Dr. Frances Contreras
Associate Vice Chancellor, Faculty Recruitment & Retention in Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion & Professor in Education Studies, UCSD
Twitter: @DrFContreras
Dr. Frances Contreras is an Associate Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and a Professor in the Department of Education Studies at UC San Diego. Dr. Contreras has over 15 years of administrative leadership both at UCSD and the University of Washington College of Education, where she directed their higher education program. Her research focuses on issues of equity and access for underrepresented students in the education pipeline and the role of public policy in ensuring student equity across a P-20 continuum. Her work has been published in leading education journals and presses, such as: the American Education Research Journal, Harvard Educational Review, Educational Policy, The International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Journal of Hispanics in Higher Education, Harvard University Press, and Teachers College Press. Contreras’ most recent books include: Achieving Equity for Latino Students, Expanding the Pathway to Higher Education through Public Policy and The Latino Education Crisis with P. Gandara and High Achieving African American Students and the College Choice Process: Applications of Critical Race Theory (with T. Chapman, E. Comeaux, E. Martinez, & G. Rodriguez). She was honored as an “Emerging Scholar” and the “Top 25 to Watch” among academicians in the United States by Diverse Magazine. More recently, Contreras was the recipient of a lifetime achievement award by the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs for her work to address Latino student equity. Frances has served on the Boards of the ACLU of Washington, Harvard Journal for Hispanic Policy, the Journal of Advanced Academics, The Preuss School and Latino Education Achievement Project, and was a Gubernatorial Appointee to the Achievement Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee in Washington. She currently serves on the PUENTE Board, the Board of The Lupe Contreras Scholarship Fund in California and the WestEd Board of Directors. Dr. Contreras earned her Bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley, Master’s degree from Harvard University and Ph.D. in Administration and Education Policy from Stanford University.
