchos' original function might have been to command an army. Eventually military command, however, was transferred to the strategoi (στρατηγοί) of Ancient Greece. By 487/486 BC, polemarchoses no longer had military authority. Thereafter their main functions were administrative and legal.
Relationship with Province Polemarchs[]
The fraternity is divided into twelve administrative regions, called provinces, and the representative of the Grand Polemarch in each region is the Province Polemarch. Decisions made by province polemarchs carry and weight of authority of the Grand Polemarch and are backed by the full faith and credit of the national organization. For this reason, province polemarchs are not elected; rather, they are hand-picked appointments of the Grand Polemarch and they serve at his pleasure, solely.
History[]
The following is a summary of the fraternity's past Grand Polemarchs.
| Rank | Grand Polemarch | From | To | Grand Chapter Election | |
| First | Elder Watson Diggs | 05/1911 | 12/1916 | First | Bloomington, IN |
| Second | Irven Armstrong | 12/1916 | 12/1921 | Sixth | Columbus, OH |
| Third | George F. David II | 12/1921 | 12/1922 | 11th | Cleveland, OH |
| Fourth | W. Ellis Stewart | 12/1922 | 12/1924 | 12th | Chicago, IL |
| Fifth | Earl B. Dickerson | 12/1924 | 12/1927 | 14th | St. Louis, MO |
| Sixth | Archie A. Alexander | 12/1927 | 12/1930 | 17th | Detroit, MI |
| Seventh | A. Moore Shearin | 12/1930 | 08/1933 | 20th | Philadelphia, PA |
| Eighth | Jesse Jerome Peters | 08/1933 | 12/1935 | 23rd | Chicago, IL |
| Ninth | Theophilus M. Mann | 12/1935 | 12/1938 | 25th | St. Louis, MO |
| 10th | James E. Scott | 12/1938 | 12/1941 | 28th | Detroit, MI |
| 11th | Carl R. Johnson | 12/1941 | 12/1944 | 31st | Indianapolis, IN |
| 12th | Augustus Parker | 12/1944 | 12/1947 | 34th | Louisville, KY |
| 13th | J. Ernest Wilkins | 12/1947 | 12/1950 | 37th | Los Angeles, CA |
| 14th | Frank M. Summers | 12/1950 | 12/1953 | 40th | Kansas City, MO |
| 15th | W. Henry Greene | 12/1953 | 12/1955 | 43rd | Chicago, IL |
| 16th | C. Rodger Wilson | 12/1955 | 08/1961 | 45th | Columbus, OH |
| 17th | Richard B. Millspaugh | 12/1961 | 08/1964 | 45th | Bloomington, IN |
| 18th | Thomas Bradley | 08/1964 | 08/1967 | 52nd | San Francisco, CA |
| 19th | Ernest H. Davenport | 08/1967 | 08/1970 | 54th | St. Louis, MO |
| 20th | William T. Carter | 08/1970 | 08/1973 | 56th | Charlotte, NC |
| 21st | Elbert E. Allen | 08/1973 | 08/1976 | 58th | Miami, FL |
| 22nd | Hiliary H. Holloway | 08/1976 | 08/1979 | 60th | New Orleans, LA |
| 23rd | Oliver S. Gumbs | 08/1979 | 08/1982 | 62nd | Chicago, IL |
| 24th | Robert L. Gordon | 08/1982 | 08/1985 | 64th | Detroit, MI |
| 25th | Randall C. Bacon | 08/1985 | 08/1988 | 66th | Washington, DC |
| 26th | Ullysses McBride | 08/1988 | 07/1991 | 68th | Dallas, TX |
| 27th | Robert L. Harris | 07/1991 | 08/1995 | 70th | Orlando, FL |
| 28th | Ronald R. Young | 08/1995 | 08/1999 | 72nd | Philadelphia, PA |
| 29th | Howard L. Tutman, Jr. | 08/1999 | 07/2003 | 74th | Atlanta, GA |
| 30th | Samuel C. Hamilton | 07/2003 | 08/2007 | 76th | Charlotte, NC |
| 31st | Dwayne M. Murray | 08/2007 | 08/2011 | 78th | Minneapolis, MN |
| 32nd | William Randolph Bates Jr. | 08/2011 | 08/2015 | 80th | Indianapolis, IN |
| 33rd | Thomas L. Battles, Jr. | 08/2015 | 08/2019 | 82nd | New Orleans, LA |
| 34th | Reuben A. Shelton III | 08/2019 | 84th | Philadelphia, PA | |