Victoria DeFrancesco Soto
Dean of Clinton School of Public Service
Victoria DeFrancesco Soto is dean of the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas and a political analyst for NBC News and Telemundo.
She is the first Latina dean at a presidential institution and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administrators. An award-winning professor for more than twenty years, she previously taught at Northwestern University, Rutgers, and the University of Texas at Austin. She is deeply passionate about the intersection of curricular and community-based learning and cultivating dynamic, responsive classroom environments.
While new to Arkansas, DeFrancesco Soto has immersed herself in the vibrancy of the Natural State and was recently named one of 100 Women of Impact by the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas. She also remains active in national service organizations, such as Mi Familia Vota and the Partnership for Public Service. She is a proud graduate of the University of Arizona and received her Ph.D. in political science from Duke University.
