Marie Cornwall (born 1949) is the editor of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, a professor of sociology and women's studies at Brigham Young University (BYU) and a former director of BYU's Women's Research Institute.
Cornwall holds a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Utah, a master's degree in sociology from BYU and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Minnesota.
Besides being a member of the BYU faculty Cornwall was also a visiting professor at the University of Utah for one year.[1] She was a researcher for the LDS Church's Correlation Department prior to joining the BYU faculty, where she studied causes/patterns of Mormons leaving church activity for other ways of living.
Cornwall was one of the moving figures behind the growth of the Mormon Social Science Association.[2]
Among other subjects Cornwall has written articles on women's suffrage, unemployment, gender roles in housekeeping, plural marriage and religion and family in such journals as Mobilization; Social Forces; Journal of Marriage and the Family and Review of Religious Research. Among other books, Cornwall edited Contemporary Mormonism: Social Science Perspectives, with Tim B. Heaton and Lawrence A. Young.[3] Along with Sherrie Mills Johnson, Cornwall has done studies critical of the view that Mormon women are submissive and degraded.[4]