Victoria Maria DeFrancesco Soto is an American political scientist and academic administrator. She is dean of the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas. [1] She was previously the assistant dean for civic engagement and a senior lecturer at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. [1]
She researches immigration, women and politics, political psychology, and campaigns and elections. [1]
DeFrancesco Soto was born to Victoria and Joseph DeFrancesco in Southern Arizona. [1] [2] Her mother is from Sonora. [1] She is of Italian, Jewish, and Mexican descent. [3] She completed a bachelor's degree in political science and Latin American studies at the University of Arizona. [1] She earned a master's and Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Duke University. [1] Her 2007 dissertation was titled, Do Latinos Party All the Time? The Role of Shared Ethnic Group Identity on Political. [2] John Aldrich was her doctoral advisor. [2]
DeFrancesco Soto is the first Latina dean of the Clinton School of Public Service. [4]