Marisa Cianciarulo
Doy and Dee Henley Chair in Law
- Affiliations:
- University Honors Program
- Education:
- The Catholic University of America, Bachelor of Arts
American University, Master of Arts
American University, Juris Doctor
Video Profile
Biography
Marisa S. Cianciarulo is a specialist in immigration law with a human rights focus at Chapman University Fowler School of Law. She currently serves as the Interim Dean of the law school, and previously served as its Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2017 to 2021. Dean Cianciarulo received her B.A. from the Catholic University of America, her JD from American University Washington College of Law, and her M.A. from American University School of International Service. She founded Chapman's Bette and Wylie Aitken Family Violence Clinic in 2006 and served as its director until 2017.
From 1997 to 2012, Dean Cianciarulo represented people from Central and South America, Afghanistan, Africa, Asia, Pakistan, and Eastern Europe in political asylum and other immigration matters. Prior to joining the faculty of Chapman University in 2006, Dean Cianciarulo practiced immigration law in the Washington, D.C. area, served as a staff attorney with the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration, and taught in the Villanova Law School Clinic for Asylum, Refugee and Emigrant Services.
Dean Cianciarulo’s research focuses on vulnerable immigrant populations and the intersection of gender and immigration. She has published numerous articles in academic journals, including the highest-ranked journals in the country on gender and the law and human rights law. Dean Cianciarulo has taught Civil Procedure, the Family Protection Clinic, Gender and Sexual Orientation and the Law, Refugee Law, and Remedies at the law school. She has also taught Immigration and Refugee Law and Policy in the undergraduate Honors Program.
Dean Cianciarulo has been active with diversity initiatives and student-sponsored events across the university. Law students voted Dean Cianciarulo Professor of the Year in 2010, and in 2017 the university awarded her the Valerie Scudder Award for outstanding achievement in teaching, scholarship, and service.
Courses Taught: Civil Procedure, Family Protection Clinic, Gender & Sexual Orientation & the Law, Immigration & Refugee Law & Policy (undergraduate Honors Program seminar), Refugee Law, and Remedies
Recent Creative, Scholarly Work and Publications
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For the Greater Good: The Subordination of Reproductive Freedom to State Interests in the United States and China, 51 AKRON LAW REVIEW 99 (2017).
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Refugees in Our Midst: Applying International Human Rights Law to the Bullying of LGBTQ Youth in the United States, 47 COLUMBIA HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW 55 (2016).
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Seventeen Years Since the Sunset: The Expiration of 245(i) and Its Effect on U.S. Citizens Married to Undocumented Immigrants, 18 CHAPMAN LAW REVIEW 451 (2015) (symposium issue).
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Unauthorized Americans and European Outcasts, 27 GEORGETOWN IMMIGRATION LAW JOURNAL 519 (2013).
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Batterers as Agents of the State: Challenging the Public/Private Distinction in Intimate Partner Violence-Based Asylum Claims, 35 HARVARD JOURNAL OF LAW & GENDER 117 (2012).
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The “Arizonification” of Immigration Law: Implications of U.S. Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting for State and Local Immigration Legislation, 15 HARVARD LATINO LAW REVIEW 85 (2012).
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U.S. Immigration Law: Where Antiquated Views on Gender and Sexual Orientation Go to Die, 55 WAYNE LAW REVIEW 1897 (2010) (symposium issue).
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Pulling the Trigger: Separation Violence as a Basis for Refugee Protection for Battered Women, (co-authored with Dr. Claudia David), 59 AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 337 (2009).
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What Is Choice? Examining Sex Trafficking Legislation through the Lenses of Rape Law and Prostitution, 6 UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS LAW REVIEW 54 (2008) (symposium issue).
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Can’t Live With ’Em, Can’t Deport ’Em: Why Immigration Reform Efforts Have Failed, 13 NEXUS JOURNAL 13 (2008) (symposium issue).
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The Trafficking and Exploitation Victims Assistance Program: A Proposed Early Response Plan for Victims of International Human Trafficking in the United States 38 NEW MEXICO LAW REVIEW 373 (2008).
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Modern-Day Slavery and Cultural Bias: Proposals for Reforming the U.S. Visa System for Victims of International Human Trafficking, 7 NEVADA LAW JOURNAL 826 (2007) (symposium issue) reprinted in G. CHANDANA, ED., HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A SOCIO-LEGAL STUDY 106 (2008).
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Counterproductive and Counterintuitive Counterterrorism: The Post-September 11 Treatment of Refugees and Asylum Seekers, 84 DENVER UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 1121 (2007) (symposium issue).
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Terrorism and Asylum Seekers: Why the Real ID Act is a False Promise, 43 HARVARD JOURNAL ON LEGISLATION 101 (2006), excerpted in KAREN MUSALO, JENNIFER MOORE & RICHARD A. BOSWELL, REFUGEE LAW AND POLICY: A COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL APPROACH (4th ed. 2011).
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The W Visa: A Legislative Proposal for Female and Child Refugees Trapped in a Post-9/11 World, 17 YALE JOURNAL OF LAW & FEMINISM 459 (2005).