Marie Cornwall has had a distinguished career studying the lives of women and how they contribute to and manage social change. She was director of the Women’s Research Institute at Brigham Young University (1989-93) and occupied the Belle S. Spafford Endowed Chair in the College of Social Work at the University of Utah (1993-94). Her research on women has included the study of plural marriage, the woman suffrage movement, changing gender roles and emerging reproductive technologies.