Latina appointed Digital Equality Board

Alliance for Digital Equality Appoints Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at Northwestern University to Board of Advisors
The Latino Journal E-News, Vol. 2, Issue 6

The Alliance for Digital Equality (ADE) has announced the appointment of Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto, Ph. D., to its Board of Advisors. Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto serves as Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University and a Faculty Fellow at Northwestern's Institute for Policy Research.

Dr. DeFrancesco Soto's research focuses on race and ethnic politics, immigration, and campaigns and elections. Her academic research has been widely published in scholarly journals and edited volumes. Her current work examines how Latino political candidates are evaluated by both Latino and non-Latino populations. Her research and teaching portfolio links race and ethnicity with political psychology to understand how 'cognition' and 'affect' shape how individuals process information in dynamic political environments.

Dr. DeFrancesco Soto also brings public opinion expertise to understanding presidential elections. Presently, Dr. DeFrancesco Soto is examining how the 2008 presidential campaign ads shaped public opinion and vote choice. In this analysis, she applies an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) approach to understanding how ethnically targeted ads influence political choice. In 2008, Dr. DeFrancesco Soto was Northwestern's University principal investigator for the Big Ten Battleground Poll, a public opinion survey of voters for the 2008 Presidential Election.

In addition to her current role at Northwestern, Dr. DeFrancesco Soto is in the media sphere, regularly contributing to national media outlets. In 2008, she served as a primary expert and analyst for CNN en Espanol's 2008 Presidential Election coverage. She has also been featured on the Today Show and NPR.