Jacqueline Francis

Jacqueline Francis is Professor and Dean of Humanities and Sciences at California College of the Arts. A leading scholar in critical race art history, she researches modern and contemporary US art through frameworks of racial identity and social art history.

Her publications include Making Race: Modernism and 'Racial Art' in America (2012) and the exhibition catalog Sargent Claude Johnson (2024). Francis has curated exhibitions on artists including Romare Bearden and Adia Millett.

Research interests span African American modernism, queer visual culture, and art activism. Honors include the Floyd W. Coleman Professional Excellence Award and recognition from Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Awards:

• Floyd W. Coleman Professional Excellence Award (2025)
• Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 100 Honoree (2023)
• San Francisco Arts Commission Artist Grant (2017-18)