Marisa S. Cianciarulo

Marisa S. Cianciarulo is a specialist in immigration law with a human rights focus at Chapman University Fowler School of Law. She previously served as the Interim Dean of the law school as well as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Professor 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, she 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, she 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.

Professor 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. She has taught Civil Procedure, the Family Protection Clinic, Gender and Sexual Orientation and the Law, Refugee Law and Remedies at the Fowler School of Law. She has also taught Immigration and Refugee Law and Policy in the undergraduate Honors Program.

Professor Cianciarulo has been active with diversity initiatives and student-sponsored events across the university. Law students voted her 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.