Lauren E. Threatte

Office: Swen Parson 197B

Phone: 815-753-8595

Email: lthreatte@niu.edu

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About

Assistant Professor Lauren E. Threatte ("Threet") teaches courses in sociolegal studies, gender justice, criminal law and property law. Professor Threatte began her career at NIU in 2022 as the inaugural DEI Postdoctoral Fellow with the College of Law and Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality. Before coming to NIU, she performed social policy research and racial justice education and programming at Brandeis University during her doctoral studies. Professor Threatte began her teaching career as T.A. for Professor Anita Hill at Brandeis University. She has also served as a board member and bar exam teacher for Minority Legal Education Resources (MLER) since 2006.

Professor Threatte's legal scholarship is classified as multi-disciplinary sociolegal and feminist legal studies. Her current work is in the realms of anti-choice and anti-discrimination law. She has presented her scholarship at the 2026 AALS Annual Meeting, 2023 Junior Scholars Conference at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and the 2020 annual conference of the Association for Public Policy and Management (APPAM). Before her entry into the legal academy, Professor Threatte earned a doctoral degree from The Heller School for Social Policy and Management. Her Ph.D. dissertation is titled Breaking Ground: Building Critical Institutional Identity Theory to Transform DEI Construction & Ideology in Elite Higher Education.

Professor Threatte's legal practice experience includes representing indigent clients in criminal and civil litigation as an Assistant Public Defender for the Office of the Cook County Public Defender in Chicago. She also worked for the City of Chicago performing sexual harassment trainings and investigations and evaluating EEO policy for the Office of Compliance. During law school, she clerked with Chicago Board of Education Litigation Department, Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles and the Juvenile Justice Division of Los Angeles County Circuit Court where she worked under the guidance of Judge Cynthia Loo. After earning her J.D., she was awarded the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) Fellowship and clerked with California Circuit Court Judge Victoria Chaney along with two complex litigation law firms in Southern California.

Professor Threatte received a J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Social Policy from The Heller School for Social Policy & Management at Brandeis, and a B.A. in communication studies (media production) from the University of Iowa. She is a member of the Society for American Law Teachers (SALT), Black Women Lawyers Association (BWLA), Chicago Bar Association (CBA), Black Women’s Studies Association and National Women’s Studies Association.

Professor Threatte is the faculty advisor for the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) and the Disability Students' Alliance at NIU. She identifies as a Black American woman with diverse ancestry. She is an ally to the LGBTQ+ community, the disability community, and undocumented students.

Education

• B.A., University of Iowa
• M.A., Brandeis University
• Ph.D., Brandeis University
• J.D., University of Southern California Gould School of Law