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Katherine Kilbourne was born in 1915 in the small town of Minneapolis, Kansas. She graduated with her Bachelor's from NDAC (became NDSU in 1960) in 1937. She received her Master's from Teacher's College, Columbia University, in 1939. Upon completion of her degree, she took a job as an instructor in foods and home economics at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. She was promoted to Assistant Professor and remained at Wayne State until 1947. She married Joseph Burgum in 1947 and the couple returned to Arthur, North Dakota, since Joe had become the manager and secretary-treasurer for the elevator operation. Together they managed their farms near Arthur and at Williston.
She also maintained close ties to her alma mater, North Dakota State University. She was active in Alumni Association and served as a member of the Alumni Board. She was a member the Gamma Phi Beta House Board and president of the House Corporation Board. In 1964 she was inducted into Mortar Board. She was also a founding member of the NDSU Development Foundation, as well as its president. In 1971 she received the Alumni Achievement Award.
Towards the end of 1970, President L.D. Loftsgard of NDSU, asked Katherine to represent the Alumni Association on the search committee for a new Dean of the College of Home Economics. When the search committee starting reviewing candidates for the position of Dean, Katherine's name was suggested by members of the committee. Although she was pleased to be considered, she politely declined. As the search dragged on, in early 1971, President Loftsgard went out to Arthur and asked her to reconsider being Dean. She accepted the position of acting Dean in January 1972, in her words until “a suitable candidate could be found.” Upon a unanimous vote of the faculty of the College of Home Economics, she was persuaded to become the Dean. She resigned in 1980 to pursue a myriad of different activities. In 1998 the Family Life Center, which she was instrumental in securing, was renamed the Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Family Life Center. Katherine died in April, 2005 in Fargo.
See Also: http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/archives/collections/KBurgum.html |
