Kathryn (Katie) Morrison was born on May 22, 1942 in Madison, Wisconsin, the daughter of Gould E. and Geraldine Anderson Morrison. She attended Madison East High School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, earning a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration in 1964 and an MBA in 1965. Morrison was employed by Pfizer in New York City as a personnel supervisor, 1965-1968, and she then worked as a part-time research analyst for the Midwest Planning Board until 1969. Morrison returned to academia in 1969 as a teaching associate at the University of Minnesota, then undertook a year of graduate study there. In 1970 Morrison joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville as an assistant professor of agricultural economics.
In 1974 Morrison was elected to the Wisconsin Senate to represent the 17th Senate District, which encompasses the southwestern part of the state. Recruited by Rep. Midge Miller as a candidate, at the time Morrison's political experience consisted of membership on the Platteville Water and Sewer Commission (1973-1975) and the executive board of the Grant County Democratic Party and serving as state coordinator of the Wisconsin Women's Political Caucus. Morrison faced stiff competition in the normally Republican district, running against Gordon Roseleip, a prominent legislator and outspoken opponent of the Equal Rights Amendment. Morrison campaigned on her thorough understanding of agricultural economics and the plight of Wisconsin's family farmer and on her support for women's issues. She received support from women's organizations around the state. Her upset victory made Morrison the first woman to be elected to the Wisconsin Senate (the first women were elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 1924).
Morrison was assigned to the Senate's standing committees on Agriculture, Human Services, Labor and Taxation and on Education and to the Legislative Council's special committees on medical malpractice, mineral taxation, and care of the mentally ill. She also served on subcommittees concerning juvenile alcoholism and drug abuse, preferential tax treatment of land, and the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules. In May 1976, Morrison was appointed to the powerful Joint Finance Committee. She also served on special committees on the Wisconsin Rail Plan, Primary Care (for the Health Planning Council), and the Governor's Commission on State-Local Policy and Financing, the Wisconsin Council on Criminal Justice, and the Chancellor's Advisory Committee (UW-Platteville). Morrison was defeated for reelection in 1978.
Kathryn Morrison belonged to several organizations and local bodies, including Common Cause, the executive board of the Grant County Democratic Party, the Wisconsin Women's Political Caucus, and the Platteville Chamber of Commerce. She was also the recipient of a number of awards: Wisconsin's “Outstanding Young Woman of the Year” in 1977, “Woman of the Year in State Politics” (Wisconsin State Journal, 1976), and “Woman of the Year” (Wisconsin Church Women United, 1976).
