Keynote Speaker
Dr. Benjamin Foster, Jr.
Dr. Benjamin Foster, Jr. is a Distinguished Practitioner of public school administration and human services management. He currently serves as Chairman, Education Committee, Connecticut State Conference NAACP Branches. Dr. Foster has served as an administrator of several comprehensive and technical high schools and District Office programs, including the Consolidated School District of New Britain where he served as coordinator for Adult Literacy and Social Studies and Director of Funded Programs, Community School District #5 in Harlem ,New York. While serving as Director of E.C. Goodwin Technical School, Foster spearheaded the General Assembly’s appropriation of $56 million to renovate and retrofit the facility. In addition, he served as Principal Planning Analyst for Human Services, Connecticut State Office of Policy and Management; Employment Compliance Supervisor, City of Hartford, and Assistant Chief, Staff development, Connecticut Department of Social Services. He served as a Lecturer at several colleges. Dr. Foster is the author of Looking for Payoff: A New Schooling for African American Inner-City Youth, in which he explored the dropout problem. He has published several articles on the social condition of African Americans including the highly cited “The Case for Vouchers” which appeared in the Black Scholar. Dr. Foster is the recipient of several awards and fellowships including: National Urban Fellow; Institute for Education Leadership Education Public Policy Program; Education Finance Fellow, Harvard Center for the Study of Public Policy; The Environment and Behavior Research Center, University of Massachusetts/Amherst; Administrator of the Year, Consolidated School District of New Britain; Trinity College Alumni of the Year, and; Omega Psi Phi Inc., District Man of the Year. He has received service citations from the New York African Studies Association, Greater Hartford N.A.A.C.P., Urban League of Greater Hartford, New Britain N.A.A.C.P. and Hartford Chapter, National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women, Greater Hartford Delta Sigma Sorority’s Black Men Recognition Award.
Dr. Foster’s civic involvement has included the Capital Conference of Churches, Biblical Institute for Social Change; Delegate, New England Board of Higher Education; Trustee, Trinity College in Harford, and; Member, Board of Directors, Substance Abuse Action Council.
Dr. Foster’s current focus is on Urban School Transformation, Black Oral expressions, and the impact of cybernation and artificial intelligence on the employment of minority males in urban centers. He holds four academic degrees including an Ed.D. and CAGS in Education Administration and Human Services Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; MAT in History from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut and BA in Sociology from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.
He earned a Certificate of Education Public Policy, George Washington University; Certificate of Higher Education Leadership, Hampton University; and Certificate for Human Services Administrators, Yale University School of Organization and Management.
Dr. Foster served as a consultant to the nation’s first “public only” voucher schools demonstration in Alum Rock School District in San Jose, California. The Alum Rock Experiment or Harvard Plan became the predecessor to the charter and magnet schools movement. He is married to Dr. Walton Brown -Foster, Professor, Political Science and African-American Studies, Central Connecticut State University. He has two sons Benjamin and Suliman.
He frequently speaks to groups and organizations.