Dr. Francis was one of twelve newly elected Social Work Pioneers by the National Association of Social Workers Foundation and was inducted on October 29th, in Washington DC. The program biography of Dr. Francis reads:
“Francis has demonstrated a decades long pioneering commitment to the education of minority students who would assume leadership positions in America's social work programs and change the face of higher education in the U.S. She was the Director of the Council on Social Work Education Minority Fellowship Program. Francis, a research associate at the University of the Virgin islands, is responsible for the preparation of nearly 400 minority fellows who went on to become faculty members as well as deans and directors of schools of social work and directors or heads of agencies.”