Over the course of four decades, Lorna Edmundson held leadership positions at seven educational institutions in the U.S., Japan and France, serving as president, chief academic officer, and founding director/fundraiser for innovative programs, the latter at Columbia University, the American University of Paris, The Association of Vermont Independent Colleges, and Trinity, Colby Sawyer, Marymount, and Wilson colleges. Most recently, she served for a decade as president of Wilson College during a time in which the College revamped its governance structures; surpassed its comprehensive campaign goal of $45 million, raising $50 million; established the $25 million, LEED-GOLD certified, Harry R. Brooks Complex for Science, Math and Technology and the Institute for Science, Math and Technology; launched its Global Citizenship Initiative; and greatly strengthened Wilson’s brand. Stronger systems for evaluating institutional effectiveness and student learning were also adopted. Such progress was made despite the recession, a time in which many colleges were compelled to retrench or increase borrowing at unsustainable rates. When Lorna retired from Wilson in June of 2011, the Trustees conferred President Emerita status upon her and named the Atrium of the Brooks Complex for Science, Mathematics and Technology in her honor.
Lorna is recognized as an effective leader and facilitator of institutional change, helping public and private educational institutions build on their distinctions, strengthen finances and planning, maximize resources, and forge strategic partnerships in the U.S., France, Japan, South Korea, China, and Saudi Arabia. Among the honors she received are the Athena International Leadership Award, an Honorary Degree from her Alma Mater, Rhode Island College, and an Honorary, Lifetime Membership in Rotary International. She is also featured among leaders from Hong Kong, China, and the U.S. in Halpern and Cheung’s 2008 book, Women at the Top: Powerful Leaders Tell How to Combine Work and Family.
She served many organizations, including the: ACE Commission on International Education; National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities; NAICUSE; Campus Compact; Women’s College Coalition; Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities’ Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania; and Vermont Business Roundtable. Through her leadership, Wilson is a founding member of the United Nations Academic Impact Program. Currently, she assists several organizations in strengthening branding, strategic financial planning, fundraising, and international education, expanding the effectiveness of the International and NYC Women’s Forums and advancing goals for women’s education and economic status through Gamma Society International, an NGO at the U. N. As a long-time trustee of Norwich University, she chairs the Academic Affairs Committee and serves on the Executive, Presidential Evaluation, Student Success, School of Graduate and Continuing Studies/Strategic Business Initiatives Committees. Lorna especially enjoys assisting those who seek to strengthen their institution’s vision, visibility, governance, financial situation, and strategic planning, ensuring that they will always have the capacity to deliver fully on their missions, despite troubled times.
She earned her doctorate at Columbia University’s Teachers College; her M.Ed. in Counseling at Boston College, and her B.A. at Rhode Island College. She completed the Columbia Graduate School of Business’s Executive Program in Accounting and Finance for Non-Profit Managers, served as a Visiting Scholar in Columbia University’s doctoral program in College Teaching and Academic Leadership, and was a J. William Fulbright Research Scholar to Japan where she conducted research on the factors that prepare strong leaders, capable of facilitating sustainable change in education, diplomacy, and development. .
Lorna and her husband of forty years – Daniel C. Edmundson, attorney and partner in international business law at Troutman Sanders, LLC – live in New York City and Sharon, Connecticut. They have two daughters and two grandchildren.
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