Ending a three-year wait for a new Corporation member, the University formally announced yesterday that the first woman ever to serve on the seven-member governing board would take her seat today.

Judith Richards Hope, 48, was officially elected to the Corporation on Sunday, when the self-perpetuating body met and voted to end 339 years of all-male membership, a Harvard spokesperson said.

Observers call Hope a consummate Washington insider. See page 8.

Hope, a Washington attorney and prominent Republican, will replace Andrew Heiskell, the former head of Time, Inc., on the Corporation.

"I am particularly delighted to announce the election of a woman to the Corporation," President Bok said in a release. "Our ten-month nation-wide search brought to the attention of the Board an outstanding group of men and women. Of them all, Mrs. Hope appeared to possess the special combination of training, experience and personal attributes that we were seeking."

Hope, who is a senior partner in the Los Angeles-based firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker, said in a telephone interview yesterday that she was still getting used to the news and had not yet begun to consider her position on issues facing the University.

"It's a little overwhelming," Hope said yesterday. "It's a very, very important thing to do and I'll try to do my best at it."

The seven-member Corporation meets every two weeks in secret to make the ultimate decisions on matters of University policy, from investment choices to academic appointments. The 30-member Board of Overseers, elected by alumni, advises the Corporation and has historically rubber-stamped Corporation decisions.

Overseers said Sunday that they unanimously approved the Corporation's choice of Hope in their weekend meeting. The Board's consent was required to finalize the appointment.

Hope's selection for the lifetime post comes after students and alumni have called on the Corporation, which chooses its own members, to name a woman to its ranks. Administrators and Corporation members contacted yesterday said they thought Hope's selection would help diversify, but not radically change, the formerly all-male board's views.

"I think that there will be a change in perhaps subtle ways in having a woman on the Corporation," said Vice President and General Counsel Daniel Steiner '54. "I think that is all to the good."

"I think every corporation is a small group and I think every person has a big influence," said Corporation member and Geyser University Professor Henry Rosovsky. "I think we've added a very good individual and I think she'll give good advice."

According to Rosovsky, the search for Heiskell's successor was marked by a desire to offer the post to a woman. But Rosovsky added that Hope was the most qualified candi- date of any gender.

In addition to being historically all-white andall-male, the Corporation has also usually had atleast one practicing attorney among itsmembership. Steiner said yesterday thatadministrators were looking to appoint a lawyerbecause the Corporation has been without anypracticing attorneys for several years.

"Generally speaking, many lawyers have a widerange of experience because legal practice getsyou into a diverse set of human experiences,"Steiner said.

In Washington, Hope's friends and acquaintancessaid they thought she would be as successful aCorporation member as she has been a lawyer andpolitical figure.

Hope, who was the first woman member of her lawfirm's executive committee, has held a slew ofpolitical posts. A well-connected Republican, Hopeserved in the Ford Administration and was generalcounsel to the 1988 presidential campaign of Sen.Robert Dole (R-Kan.).

She is intelligent, forthright, sophisticated,and at the same time very down to earth," saidJames Cannon, who served with her in the FordAdministration. "Her success dramatizes what awoman can do if she has ability and courage."

And a spokesperson for her law firm'sWashington branch said "we're thrilled and excitedfor Judy. It's a wonderful mark of heraccomplishments."

Hope called the process by which she wasselected "mysterious," and said that she did noteven know she was a candidate until three or fourmonths into the search.

She said she heard from the Corporation Sundaythat she had been appointed