Judy Hart Smith was born on 4 July 1944 in Durant, Oklahoma. In the 1960s, she followed and participated in student protests, civil rights, and anti-Vietnam War movements and then the women's movement of the 1970s. She received her PhD at the University of Texas and joined the reproductive rights group. Later in the 1970s, Smith moved to Missoula, Montana. She worked on her revitalzing the University of Montana's feminist organization and helped increase funding for the Women's Resource Center. She worked with various activists on all levels and inititiated an annual women's conference. She taught women's studies courses at the University of Montana and gained faculty affiliate status. Smith died on 6 November 2013 in Missoula, Montana.

Corlann Bush began her career at the University of Idaho as an Instructor of English in September 1967, a position she held until she became Director of Intercultural Programs in September 1970. In 1974 she became Director of Special Services, a position which included developing and administering the Women's Center and its programs, coordinating the National Student Exchange Program, supervising the International Student Advisor and Director of Drug Education, and serving as a member of the Affirmative Action Committee. One of the Women's Center programs was the Rural Women's History Project for which she was principal investigator. In March 1977 she was appointed Assistant Dean for Student Advisory Services. She resigned this position to become Affirmative Action and Human Resources Director at Montana State University, Bozeman, on October 1, 1985. She retired in August 2005 as Montana State University's director of human resources/affirmative action office.

Bush received her B.A. degree in American Studies/Geology from Bowling Green State University in Ohio in 1965 and her M.S. in English from Montana State University in 1967. She was Program Planning Chair of the Idaho Coordinating Committee for International Women's Year, and vice chair of the Idaho delegation to the International Women's Year National Conference in Houston, Texas, in 1977. She was also coordinator of the Northwest Women's Studies Association, and chair of the Idaho Committee for International Women's Decade. In 1978 she was selected as the Outstanding Young Woman of the Year for the State of Idaho, and was included in MS. magazine's article "80 Women to Watch in the 80s."