Allison Tirres

Professor Allison Brownell Tirres is a historian and legal scholar who teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, property law, immigration and civil rights. Her current research focuses on noncitizen civil rights in both historical and contemporary perspectives. Her academic work is published or forthcoming in leading law reviews and journals, and she also contributes to media, blogs and editorial pages, with recent work appearing in Jotwell, Public Books and the Washington Post.

Prior to joining the faculty at USF, Professor Tirres taught at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. She served for six years as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Strategic Initiatives, co-founded the DePaul Migration Collaborative, and received university and law school awards for teaching, scholarship, and service. She has also taught as a visitor at Santa Clara University School of Law and at the University of Chicago Law School.

Professor Tirres received her bachelor's degree magna cum laude from Princeton University, her JD from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor and treasurer of the Harvard Law Review, and her PhD in American History from Harvard University.

• Constitutional law
• Immigration law & policy
• Legal history
• Property law

• Noncitizen civil rights
• Immigration federalism
• Constitutional history

• Chair, Honor Code Committee (2025-2026)
• Member, Status of Faculty Committee (2025-2026)
• Member, Academic Standards Committee (2025-2026)
• Editorial Board Member, Law & Social Inquiry (2024-2026)

• Harvard University, PhD in History, 2008
• Harvard Law School, JD, 2004
• Harvard University, MA in History, 2001
• Princeton University, BA in History, magna cum laude, 1996

• Professor, DePaul University College of Law (2024-2025)
  Visiting Associate Professor, Santa Clara University School of Law (2023-2024)
• Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Strategic Initiatives, DePaul University College of Law (2014-2017, 2020-2023) 
• Associate Professor with Tenure, DePaul University College of Law (2014-2024) 
• Visiting Associate Professor, The University of Chicago Law School (2018)
• Assistant Professor, DePaul University College of Law (2007-2014)

• DePaul University College of Law Excellence in Faculty Scholarship, 2023
• DePaul University College of Law Excellence in Faculty Service, 2022
• DePaul University Excellence in Teaching Award, 2020
• DePaul University College of Law Excellence in Faculty Achievement, 2016

• Exclusion from Within: Noncitizens and the Rise of Discriminatory Licensing Laws, LAW & SOCIAL INQUIRY (published online 2023) (peer-reviewed)
• The Unfinished Revolution for Immigrant Civil Rights, 25 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 846 (2023)
• Mercy in Immigration Law, 2014 BYU LAW REVIEW 1563-1611 (2014)
• Ownership without Citizenship: The Creation of Noncitizen Property Rights, 19 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF RACE & LAW 1-59 (2013)