Erica Laplante

Director, Engaged Research

Lecturer in Human Rights

Erica Laplante, Ph.D. is the Director of Engaged Research, and Lecturer in Human Rights at the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute.  In addition, she oversees undergraduate and graduate experiential learning at HRI, teaching a variety of courses including Introduction to Human Rights, the Internship Capstone, the Professional Development for Human Rights Careers course and the Practicum in Human Rights in the graduate program. 

Her dissertation, titled “Formally Informal? Sex Work, Stigma and Institutions,” examined how different regulatory models governing sex work impacts the rights of sex workers in Nevada and New South Wales. In doing so, she analyzed the strategies sex workers develop for institutionalizing their own protection and livelihood to navigate environments of exclusion. More broadly, her research is focused on the rights of those engaged in precarious labor and social and economic rights. Dr. Laplante received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Connecticut, an MA in Human Rights Studies from Columbia University, and a BA in Government and International Relations from Connecticut College.