2019

Benton Foundation changes its name to the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society to better reflect our mission and work.

Mignon Clyburn, former Commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission from 2009 to 2018, including a term as Acting Chairwoman in 2013, joins Benton’s Board of Directors.

Dr. Christopher Ali, Associate Professor in the Department of Media Studies, University of Virginia, named Benton Faculty Research Fellow, and writes a book, Farm Fresh Broadband: The Politics of Rural Connectivity, to be published by MIT Press in September, 2021 (Legacy Fund).

Benton publishes Broadband for America’s Future: A Vision for the 2020s, by Jonathan Sallet, a national agenda for the next decade and a discussion on how public policy can close the digital divide and extend digital opportunity everywhere. We participate in a series of events to bring our recommendations to the field, including the annual Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband conference and the Coalition for Local Internet Choice conference held after the Broadband Communities gathering in Washington D.C.

With Andrew Jay Schwartzman as our counsel, Benton joins public interest organizations, states, and businesses as a petitioner in the Mozilla v. FCC case arguing that the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit should overturn the December 2017 Federal Communications Commission order that eliminated strong, enforceable net neutrality rules.

Benton Senior Fellow, Jonathan Sallet, writes Improving the Administration of E-Rate: Ensuring All Schoolchildren Get the High-Speed Broadband Connections They Need on behalf of Benton and EducationSuperHighway.

One of the founding members of the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition, Benton helps celebrate SHLB’s 10th year of “Connecting Anchors.”

Burcu Baykurt, Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, receives the third Charles Benton Early Career Scholar Award at TPRC’s 2019 conference for (Dis)connecting the Digital City. The committee identifies Tarleton State University, Assistant Professor Jacob Manlove, as runner up for Assessing the Need for a Measure of Broadband Adoption Inequality (Legacy Fund).

NDIA gives the fourth annual Charles Benton Digital Equity Champion award to PCs for People CEO, Casey Sorenson, and the Digital Equity Emerging Leader award to San Antonio Housing Authority Digital Inclusion Program Manager, Munirih Jester.

Robbie McBeath, Benton Writing Associate, presents during NDIA’s Net Inclusion Lightning Round on Benton’s Headlines newsletter.