ABOUT FBLA-PBL

State History

In 1959, Arkansas Phi Beta Lambda came into existence. The opportunity for involvement was taken in Arkansas first by the FBLA division on May 1, 1954. Arkansas held its first FBLA conference at the Marion Hotel in Little Rock where it adopted a constitution, elected state officers, and petitioned a state charter. The national office approved a division to be open to college members in 1958. This division came to be known as Phi Beta Lambda.

In February of 1959, Arkansas State Teachers College (now the University of Central Arkansas) was the first Arkansas post-secondary school to be chartered as a chapter of Phi Beta Lambda.

At the 1962 FBLA conference, the PBL college chapters voted to hold a conference the following year, independent from the high school organizations. Under the leadership of William Hooper, the Phi Beta Lambda state president, the first PBL State Conference was held March 22-23, 1963.