Laura Dean 🇱🇻🇺🇦
@lauradean.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Human Trafficking Research Lab at Millikin University (she/her) 🇱🇻🇺🇦
Pro tip: always carry a sharpie with you since you never know when there is going to be an impromptu protest against Russian Imperialism nearby. I took a break from the Model UN conference and attended a "Ukraine is Not for Sale" protest with a few students today. 🇺🇦
November 23, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Pro tip: always carry a sharpie with you since you never know when there is going to be an impromptu protest against Russian Imperialism nearby. I took a break from the Model UN conference and attended a "Ukraine is Not for Sale" protest with a few students today. 🇺🇦
Our Millikin University delegation is present and voting at the 2025 American Model United Nations Conference in Chicago! We are representing Japan and spent all semester learning about Japan's foreign policy and practicing parliamentary procedure. Looking forward to the next four days!
November 23, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Our Millikin University delegation is present and voting at the 2025 American Model United Nations Conference in Chicago! We are representing Japan and spent all semester learning about Japan's foreign policy and practicing parliamentary procedure. Looking forward to the next four days!
Next on my #AcWriMo goals list are the revisions to my book Gendering the Saeima: The Politics of Women's Representation in #Latvia. The reviews came back a few weeks ago and they were mostly favorable so now I get to start the long revision process on Latvian independence day! 🇱🇻
November 18, 2025 at 1:38 PM
More updates to the #HumanTrafficking Research Lab blog including a new policy brief with the main findings from our adjudication research (5 years in the making) and information on the statewide human trafficking task force meeting. Check out our work👇 www.humantraffickingresearchlab.org?m=1
November 17, 2025 at 2:51 PM
More updates to the #HumanTrafficking Research Lab blog including a new policy brief with the main findings from our adjudication research (5 years in the making) and information on the statewide human trafficking task force meeting. Check out our work👇 www.humantraffickingresearchlab.org?m=1
Sent our hotline article out for review and got to check another item off my #AcWriMo 2025 writing goals list today! I am heading to Model UN in Chicago this weekend so I will be able to visit the Ukrainian Village for my Ukrainian chocolate reward. 🇺🇦 🍫✍️
November 17, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Sent our hotline article out for review and got to check another item off my #AcWriMo 2025 writing goals list today! I am heading to Model UN in Chicago this weekend so I will be able to visit the Ukrainian Village for my Ukrainian chocolate reward. 🇺🇦 🍫✍️
Final tweaks to the figures for our human trafficking hotlines in war article today, one of my #AcWriMo goals. My local coffee shop is already decorated for the holidays even though it was like 70 degrees yesterday and does not feel like the holiday season! ☕ 🌲 ✍️
November 16, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Final tweaks to the figures for our human trafficking hotlines in war article today, one of my #AcWriMo goals. My local coffee shop is already decorated for the holidays even though it was like 70 degrees yesterday and does not feel like the holiday season! ☕ 🌲 ✍️
Attended an Illinois #HumanTrafficking Task Force meeting yesterday. Social service providers reported a decrease in foreign born forced labor survivors/victims coming forward because they are afraid to seek help due to immigration enforcement. Many orgs now have to offer online services!
November 15, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Attended an Illinois #HumanTrafficking Task Force meeting yesterday. Social service providers reported a decrease in foreign born forced labor survivors/victims coming forward because they are afraid to seek help due to immigration enforcement. Many orgs now have to offer online services!
Updates to the Human Trafficking Research Lab blog with posts about Shared Hope International's A ranking for Illinois, our A21 Global Freedom Summit class project, and media appearance on WCIA News! It's been a busy few weeks in the lab....
www.humantraffickingresearchlab.org?m=1
www.humantraffickingresearchlab.org?m=1
November 10, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Updates to the Human Trafficking Research Lab blog with posts about Shared Hope International's A ranking for Illinois, our A21 Global Freedom Summit class project, and media appearance on WCIA News! It's been a busy few weeks in the lab....
www.humantraffickingresearchlab.org?m=1
www.humantraffickingresearchlab.org?m=1
Different #AcWriMo Saturday view this week from the University Commons at Millikin University! We had a visit day on campus today so I was there bright and early and took a break between sessions to work on a few blog posts for the Human Trafficking Research Lab blog!
