University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Frances Ross began teaching Western Civilization and American History at Little Rock University in 1963, six years before it became UALR. She holds an M.A. degree from the University of Arkansas and has been a tenured member of the Department of History since 1967. She has served as coordinator of the Women’s Studies Program (now Gender Studies) and works with the Oral History Program. She is working on a research project that involves collecting and editing biographical essays of federal court judges in Arkansas.

In past years she has served as an officer of numerous history related community boards and commissions, including President of the Quapaw Quarter Association, Chair of the Capitol Zoning District Commission, and President of the Arkansas Historical Association and of the Arkansas Supreme Court Historical Society. She currently chairs the Historic Arkansas Museum Commission and is President of the Historical Society of the United States Courts in the Eighth Circuit.

Select Publications and Presentations

“On the Trail of William Story, Judge of the United States Court of the Western District of Arkansas, 1871-1874,” UALR History Institute 2007

“Reforming the Bar: Women and the Arkansas Legal Profession” University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Journal 1998

“The New Woman as Club Woman and Social Activist in Turn of the Century Arkansas” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 1991