NORMA BOWE
DIRECTOR & BOARD CHAIR
Dr. Norma Bowe has undergraduate degrees in Nursing and Community Health, a Masters in Health Administration and a Ph.D. in Community Health Policy. She began her career bringing medical care to rural areas in Fluvanna County, Virginia. She has also worked in the ICU, ER, and Hospice assisting with those patients transitioning from life to death and families experiencing loss and bereavement. Later she worked as psychiatric nurse advocate for the mentally ill.
Dr. Bowe is a tenured Professor in the College of Education at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. She developed the course curriculum for Death in Perspective which has a three year waiting list and is the subject of the book The Death Class: A True Story About Life, by Erika Hayasaki, a former LA Times journalist. In addition to teaching courses in death education, community mental health, and public health, she is the author of Perspectives in Community Mental Health, published by Kendall Hunt. She has authored and co-authored articles as well as text book chapters in health education. Her dissertation, The Relationship between Sense of Coherence, Burden and Depression in Male Caregivers for Women with Breast Cancer, won an award. Dr. Bowe has presented at conferences both nationally and internationally. She was a featured speaker at the International Women’s Health Conference in Delhi, India. She has volunteered as a teacher in the NJ prison system, bringing college courses to incarcerated men and women.
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Eleven years ago, she started a community service and activist group called “Be the Change” fashioned after Gandhi’s famous quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. She has organized community services projects across the country; addressing issues of social justice, food justice and human rights.
Dr. Bowe enjoys people, children and animals. She has had a checkered, but sometimes successful, sideline in match making. You will sometimes find her enjoying her most favorite past time of all...Kayaking on a bright summer’s day.
