Prior to her current appointment, Frances was an Associate Professor at the University of Washington in the College of Education in Leadership and Policy Studies. She researches issues of equity and access for Latina/o and underrepresented students in the education pipeline, including the transition between K-12 and higher education, community college transfer, affirmative action in higher education and the role of the public policy arena in ensuring student access and equity across a P-20 continuum. Dr. Contreras received her Ph.D. from Stanford University in Educational Administration & Policy Analysis, Master of Education from Harvard University, and B.A. from University of California, Berkeley.