Marsden, Lorna R., 1942- : Lorna Marsden, Senator, was born on Vancouver Island in 1942 and was educated in local schools. She received her Bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto in 1968 and her Ph.D. in Sociology in 1972 from Princeton University. From 1972 she was a member of the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto, and was Chair of the Department from 1977 to 1979. She served as the Associate Dean of the School of Graduate Studies (Social Sciences) from 1979 to 1982, and as Vice-Provost (Arts and Sciences) at the university in 1983. She has been a Senior fellow at Massey College since 1982. She received an Hon. LL.D. from the University of New Brunswick in 1990, from the University of Winnipeg in 1994, from both Queen's University and the University of Toronto in 1995.
Lorna Marsden was active in the women's movement as a member of the Ontario Committee on the Status of Women from 1971, as President of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women from 1975 to 1977, and as a member of other committees and organizations which advanced the status of women in Canada through legislative means.
Lorna Marsden became a member of the Liberal Party in 1972. She helped Aideen Nicholson in her election campaigns of 1972 and 1974 in Trinity riding and has since served in many positions in the Liberal Party of Canada. She was an Ontario representative to the Women's Liberal Commission from 1973 to 1975; Vice-President of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1975 to 1980; and Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Policy, Liberal Party of Canada 1982 to 1984. She chaired a committee which organized five policy forums for the leadership campaign of the Liberal Party of Canada in 1984. Her major interest was the link between constituency organizations and legislators in the area of policy ideas and issues.
In 1984, Lorna Marsden was appointed to the Canadian Senate (Senate from Toronto - Taddle Creek) by Prime Minister Trudeau. As a Senator, she was a member of the following Committees: Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Library of Parliament, National Defence, and Social Affairs, Science and Technology. She served as an active member of the Special Senate Committee on Youth which published its report "Youth - A Plan for Action" in February 1986. In addition, she served on the Standing Committee on National Finance which studied the financing of post-secondary education in Canada. She resigned from the Senate 1 September 1992 to become President and Vice-Chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University, where she served until 1997, when she moved to York University. From 1997-2007, Lorna Marsden served as President and Vice-Chancellor, and then, beginning in July 1997, as professor and President emerita.
In the community, Lorna Marsden worked in a variety of research and policy posts with several organizations. These positions included: Chair of the Editorial Board of "The Journal", a publication of the Addiction Research Foundation, member of the Research Review Committee for the Hospital for Sick Children's Foundation, member of the Manuscript Review Committee of the University of Toronto Press, trustee on the Elsie Gregory MacGill Memorial Foundation, and from 1978 to 1984 she was on the Board of Directors of Air Canada, and chaired its Social Responsibilities Committee. As well, she has served as a consultant for organizations dealing with a variety of research matters. In September 2007, Lorna Marsden was on the Board of Directors of The Gore Mutual (since 1996), Manulife (since 1996), SNC-Lavalin (since 2006), and GO Transit (since 2006).
Lorna Marsden is a Member of the Order of Canada (2006), and has been awarded the Order of Merit, First class from the Federal Republic of Germany.
