Northern Illinois University
College of Law

Lauren Threatte, Ph.D., holds the position of DEI Postdoctoral Fellow with the College of Law and Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality. Lauren identifies as a Black American woman with diverse ancestry who experiences disability. She is an ally to the LGBTQ+ community and a member of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. She is an alumnus of University of Southern California Gould School of Law (J.D.), The Heller School for Social Policy & Management at Brandeis University (M.A., Ph.D.), and University of Iowa (B.A.). At NIU, Lauren is teaching interdisciplinary graduate level courses in law and gender studies. In the Social Policy Ph.D. program at Brandeis, she taught courses on social inequality, race and law and engaged in social science and higher education research. She received a fellowship from the Brandeis Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy to conduct research on women’s economic insecurity. Her doctoral dissertation developed critical institutional identity theory through a grounded study and critical analysis of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy design, framing and ideology in elite higher education. Her study uncovered racism, sexism, classism and ableism in DEI ideology. 

Lauren’s current research interests are on social and legal inequities and disparities based on gender, race and other social categories along with intersectional, institutional, cultural and systemic oppression. She teaches and writes from multiple perspectives and utilizes a plethora of critical lenses including Critical Race Theory, Black Feminist Thought, Whiteness Theory, Queer Theory and Multidimensional Masculinities Theory. She has also published work on mental stigma and sanism and is an advocate for neurodiversity and disability rights. Lauren maintains a passion for human rights, criminal and racial justice, social equity, the dismantling of unearned privilege, women’s empowerment, Black women’s liberation, reparations, and solving structural barriers to equal protection under the law.

Before her entry into the academy, Lauren had a career in formal legal practice. As an attorney, Lauren represented indigent clients in criminal and civil litigation as an Assistant Public Defender in Cook County and worked in EEO and sexual harassment investigations for the City of Chicago. Additionally, she has held positions in the DEI field for many years. She is a new member, ex-officio, to NIU College of Law’s Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. As an independent consultant, she continues her DEI work as a JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) researcher, educator and consultant to organizations including colleges and nonprofits. Formerly, she held positions as racial justice educator, diversity management specialist and diversity project assistant and served as a member of the Diversity and Disability Working Groups at The Heller School. To advance diversity and equity in the legal field, she prepared minority candidates for the Illinois Bar Exam at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and DePaul College of Law through Minority Legal Education Resources.