Construction of Southeast Hall was completed in 1952 and in 1961 it was named in honor of Irene Putnam who endowed the Putnam Scholarship program at K-State as a memorial to her late husband, Harry J. Putnam. The building was the third residence hall added to the dormitory complex in the northeast section of campus. Van Zile Hall (1926) and Boyd Hall (1951) are the other two halls.

Norman Fedder was a playwright and well-known professor of English and Theater. Fedder earned his B.A. in Speech and Theatre from Brooklyn College in 1955, his M.A. in Dramatic Literature in 1956 from Columbia University, and his Ph.D. in 1960 from New York University. He began teaching in 1956 and taught at multiple universities over the years, including Indiana State College from 1961 to 1964, Florida Atlantic University from 1964 to 1967, and the University of Arizona from 1967 to 1970. Fedder arrived at K-State in 1970, where he was a professor until his retirement in 1999. In 1988, he was awarded the William Stamey Outstanding Teacher Award, and in 1990 he was inducted into the Kansas Theater Hall of Fame. Fedder's specializations included play writing, creative drama, drama therapy, religion and theatre, Jewish theatre, drama in Jewish education, American ethnic theatre, staging of original plays, and dramatic literature. Fedder also wrote the original play “Never Let ‘em Catch You at It: An Evening with Milburn Stone.” The play was about actor Milburn Stone, who played the role of Doc Adams on the TV show “Gunsmoke.” It was performed in Dodge City, Kansas in 1989 and again in Hutchinson in 1995.