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Meet Our New Dean
DR. LORNA A. TURNBULL
Dr. Lorna Turnbull was appointed
Dean of the Faculty of Law,
University of Manitoba in April
of 2011. She is a graduate of the
Common Law Program at the
University of Ottawa and received
her LL.M. and doctoral (J.S.D.)
degrees from Columbia University,
New York City, in 1994 and 2000,
respectively. She joined the
University of Manitoba’s Faculty
of Law as an Assistant Professor
in 2001. From 2005 to 2010, Dr.
Turnbull served as Associate Dean
(Academic). In 2010, Dr. Turnbull
was appointed Acting Dean.
Throughout, she has led the
further development of the
Faculty’s teaching and research
programs, initiating a curriculum
‘mapping’ process, enhancing
support for inter-disciplinary
research efforts, exploring
innovative ways to reach out
to Aboriginal communities to
increase access to legal education,
and fostering relationships
with alumni and other key
stakeholders. Dr. Turnbull has
been and continues to be active
on a number of faculty and
university-wide committees.
She is collaborative in her
leadership, deeply valuing the
contributions of her faculty
colleagues, staff, students, and
alumni. She has helped lead
initiatives at the University
of Manitoba to develop
interdisciplinary research,
to explore new joint degree
programs, and has encouraged the
leading role that the Faculty of Law
is playing in the University’s new
Centre for Human Rights Research.
She has also provided leadership
in building the University’s
relationship with the Canadian
Museum for Human Rights and
supporting the development of
a new publication, the Canadian
Journal of Human Rights.
Dr. Turnbull has championed
initiatives at the law school to
bring more experiential learning
opportunities into the curriculum
through internships with legal
and human rights organizations,
for example with her innovative
assignment in the required Income
Tax Law course, connecting law
students with low income clients
of Winnipeg Harvest to assist them
in preparing their tax returns.
The students’ work benefitted
the clients by allowing them to
increase their income by accessing
refundable credits and benefitted
the students themselves by
allowing them to gain a greater
understanding of the realities of
fellow citizens living in poverty
and to reflect on the connections
between tax policy and poverty.
She was elected and served
as President of the Canadian
Association of Law Teachers
(CALT), the national scholarly
association for legal academics
in Canada and with two others,
spearheaded an initiative to
develop Canada’s only scholarly
journal dedicated to legal
education, the Canadian Legal
Education Annual Review (CLEAR).
As Editor-in-Chief of the CLEAR,
Dr. Turnbull has played a strong
leadership role in fostering
scholarly reflection throughout
the Canadian legal academy
on the objectives, values and
cultures of legal education and
on the processes involved in law
teaching. At the Faculty of Law,
she has encouraged innovation in
teaching and learning.
Dr. Turnbull’s research on women,
care-giving work, and the law
has been described as “cutting
edge” and has been funded by
national granting bodies such the
Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada
(SSHRC). Dr. Turnbull was the first
85 ROBSON HALL ALUMNI REPORT