Alumni Profiles Series: Victoria DeFrancesco Soto

Victoria DeFrancesco Soto graduated from Duke University in 2007 with a Ph.D. in political science under the mentorship of Dr. John Aldrich and Dr. Paula McClain. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Rutgers University and an assistant professorship at Northwestern University, she discovered a passion for applied careers in political science. In particular, Victoria became deeply interested and involved in civic engagement and bridging the community and university realms.  She was appointed assistant dean at the Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, while serving as a contributor at NBC News and Telemundo. Following her time at the LBJ School of Public Service, she became dean of the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas. She enjoys sharing her experiences in careers in political science and mentoring the next generation of scholars.

What led you to pursue a Ph.D. in political science at Duke?

Early on, I realized that I loved the social sciences and political science, and I was a student council nerd starting in my middle school years. And so, as I started  college, I really found joy in doing political science, and then I came to the realization that I could do this as a profession. My father was an attorney, but he was also a first-generation college student. I don't think he understood the world of academia. And my mother didn't go to college. Having this opportunity in front of me was like, “Wow, I can do this,” so I applied. I had great mentors and supporters at my undergraduate institution in Tucson at the University of Arizona. I applied to a number of different graduate schools. With Duke, I got the acceptance, and aside from Duke being, you know, Duke, it was such a great institution. On the personal side, my older sister was at NC State at the time. So it was both professional and personal reasons to say, “Okay, I'm going to pack up and move to Durham, North Carolina!”

What were some highlights of your doctoral journey at Duke?

I was initially attracted to Duke because of the cohort size. It's a medium-smallish program. I wanted that personal relationship with my advisors and the general community. I enjoyed having access to the different resources of the campus: I remember taking classes at the law school and business school and being able to connect those to politics. Having such a great campus environment also is something that I remember so fondly about Duke and the cohort because, at the end of the day, it's a tough program.

The support system is really what got me through and the network of students. A supportive community was built into the program’s structure because we were working on different research projects together. When I was there, Paula McClain had just arrived at Duke. Her research on Latinos in the South and understanding group dynamics in the South with the changing demographics was so interesting to me. She put together a group of us interested in these issues. There was a professionalization piece, but also a moral support piece because we were all working together collaboratively.

Parallel to that, at the same time that Paula McClain came, she also brought the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute with her, and the Ralph Bunche lab. [The RBSI is an intensive five-week program designed to introduce undergraduate juniors to the world of doctoral study in political science.] That was another really cool point of the community where we would serve as TAs during the summer for the Bunche cohorts. And now I see the Bunches becoming professors, and it's just so cool. It was a great place of community for us graduate students, but then also building a wider network with that larger, scholarly community of RTP.

What career paths were you considering in graduate school?

I’ve had a bit of a non-traditional career. But you know, in the end, it all made sense. If you would have asked me that question 15 years ago, I don't know if I would’ve predicted I would end up here.

I came out [of graduate school] thinking, I'm going to do the traditional tenure-track path. I was very fortunate to, right out of graduate school, land a position as a tenure-track assistant professor in the political science department at Northwestern. At the time they did group hires, so I came in with a couple other women of color. It was awesome. I loved my time at Northwestern, and I loved my time in Chicago. But while I was there, I realized that I really had a hunger for greater applicability of political science, in kind of seeing more of an immediate timely connection, which led me to start doing some political analysis and consulting work. I really enjoyed that kind of work in engaging more with communities. As an assistant professor, I couldn't do them both. I had to come to the hard decision that I needed to step off of the traditional tenure-track path to pursue my passion.

From there I got a contributorship with NBC, where I was doing work with them and Telemundo. When I moved to Texas, I got married, and it is a small world. Some folks I knew in the political science world wanted me to teach policy development and immigration; that’s how I ended up teaching at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. They are still academic, but they're a little bit more external-facing than your traditional social science department. I found a niche for my interests, where I could still be externally facing, be in the classroom, and engage in topics that I care about.

I got very involved with folks at the LBJ School, as well as with folks in the community in Austin and in Texas, so I was engaged in a lot of civic engagement work. I brought this work to the leadership at the school, and they were very excited about it. They said, “Let’s set up an office of civic engagement, so that you can broaden this work.” The forces of the universe came together, the stars aligned, so that I was able to do civic engagement work with community partners. Through this Office of Civic Engagement, I started as the inaugural director, then was promoted to Assistant Dean. In doing that I really found out how much I loved academic administration. Then I got a call to apply for this position of Dean at the Clinton School of Public Service, which is a very practical, hands-on applied program. I said, “This is my jam.” That's where I am now.

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How do you think the skills you learned from your Ph.D. helped you along this career path?

Having the Ph.D. gave me the data analysis tools and the critical thinking tools, but it also is important to have that degree. I mean, it matters. It does show an irreplaceable level of expertise that I know what I'm talking about.

What is the day-to-day like at your current job as Dean of the Clinton School of Public Affairs?

What I love so much about this job is that there are so many aspects to it; no two days are the same. One day, it's dedicated to alumni: we're doing Alumni Weekend and cultivating relationships. Another day, we're focusing on student recruitment; another day, it's looking at various course offerings and building a four-plus-one pipeline program. So what I love about the job is it has all of these different moving parts, and they all come together in forward motion. But overall, it’s looking at how we can engage with different university partners to recruit that talented pipeline. How do we provide the best educational experience for students? We also work with a lot of community partners, so how do we cultivate those partnerships in terms of development? I don't want students to go into debt. While I enjoy all of those things, anything that is directly student- and alumni-facing is my favorite because I really see the power of education and the power of what we're doing day to day. When I have lunch with an alumnus, and she or he tells me their story, I get to learn about the impact that he or she is having. It’s really an incredible and fulfilling experience.

Do you have any advice for grad students at Duke?

Keep your eye on the prize. Yes, the Ph.D. is a tough experience. It's a boot camp, and it's supposed to be that way because this is where you're building the muscle. And, you know, sometimes it can get daunting. I mean, it's tough work. But keep your eyes on the prize because the reward is just so worth it, and it is so fulfilling to be able to have this body of knowledge and to go on then and prepare folks and help folks along in whatever way possible, whether it's through teaching or research or the work that I do, which is cultivating that next generation through my administrative work. Keep going.

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AUTHOR

Leann McLaren, Ph.D.
Recent Ph.D graduate, Political Science

Leann McLaren is a 2024 Ph.D. in Political Science from Duke University, where she also received a certificate in African and African American studies. Her research interests are in race, ethnicity, and politics, American politics, Black political behavior, and immigration politics. She is currently a Provost Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins University. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRFP), the American Political Science Association Minority Fellowship Program (APSA-MFP), and the Russell Sage Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Grant (RSF-DRG), among others. In her free time, she enjoys exploring nature, meditation, and crocheting.