Select Page

Francine E. Alkisswani, Ph.D.

  1. Home
  2.  » Francine E. Alkisswani, Ph.D.

Francine E. Alkisswani, Ph.D.
Telecommunications Policy Analyst, Office of Minority Broadband Inintiatives

Dr. Alkisswani is a Telecommunications Policy Analyst with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives (OMBI). At NTIA, she has been committed to advocating for and providing technical assistance in support of broadband deployment and digital inclusion for HBCU, TCU and MSI anchor institutions and their anchor communities.  For nearly two years she was on detail to the White House Initiative on HBCUs to advance promoting HBCUs as hubs of digital applications and innovation and to map a strategy to achieve the mission of campus-wide broadband deployment and improved broadband services. In 2019, upon her return to NTIA, she was charged with implementing the agency’s Minority Broadband Initiative (MBI) to address some of the longstanding digital connectivity gaps in our nation. The MBI laid the groundwork for OMBI which was established under the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act.   OMB expands the efforts of NTIA to collaborate with federal agencies; state, local and tribal governments; Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions; and any interested stakeholders to promote initiatives related to expanding connectivity and digital opportunities for these anchor institutions and their anchor communities

Dr. Alkisswani’s work in the information and communications technology sphere spans several years prior to NTIA. For instance, she was responsible for a $400,000 per year five-year grant to establish campus-wide telecommunications infrastructure for Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. While at Cheyney, she also served on the City of Philadelphia Mayor’s Telecommunications Advisory Committee, and the Pennsylvania Governor’s Link-to-Learn Program Task Force. Dr. Alkisswani earned her undergraduate degree and Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology from the University of Pittsburgh where she was both a Mellon Fellow and a Rockefeller Post-Doctoral Fellow.