Francis Aguas

Francis Tanglao Aguas (he, i'a, siya) is the Associate Dean of Community & Global Initiatives in the Westphal College and Professor of Theater in the Department of Performing Arts. Aguas joined Westphal after 18 years at William & Mary in Virginia where he was director of Africana Studies, founding director of Asian American Studies, and director of Global Studies.

Before graduating from UCLA with his BA and MFA in Theater, Francis was raised and educated in Pampanga, Philippines and Abuja, Nigeria. During COVID, he founded aguasarts.com, a virtual international performance troupe with collaborators in Ecuador, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and the Philippines.

Winner of the Palanca Award, the Philippines' literary prize for his play "when the purple settles," his dance and theater work illuminates untold stories and hidden histories of the marginalized, minoritized and subalterned, including "Ramayana La'ar" and "Sitayana: Journey of Womanhood," dance theatre adaptations of the sacred Hindu epic by Valmiki. Francis has performed his solo shows in Southeast Asia and the United States. Francis is the founding artistic director of Aguas Arts, a performance and artists' coop with a view to diversifying creative imaginations and landscapes through theater, dance, poetry, and the fine arts. Francis is excited to explore the arts community of Philadelphia and to meet future collaborators dedicated to social justice and equity through the arts. With Dr. Jason Chen, Francis is Co-Director and Co-Principal Investigator of the NSF funded J.E.D.I. Leadership Project, which integrates mixed reality simulation and theater in executive leadership training towards championing anti-racism and DEI. Their current project trains Geology or Earth Science professors from various universities across the U.S. to become allies and leaders advocating and innovating for diversity, equity, and inclusion.