Created by Dr. Melvene Draheim Hardee and by the Florida State University Melvene Draheim Hardee Center for Women in Higher Education.

In 1977, Dr. Hardee founded the Center for Studies of Women in Educational Management Systems to identify and solve the problems of women who aspire to be higher education administrators, offering professional development activities and resource materials. In 1980, she was named the first director of the new Institute for Studies in Higher Education, of which the Center was an affiliate. The Center became the Center for Studies of Women in Educational Administration and Management. When she retired in 1989, the Center was renamed the following year as The Melvene Draheim Hardee Center for Women in Higher Education, in recognition of her vision for the Center and her advocacy for women.

In September 1990, Florida State University's College of Education announced that its Center for the Studies of Women in Educational Management Systems, housed in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, was renamed the Melvene Draheim Hardee Center for Women in Higher Education, in honor of its founder. That year, a Board of Governors for the Hardee Center was organized. Members of the first Board were Dr. Jean G. Bryant, Jennifer Buchanan, Dr. Jeanne K. Diesen, Dr. Freddie L. Groomes, Dr. Patricia Hansen, Dr. Anita Harrow, Dr. Carolyn Herrington, Margaret La Roe, Dr. Barbara Mann, Dr. Elisabeth S. Muhlenfeld, Sherrill Ragans, Mary Smith, Laurey M. Stryker, Dr. Betty Tilton, Dr. Cynthia Wallat, and Dr. Eva Wanton.

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