Ms. Brown holds a doctorate in History from Harvard University. Her dissertation “Cultural Czars: American Nationalism, Dance, and Cold War Arts Funding, 1945-1989” explores the introduction of “Russian” ballet to the United States, its evolution into an “American” form, and the funding and political opportunities created as a direct result. A Jacob K. Javits Fellow from 2000-2004 and a Joint Fellow at the Smithsonian National Museums of American Art and American History in 2006, Ms. Brown spent the fall of 2009 as a Fulbright Scholar at the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow.  Upon her return home, she joined the faculty at High Point University, outside of Winston-Salem, N.C., as Assistant Professor of History.  In 2011 she moved back north to become a faculty member at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, again as Assistant Professor of History.

Her teaching and research interests include 20th century cultural and diplomatic history, transnationalism and national identity, cultural consumption, ethnicity and the body, and the arts. While at Harvard, Lauren taught in a range of classes, from broad surveys of U.S. history and courses in historical methods to a class on “Media and the American Mind.” For this work she was twice awarded the University's Certificate of Distinction in Teaching. In Spring 2008 Lauren served as a Lecturer at her alma mater, teaching 20th Century Dance History.  At High Point she taught at every level of the university, from introductory courses for entering students to graduate readings in modern America.  She was also co-director of the High Point University Oral History Project and faculty advisor for Phi Alpha Theta, the historical honor society. 

At Marymount Manhattan she is a member of the Social Sciences Division (SocSci).  Teaching alongside her colleagues in Sociology, Political Science, and International Studies, Professor Brown teaches both sections of the U.S. survey, lower and upper level historical methods, and advanced undergraduate tutorials in American women’s history, foreign relations, cultural diplomacy, and consumerism.

Lauren graduated cum laude from Smith College with a double major in American Studies and Dance, earning both high honors and the Gladys Lampert Beenstock Prize for her work. She received her master's degree from Harvard University in June 2002 and her doctorate in November 2008.

“In liberal democracy and anxious anarchy, the traditional classic dance, compact of aristocratic authority and absolute freedom in a necessity of order, has never been so promising as an independent expression as it is today.”

- Lincoln Kirstein