Master of Public Administration (MPA)
Francis Oliver is a Latinx cultural researcher, editor, and proofreader based in Athens, Georgia. Originally from Miami, Francis studied Biology and Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Miami and worked in various capacities at the college radio station WVUM and the university library. She worked for six years in collections and archival management, oral histories, curatorial assistance, cultural research and writing, artist residency supervision, and interdisciplinary public program delivery at the Deering Estate museum and ecological field station in the Miami-Dade County Parks system. Among her accomplishments at the Deering Estate, Francis cultivated an international partnership with Museus de Sitges in Catalonia, Spain, which involved collaborative research on the Charles Deering art collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, Northwestern University Libraries, the University of Miami, and Florida International University. Additionally, she was the lead historic research liaison for the 2018 documentary film “On This Land: The Charles Deering Estate” produced by the Deering Estate Foundation. Moreover, she founded an oral history program documenting conversations with prominent community members, curators, museum professionals, and archaeologists. From 2018-2020, Francis wrote and edited an archaeology museum guide on extensive cultural deposits under active investigation at the Deering Estate spanning the Paleo period through early 20th century pioneer settlements. She is a copyeditor and on the advisory board of Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA), a non-profit organization that encourages the exhibition, collection, and active scholarship of works by women photographers, empowering art historians and art curators to share them more frequently with the public. In Athens, she has interned with Historic Athens in lead roles varying from grants writing, virtual programming, venue management, and fundraising planning. In the summer of 2020, she helped plan and catalogue the 55-interview series “This Moment in History: COVID-19 in Athens, Ga” and assisted in the production of the 51st Athens Annual Preservation Awards. She also worked with a team of interns to present the non-profit’s first Athens Virtual History Conference: Democratizing Local History, broadcasting 7 talks by partner organizations and libraries on marginalized histories, social science research ethics with local communities, and creating greater accessibility to local archives and archival materials.