November 8, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Different #AcWriMo Saturday view this week from the University Commons at Millikin University! We had a visit day on campus today so I was there bright and early and took a break between sessions to work on a few blog posts for the Human Trafficking Research Lab blog!
Mans protests ar Linkolnu Dekatūrā Ilinoisā ASV. Es atbalstu sievietes Latvijā.
November 6, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Mans protests ar Linkolnu Dekatūrā Ilinoisā ASV. Es atbalstu sievietes Latvijā.
#AcWriMo updates! Sent my Forced Criminality Chapter off to the editors yesterday, part of an edited volume Crime and Justice in Wartime Ukraine under contract with Routledge. Now I can check it off my to do list and get my Latvian chocolate reward from the Baltic Shop!
November 6, 2025 at 2:33 PM
#AcWriMo updates! Sent my Forced Criminality Chapter off to the editors yesterday, part of an edited volume Crime and Justice in Wartime Ukraine under contract with Routledge. Now I can check it off my to do list and get my Latvian chocolate reward from the Baltic Shop!
WCIA News was in the Human Trafficking Research Lab today interviewing us about the adoption of the Illinois Statewide Trauma Informed Response to Human Trafficking Act. The adoption of this Act moved Illinois from an F to an A with the 2nd best #HumanTrafficking policy in the US!
November 5, 2025 at 9:05 PM
WCIA News was in the Human Trafficking Research Lab today interviewing us about the adoption of the Illinois Statewide Trauma Informed Response to Human Trafficking Act. The adoption of this Act moved Illinois from an F to an A with the 2nd best #HumanTrafficking policy in the US!
Making more than 20 Latvian pankūkas for my Baltic Immersion 2026 Information Session tonight! We are set to travel to the Baltic States and Finland for 20 days backpacking and learning about the region in May and June 2026. 🇱🇻🇪🇪🇱🇹🇫🇮
November 3, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Making more than 20 Latvian pankūkas for my Baltic Immersion 2026 Information Session tonight! We are set to travel to the Baltic States and Finland for 20 days backpacking and learning about the region in May and June 2026. 🇱🇻🇪🇪🇱🇹🇫🇮
Had a lovely evening at the Nutcracker: Magical Christmas Ballet. I enjoyed picking out all of the Ukrainian dancers in the group and Ukrainian motifs with my Ukrainian friend. We also learned that the principal dancer was from the "Ukrainian ballet capital of Kharkiv!" 🇺🇦
November 3, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Had a lovely evening at the Nutcracker: Magical Christmas Ballet. I enjoyed picking out all of the Ukrainian dancers in the group and Ukrainian motifs with my Ukrainian friend. We also learned that the principal dancer was from the "Ukrainian ballet capital of Kharkiv!" 🇺🇦
#AcWriMo starts today & here are my writing goals and rewards for 2025. It was fun to look back & see all of the writing I have accomplished since 2022 when I started participating. Over the years I usually check 2-3 items off my list & chocolate is almost always my reward. 🍫 Happy writing everyone!
November 1, 2025 at 1:38 PM
#AcWriMo starts today & here are my writing goals and rewards for 2025. It was fun to look back & see all of the writing I have accomplished since 2022 when I started participating. Over the years I usually check 2-3 items off my list & chocolate is almost always my reward. 🍫 Happy writing everyone!
The most gender equal Saeima in the history of #Latvia with 36% women's representation voted to withdraw from the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. This reaffirms a key finding from my book Gendering the Saeima 🇱🇻
October 31, 2025 at 11:49 AM
The most gender equal Saeima in the history of #Latvia with 36% women's representation voted to withdraw from the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. This reaffirms a key finding from my book Gendering the Saeima 🇱🇻
With the rhetoric surrounding the #IstanbulConvention I wanted to share some of the findings from my book Gendering the Saeima: The Politics of Women's Representation in #Latvia. I interviewed women MPs in the 12th & 13th Saeimas and asked them if they had experienced violence. 🇱🇻
October 28, 2025 at 6:05 PM
With the rhetoric surrounding the #IstanbulConvention I wanted to share some of the findings from my book Gendering the Saeima: The Politics of Women's Representation in #Latvia. I interviewed women MPs in the 12th & 13th Saeimas and asked them if they had experienced violence. 🇱🇻
Students in my PO 323 Human Trafficking class are organizing the Global Freedom Summit as part of our final class project. In addition to showing the film, my students are developing games and activities to teach people about human trafficking and how to advocate for change in our community.
