The purpose of the Advisory Board is to:

• Provide independent expertise, feedback and recommendations that reflect the community perspective.
• Offer knowledge and personal/organizational experience; help with project planning, review grant applications.
• Provide connections to important potential partners, organizations and agencies.
• Assist project in conducting focused outreach to at least 20 key communities along the UGRR route. 
• Guide development of interpretive resources that make the route educational and engaging.
• Assist in building capacity for the project through organizational and personal connections; skill set knowledge and outside resources.
• Advise project coordinators on resource development to fund and sustain outreach efforts, interpretive resources, and touring related activities.

Key Tasks
UGRR MAP REVIEW: 
ACA Long Distance Maps:  Geology, Resources

DAY TRIP MAPS/GUIDES
Planning:  design, locations, content, concentration, access, funding, distribution

OUTREACH & MARKETING
Awareness
Media Relations
Events & Products
Tours
National Park Service Network to Freedom Application

ON-LINE & WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
Adventure Cycling Website
Web Junction Collaboration
Other web related activities

STATIONS/CONDUCTORS
Bike Shops, Libraries, Sites, Museums, Tourism Centers/Chambers of Commerce

YOUTH COMPONENT
Youth trips/tours
School curriculums
Youth groups

OTHER/MISC.
Signage along the corridor
Grant & proposal reviews

Advisory Board Members
Biographical Information

PLANNING TEAM

Mario Browne was hired at the Center for Minority Health (CMH), in September 2002, as a Project Director and Community Health Coordinator. As Project Director, he has developed partnerships with a cadre of African American barber shops and beauty salons, and has coordinated the nationally recognized Take a Health Professional to the People Day.  Mario’s primary responsibilities are community outreach and education, community-based health promotion, and recruitment, and retention of minorities in clinical research trials. Mario’s expertise is in community engagement and his primary interest is in translating research into practice and empowering communities and individuals to eliminate health disparities. His professional experience also includes addiction counseling and substance abuse prevention. He is currently a Competency Based Trainer for Pennsylvania Child Welfare, and a pre- and post-test HIV/AIDS Counselor.  Mario, a Pittsburgh, Pa native holds a BS in Biology and a BS in Medical Technology from Salem-Teikyo University and an MPH from the University Of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences.
www.cmh.pitt.edu/staff.html

Chuck Harmon is the Manager of Financial Planning and Analysis for OCLC Online Computer library Center in Dublin, Ohio.  He holds a master's degree in Accounting Information Systems from The University of Denver, a B.S. in Accounting from Northern Illinois University and a CPA certificate from Illinois.  Chuck has held adjunct faculty positions at universities in Ohio and Illinois and has taught numerous undergraduate courses in accounting.  His passions include bicycling, reading, and family camping.  Chuck has been a long time member of Adventure Cycling and Columbus Outdoor Pursuits.  He has toured by bicycle throughout the United States, and has pedaled an estimated 60,000 miles since his college days in DeKalb, Illinois.  Chuck served as a route researcher and coordinated the development of The Underground Railroad Bicycle Route in Ohio.
www.oclc.org/about/default.htm

Ginny Sullivan is the New Routes Coordinator for Adventure Cycling Association.  Ginny received a B.A. in Speech Communication from Montana State University in 1987.  Ginny coordinates two projects, the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route and development of a US Bikeway System (like an interstate highway system for Bikes!).  Building grassroots networks of members and advocates, identifying and developing coalitions, initiating and maintaining professional relationships with partners and key collaborating organizations are integral parts of the job.  Ginny coordinates the activities that promote and increase awareness of Adventure Cycling’s routes.  She assists in writing press releases, articles for publication, web site content, grant applications and reports.  Her skills include managing and building programs, event coordination and fundraising.
www.adventurecycling.org/whoweare/staff.cfm

Stephen Thomas PhD is the Philip Hallen Professor of Community Health and Social Justice in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences and Director of the Center for Minority Health at the Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh.  A nationally recognized scholar on minority health, he received the David Satcher Award from the State Directors of Health Education and Health Promotion for his contributions to the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities. Dr. Thomas’ research focuses on two aims: the translation of clinical trials research into community-based interventions designed for populations at greatest risk for health disparities and understanding how social context shapes the willingness of minorities to participate in medical and public health research. As a member of the Rails-To-Trails Conservancy Board of Directors and in the partnership established with Adventure Cycling Association in 2004, Dr. Thomas and the CMH team work to prevent risk factors for chronic diseases by engaging African Americans, Latinos and other minority populations in cycling as part of a healthy lifestyle.
www.cmh.pitt.edu/newsdrT_bio.html

