Allan Colbern

Dr. Allan Colbern is Co-Director of Social Justice & Human Rights master's programs, Founding Director of the U.S. Immigration & Citizenship Lab, and Assistant Professor of Political Science, in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the New College at Arizona State University. He has works with immigrant rights organizations throughout the United States on policy advocacy, capacity building and coalition building with a focus on state and local levels. His expertise is in American politics, race, immigration, social movements, policy, federalism and citizenship. A focus of his research is understanding how institutions and policies expand and contract the rights of marginalized communities, and challenging illegality framing of undocumented immigrants as being outside the law’s protection and undeserving of rights.

He is the recipient of inaugural "Emerging Scholar Award" in 2023 by the Migration and Citizenship Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA), as an “outstanding scholar who is within 6 years from the year of their PhD, whose scholarly publication, teaching, professional service, and/or public scholarship has made a significant contribution to understanding migration and/or citizenship in political life.” He is the first author of "Citizenship Reimagined: A New Framework for State Rights in the United States" (Cambridge University Press, 2021), which is the co-winner of APSA's Migration and Citizenship Section 2021 Best Book Award. He recieved the Russell Sage Foundation and Carnegie Foundation’s Presidential Award in support of his second book, "Today’s Runaway Slaves: Unauthorized Immigrants in a Federalist Framework" (Russell Sage Foundation, Forthcoming), which is featured in his TEDxASUWest Talk, We Have Been Here Before. Dr. Colbern is also recognizing as an outstanding teacher and mentor through multiple university and school/program level awards, including ASU's Faculty Women’s Association Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award in 2021. He collaborates and publishes with graduate and undergraduate students from ground and online programs through his U.S. Immigration & Citizenship Lab, which has a strong focus on producing research in partnership with immigrant rights organizations.