Keith Benson ’98

President, Camden Education Association

Keith Benson ’98 currently serves as the President of the Camden Education Association, which is the teacher’s union for public school educators in Camden – the second-largest public-sector union south of Trenton. He is also an independent researcher on a variety of topics related to urban education, education reform, and teacher union activism. “I was a teacher in Camden City School District high schools for 14 years prior to being elected to this position,” Keith said. “I served as the Education Chair for the Camden County NAACP from 2015-2017 and authored Education Reform and Gentrification in the Age of #CamdenRising: Public Education and Urban Redevelopment in Camden, NJ (2018), where I try to demonstrate how the effort to dismantle our public school district is directly linked to politically connected redevelopment plans.”

Keith is also an Adjunct Professor at the Rutgers-Camden Graduate School of Education (GSE). Last year, he walked from Camden to Trenton to publicize the need for funds for Camden City schools. Keith received his Ed.D. and M.Ed. from the Rutgers- Camden GSE and his graduate thesis reflected his activism: “Better for Whom? Present and Prospective Camden Resident Perspectives of Mandated Charter Schools and Recent Camden Development.” Keith’s op-eds are frequently published in The Philadelphia Inquirer and Courier-Post.

On January 10, Keith received the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award from the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) Human and Civil Rights Committee. Camden parent Ronsha Dickerson, a national organizer for the Journey 4 Justice Alliance, remarked on Keith’s work during the ceremony: “We’re working as one full coalition toward one ultimate goal: for us to be able to save our schools and also give our children equitable opportunities in the city of Camden and throughout the state of New Jersey.” Upon acceptance, Keith shared: “This award is a positive reflection of all the great work of our CEA leadership team and the rest of our CEA family.”

Keith offered the following reflections on his time at MFS: “Because of the breadth of things I was exposed to at MFS, I noticed how I began knowing a ‘little bit of something’ about a wide range of things. And from being exposed to a range of subjects and concepts, I developed an intellectual curiosity to simply know more things…that curiosity becomes part of who we are as ever-developing and evolving individuals. Thus, the desire to get more information, to ask more questions, to make connections has helped in both important matters like research, but also in the not-so-small matters of being able to make ‘small talk’ in a variety of spaces with all sorts of different people. In becoming intellectually curious, learning things, knowing things and developing that trait as a personal attribute, it becomes contagious to where other people around you adopt a similar desire to learn – which benefits everyone.”

Top: Keith accepts the NJEA Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award on Jan. 10 (Photo by George Bilyk). Bottom: Keith Benson ‘98 with his wife Jeanette (left) and daughter Nadine (right).