October 28, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Students in my PO 323 Human Trafficking class are organizing the Global Freedom Summit as part of our final class project. In addition to showing the film, my students are developing games and activities to teach people about human trafficking and how to advocate for change in our community.
Perfect day to take a break from grading and try out my new Brooks running shoes for our lovely fall running weather in Central Illinois! 🍁🍂 🎃
October 26, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Perfect day to take a break from grading and try out my new Brooks running shoes for our lovely fall running weather in Central Illinois! 🍁🍂 🎃
#AcWri Saturday finishing up the final edits to our adjudication project! Five years, 326,719 arrests analyzed on the local level and we found elements of trafficking in twice as many cases compared to the Uniform Crime Report. Can't wait to send this out for review! ☕
October 25, 2025 at 5:07 PM
#AcWri Saturday finishing up the final edits to our adjudication project! Five years, 326,719 arrests analyzed on the local level and we found elements of trafficking in twice as many cases compared to the Uniform Crime Report. Can't wait to send this out for review! ☕
We ran the Shoreline Classic 5K again this year, our local race sponsored by our Decatur Running Club. We both took 3rd for our age category and my husband who started running 3 years ago keeps getting faster. It was good to see colleagues and former students out on the course!
October 5, 2025 at 3:44 PM
We ran the Shoreline Classic 5K again this year, our local race sponsored by our Decatur Running Club. We both took 3rd for our age category and my husband who started running 3 years ago keeps getting faster. It was good to see colleagues and former students out on the course!
At the Dmytro Shtohryn International Ukrainian Studies Conference the University of Illinois Library today. Keynote from Emily Channell-Justice “A Drop in the Ocean: Ukraine’s Euromaidan Protests and New Imagined Communities” with some amazing Maidan photos!
October 2, 2025 at 10:47 PM
At the Dmytro Shtohryn International Ukrainian Studies Conference the University of Illinois Library today. Keynote from Emily Channell-Justice “A Drop in the Ocean: Ukraine’s Euromaidan Protests and New Imagined Communities” with some amazing Maidan photos!
Relieved to see the TIP Report for 2025 finally released after bipartisan pressure from Congress and an investigation by the Guardian! Staff at the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons were cut by more than 70% so I am thankful to see the 25th edition! www.state.gov/reports/2025...
October 2, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Relieved to see the TIP Report for 2025 finally released after bipartisan pressure from Congress and an investigation by the Guardian! Staff at the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons were cut by more than 70% so I am thankful to see the 25th edition! www.state.gov/reports/2025...
Went to the Decatur Public Library's Something Weird in Your Neighborhood: An Evening with Troy Taylor tonight at one of Decatur's most haunted places the Lincoln Theater. It was fun to hear about all of the ghost stories from Millikin too featuring Shilling Hall (where my office is located)! 👻
October 2, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Went to the Decatur Public Library's Something Weird in Your Neighborhood: An Evening with Troy Taylor tonight at one of Decatur's most haunted places the Lincoln Theater. It was fun to hear about all of the ghost stories from Millikin too featuring Shilling Hall (where my office is located)! 👻
The Human Trafficking Research Lab is participating in the Millikin Makers Market at homecoming. Here is a preview of all of the interesting things we will be selling with the proceeds going to support salaries for my student research assistants! www.humantraffickingresearchlab.org/2025/09/mill...
October 1, 2025 at 12:29 PM
The Human Trafficking Research Lab is participating in the Millikin Makers Market at homecoming. Here is a preview of all of the interesting things we will be selling with the proceeds going to support salaries for my student research assistants! www.humantraffickingresearchlab.org/2025/09/mill...