Lauren Thompson Starks, Senior Policy Advisor

Lauren Thompson Starks serves as Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Education in the Office of the Under Secretary. Ms. Thompson Starks joined the Department in 2012 as Chief of Staff in the Office of the General Counsel. Her portfolio includes a broad range of issues in the postsecondary space, including college access and attainment for underserved students, coordination with the Department’s White House Initiatives, and interagency efforts supporting career-readiness for veterans and service members. She is also interested in the intersection of postsecondary innovation, inclusion, and equity.
Prior to coming to the Department, she practiced law in Washington, D.C., and also previously served as a Fellow at Yale University in the Offices of the President and Vice President, and Office of the General Counsel. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Ms. Thompson Starks earned her B.A. from Yale in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, and her J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.