Frances Smith Foster is an American writer and editor. Early in her career, Foster served as a chair of black studies, an assistant dean, and an associate in the Chancellor's Office at San Diego State University; at Emory University, she directed the Institute for Women's Studies while also functioning until retirement as Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Women's Studies. She has received fellowships from institutions including Fulbright, the Harvard Divinity School, the W. E. B. DuBois Institute at Harvard, and the International Theological Center. Her research affiliations include the Brandeis Feminist Sexual Ethics Project and the Emory Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Religion. Foster has authored, edited, or coedited fourteen books, and numerous other significant shorter scholarly works.