Erin B. Corcoran

Areas of expertise: U.S. immigration law and policy; refugee and asylum law; protection of vulnerable migrant populations; and human trafficking

During the 2022-23 academic year, Erin Corcoran is the Acting Director for the Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies and a faculty member at the Keough School of Global Affairs.

Erin Corcoran serves as the Executive Director for the Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies and as a faculty member at the Keough School of Global Affairs. Corcoran oversees operations and staff administration at the Kroc Institute. She also gives leadership to the Institute’s five-year strategic plan.

Corcoran’s work has focused on immigration and refugee law, human rights law and other complex legal topics at the national and local level. Prior to joining the Kroc Institute, Corcoran provided counsel to Kids in Need of Defense and the Vera Institute of Justice. As a Professor of Law at University of New Hampshire School of Law her research centered on protecting vulnerable non-citizens including developing best practices for adjudicating claims of unaccompanied children seeking international protection.

Previously, she served as a resettlement consultant for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Lusaka, Zambia, a staff attorney for Human Rights First in Washington, D.C., and legal counselor to former Senator Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland.

Corcoran’s administrative experience includes a one-year term as the inaugural Executive Director for the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership and Public Policy and four years as the Director of the Social Justice Institute, both at the University of New Hampshire. She also served two years as a professional staff member of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science Related Agencies.

At Notre Dame, Corcoran is a faculty fellow at the Pulte Institute for Global Development.

Corcoran holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington D.C., and has a B.A. in Philosophy and Religious Studies from Montana State University in Bozeman.