The Women’s Council, a 16-member volunteer organization of the system-wide Alumni Association, was established as the Women’s Activities Office of the Alumni Association on February 28, 1970. On that day the board of governors of the UT Alumni Association established the function and approved the creation of a post of Director of Women’s Activities to involve more alumnae in association activities and emphases.
It is believed that UT was the first coeducational institution in the country to recognize the need for such a program and to appoint a full-time staff person to coordinate its development and growth. Peggy Register Addicks, an associate editor in the Public Relations office, was named the first director. Madge M. Harrison of Memphis was named chair of the Women’s Activities Committee of the Association, which was later renamed Women’s Council. The council met its original goal of bringing women into leadership roles within the Alumni Association. By 2013 eleven Women’s Council members had been named president of the UT Alumni Association, including the first president of the Alumni Association and first chair of the council, Madge Harrison.
The council provides programs that educate, support, advance, and encourage all women leaders, including collegiate women.