Professor Vaughn, a native of Seattle, came to the University of Washington in 1984. Her teaching and research focuses on employment relations (labor law, employment discrimination, employment law) and procedural courses such as civil procedure, administrative law and legislation.
In recent years, she has also developed a growing expertise in law and neuroscience, and particularly how recent scientific developments relate to the abusive workplace as well as forms of decision-making. Prior to her career in education, she practiced labor law representing unions.
In Michigan, she was chair of the Michigan Teacher Tenure Commission. Professor Vaughn was awarded the Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship at the end of her third year of law school.
At UW, she was appointed by the university president to serve as Secretary of the Faculty for all three UW campuses from 1999-2005. In that position, she had oversight of the university-wide faculty governance structure, the faculty grievance procedures and the University Handbook. She is a member of the Michigan bar.