Professor

Shoba

Sivaprasad

Wadhia

Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia is a nationally respected immigration scholar, law professor, author, and attorney. Wadhia joined Penn State Dickinson Law as a Clinical Professor of Law in 2008 and was named Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar in 2013.

In 2023, Wadhia was appointed by President Biden as the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She led an office of 150+ people focusing on culture and mission excellence. Wadhia’s leadership was critical to integrating civil rights and civil liberties across DHS, and advances in artificial intelligence, language access, human rights, combatting gender-based violence, and racial equity, among other efforts. Wadhia received the DHS Outstanding Service Medal from the Secretary in 2024 at the end of her tenure.

Wadhia’s scholarship has focused on the role of prosecutorial discretion in immigration law and policy; and the intersection of immigration, race, and national security. Her work has been widely cited by federal judges and scholars and appeared in Duke Law Journal, Emory Law Journal, Texas Law Review, Washington and Lee Law Review, Harvard Latino Law Review, Administrative Law Review, Howard Law Journal, Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, University of Colorado Law Review, Cambridge University Press, and Columbia Journal of Race and Law, among others. She is the author of two award-winning academic press books by New York University Press; and co-author of a textbook on Immigration & Nationality Law by Carolina Academic Press. Wadhia has served as an expert witness, testified before Congress, and authored amicus briefs in her research areas. From 2019-2022, she served as the inaugural editor-in-chief of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Law Journal and, in 2019, served as the Enlund Scholar In Residence at DePaul University School of Law. Wadhia was elected to the American Law Institute in 2021. 

Wadhia has taught law courses in immigration since 2005 and received the Elmer Fried Excellence in Teaching Award from the American Immigration Lawyers Association in 2019. She founded the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic (CIRC) at Penn State Law in 2008. Over the next 15 years, Wadhia provided hundreds of students with clinical training in community outreach and education, pro bono legal support, and policy work. CIRC was honored with the Excellence in Legal Advocacy Award in 2017 and Legal Organization of the Year in 2019.

Wadhia is passionate about building community and helping students reach their highest potential. She received the university-wide W. L. Marr International Faculty Kopp Award in 2023 and the Rosemary Schraer Mentoring Award in 2020; Mimi Barash Coppersmith Women in Leadership Award in 2020 from the Centre Foundation and Arnold Addison Award for Town and Gown Relations in 2019 from the Borough of State College. In 2020, Wadhia was named a Fastcase 50 Awardee, which honors 50 of "the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries, & leaders." In 2022, Wadhia received the President’s Commendation and the Michael Maggio Pro Bono Award by the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Wadhia has long worked to advance equity, inclusion, and belonging in the legal academy and beyond. She chaired the law school’s diversity committee for eight years and in 2014, helped to create and institutionalize the Minority Mentor Program at Penn State Law. From 2020-2023, she served as the law school’s associate dean for diversity, equity & inclusion. During Wadhia’s tenure, she co-chaired the university-wide Student Code of Conduct Task Force, co-led the inaugural workshop for Asian American and Pacific Islander Women entering the legal academy, and led the design of a course on Law and (In)equity.  

Wadhia is a first-generation American and lawyer who began her career as an immigration attorney in private practice, where she represented individuals and families in citizenship, employment, family, humanitarian, and removal defense matters. After 9/11, she spent several years in the non-profit setting, drafting legislation, building coalitions with government officials and stakeholders, and developing policy on immigration law and policy reform.  

Wadhia holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from Indiana University Bloomington.