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

Norma Blacke Bourdeau, D.O.K. is a minister called to serve God and his church; "Minister to the People" and the unchurched of the world: "Earth is my church"; ministering the Word through the scriptures, the gospel message, music, the profound mysteries, and the Prophetic Word.  Norma is a minister, Workshop Designer and Facilitator: Wisdom, Spiritual Journeys and Direction, Faith and Church Spiritual Recovery, Missions, Teacher, Writer, Poet, Singer, Lecturer, Prayer Warrior. 
www.redbankministries.com

Jonas Chaney is a Chicago born broadcast veteran who migrated to Pittsburgh from Indianapolis in 1985. He made a conscious decision to seek a career in broadcasting at the age of 12.  He started in Chicago radio at age 17.  His tour of broadcast duty took him to KAMU-TV in College Station Texas and Kentucky Educational Television (KET) in Lexington before landing his first commercial job as a general assignment reporter with WISH-TV in Indiana. During his 22-year tenure in Pittsburgh Jonas has worked for WPXI-TV, WTAE-Radio, American Urban Radio Networks, WAMO, and WDUQ.  He has also taught at Texas A&M University, Duquesne University and the Pittsburgh Technical Institute.  He earned a Master’s degree from Northwestern University’s, Medill School of Journalism.  During his three year stay with WDUQ he won six Golden Quill Awards including two Best-in-State honors for investigative reporting.  Jonas is now the Public Affairs Director for WPXI-Televison.
www.wpxi.com/station/1906795/detail.html

Dr. Randall R. Cottrell is professor, program coordinator and graduate program director in the Health Promotion and Education Program at the University of Cincinnati.  He received his doctorate in Health Education from The Pennsylvania State University in 1982. He has conducted research and published over 40 articles in the areas of worksite health promotion, coordinated school health, and program evaluation.  He has authored or co-authored four textbooks in the areas of stress management, weight control, foundations of the profession, and research methods. Dr. Cottrell teaches graduate courses in Health Planning, Research Methods, and Health Behavior Change.  From April 2004 to April 2006 he served a two-year term as President of the American Association for Health Education.  Randy and his wife are avid bicyclists and enjoy participating in organized tours.
www.cech.uc.edu/faculty_staff.php?p=biographies_list&cn=CottreR

Wes Dean, State Traffic Engineer in Jackson, Mississippi is the Division Administrator for Traffic Engineering Division (TED).  He oversee all phases of operation and planning for TED.  This includes:  oversight of engineering section which provides traffic engineering support for all MDOT Districts statewide; oversight of Traffic Signal Engineers and Signal Technicians who maintain over 600 traffic signals statewide; Sign Shop which manufactures all signs for MDOT maintained roadways. (Fabricate over 50,000 signs annually.); Field Sign Crews.  These crews maintain signs on interstate system statewide.  They also assist District Sign Crews with signing maintenance statewide.
www.mdot.state.ms.us/

Laurence Glasco is an Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, Department of History. He has a B.A. from Antioch College and a Ph.D. from State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Glasco has taught African American history at the University of Pittsburgh since 1969.  Dr. Glasco the history of Black Pittsburgh and is writing a biography of K. Leroy Irvis, the black state legislator and Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1977-1988. In addition, He is involved in an effort to document and annotate the recent acquisition of over 80,000 photographic images of Black Pittsburgh taken by Teenie Harris, staff photographer for the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper. Spanning the decades from the 1930s to the 1960s these photographs constitute the nation’s largest single body of visual images of black urban America. Race, Caste, and Ethnicity in World Perspective is a research and teaching interest which stems from several voyages on the University’s Semester at Sea program, in which Dr. Glasco visited Cuba, Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa, Kenya, India, Malaysia, China, and Japan.
www.pitt.edu/~pitthist/faculty/glasco.html

