Kathryn E. Becker Norman earned a bachelor’s degree in Social Work in 1974 and an MSW in 1976 from UW-Madison. After graduating, she worked as a case manager in a mental health organization, and also worked running a group home. Kathryn found joy in helping others, especially when she could aid people to help and empower themselves.
Kathryn was a 24-hour social worker who would go to rummage sales to pick up things to meet different clients’ daily household needs. She also helped to organize and found a nonprofit that later became the Consumer Survivor Network of Minnesota. Kathryn advocated peer counseling for individuals with mental illness, actively promoting the approach throughout her career.
Well-suited for social work, Kathryn enjoyed her role as a social worker and dedicated her life to the profession. She once took up the project of turning a large house into an adult foster care home, a project that went unfinished when she passed away at the age of 45. This scholarship was established in her memory with contributions from her friends and family.