Frances is a founding partner of Kliment Halsband Architects, now a studio of Perkins Eastman. Her work focuses on campus planning and design.  Significant projects  include work for Brown, , Case Western Reserve, U Chicago, Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, NYU, Princeton, Smith, Wellesley, and Yale. The work of her firm received numerous awards, including the 1997 Architecture Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects, and the 1998 Medal of Honor from the AIANY.

Frances is a consensus builder. Her varied roles in academic and civic life have provided a unique perspective on the many voices that shape planning and design today. Frances served as Architect Advisor to the Brown University Corporation, Architectural Review Panel member for Harvard University, Architectural Advisor to the US Department of State Office of Overseas Building Operations, and the Federal Reserve Bank.

Frances was the first woman president of AIA New York and the Architectural League of New York. She is a former Commissioner of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. She was dean of the School of Architecture at Pratt Institute, and Visiting Professor of Design at Columbia, Harvard, Penn, UC Berkeley, Rice, U Virginia, U Maryland, U Cincinnati, U Maryland, and North Carolina State. Her research papers on campus design have been published in The Chronicle of Higher Education and Places Journal.

She was the 2023 Chancellor of the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows.

Frances received a Bachelor of Arts from Swarthmore College and a Master of Architecture from Columbia University. She received an Honorary Doctorate of Design from the NewSchool of Architecture and Design in 2019.