From its inception to the merger with Northeastern University, the Bouvé-Boston school was led by skilled, resourceful, and talented women: the original seven founders; director Marjorie Bouvé, for whom the school is now named and who shepherded it through two wars and a Depression; dean and director Ruth Page Sweet, who developed physical therapy as a major in its own right and collaborated with Marjorie Bouvé to establish an affiliation with Tufts University; dean and director Minnie L. Lynn, who engineered a successful merger with Northeastern University, while maintaining the school's essential identity; and dean Catherine L. Allen, who led Bouvé into its new role as a college and a leader in the new field of recreation education.

These women created and shaped Bouvé; each one left her own indelible mark. Click on each name to learn more about each leader.