Katherine Kraft is an independent consultant in the area of environmental and policy approaches to promoting healthy lifestyles.  As a former Senior Program Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Dr. Kraft was the primary architect of the RWJF Active Living portfolio.  A hallmark of Dr. Kraft’s work is connecting disparate community sectors and cross-disciplines in re-assessing how to design communities and care systems that facilitate healthy lifestyle choices.  She is a recognized expert in how structural environments impact health, and is a distinguished spokesperson for the emerging “Active Living” movement. Her work has resulted in collaboration between transportation, planning, design, and public health professionals to identify new methods of place making for health. Prior to joining the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Dr. Kraft was on the social work faculty at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey and served as a research associate at the University of Pennsylvania. Her consulting engagements provided Dr. Kraft with significant hands-on experience in various arenas including community change efforts, scenario and strategic planning for non-profits, youth and community development activities.
www.greenway.org/bios/BIOkk.html

Keith Laughlin has been president of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) since February 2001. RTC is a national organization with more than 100,000 members dedicated to transforming unused rail lines into multipurpose trails. Since its founding in 1986, RTC has worked with communities to create almost 14,000 miles of rail-trail. Keith is responsible for overseeing all aspects of RTC’s trail building, policy advocacy and public education work. Before joining RTC, Keith had more than 20 years of governmental experience in Washington, D.C. He served for eight years in the White House Council on Environmental Quality as Associate Director for Sustainable Development. Before joining the executive branch, Keith was a senior staff person in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years.
www.railtrails.org/about/passion.asp

Sarah (Jameela) Martin, Health Safety and Physical Education Program Officer for PPS . Undergraduate work completed at Central State University in Wilberforce Oh. Master of Ed work completed at the University of Pgh. In addition to supervision and administrative duties she also organizes hikes to local Underground Railroad stations in the area and surrounding vicinity.
www.pghboe.net

Barbara Murock Health Policy Specialist works in the Executive Office of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services on health policy initiatives. Her work on policy initiatives has ranged from health care and domestic poverty issues, to international development.  She enjoys cycling the hilly roads as well as the bike paths around Southwestern Pennsylvania and has traveled by bike throughout the United States.
www.county.allegheny.pa.us/dhs

Mary Price is tourism and culture manager for the City of Owen Sound, Ontario. Mary had served as tourism manager for the city previously from 1994 to 2000 and returns with new responsibilities and ideas for the positioning and promotion of the city as the northernmost terminus of the UGRR.  As a consummate explorer of Ontario backroads, Mary looks forward to developing a cycling route through the western section of the province that will be educational, scenic and most of all, fun.
www.e-owensound.com/tourism.htm

Jim Rotch is a corporate attorney and partner at Bradley, Arant, Rose & White, LLP & author of The Birmingham Pledge & Chair, Birmingham Pledge Foundation.  After practicing corporate law for more than two decades, Alabama native, Jim Rotch was issued a challenge. At a Leadership Alabama retreat in November 1997 he was challenged to have a positive impact on racial harmony. During the long drive to Mobile from Birmingham and back, the words of The Birmingham Pledge were devised. The next morning, he added the final phrase, “…and the world will be a better place because of my effort.” The Birmingham Pledge was launched at the Birmingham Martin Luther King Unity Breakfast on January 19, 1998, where more than 2,000 people stood and recited The Birmingham Pledge together. As Chairman, Rotch has led the Birmingham Pledge Foundation into a global grassroots effort to recognize and support racial equality, tolerance and understanding one person at a time. The Birmingham Pledge Foundation is striving to be an instrument and source of support that facilitates and strengthens partnerships and alliances for positive change in schools, places of worship, businesses, community and national organizations, and historical institutions.  Jim Rotch holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Auburn University and J.D. from the University of Virginia.
birminghampledge.org

Becky J. Smith Ph.D., CHES, CAE completed her Bachelors and Masters degree at the New York State University College at Brockport and doctoral studies at the University of Illinois.  Currently, Dr. Smith serves as the Executive Director of the American Association for Health Education and as a Vice President of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance.  She has held appointments at Ohio University, Illinois State University and Indiana State University. She served on the graduate faculty at both Ohio University and Illinois State University.  Dr. Smith has served on numerous boards within the health education sector and is a current member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Health Education Centers and the current Chairperson of the Alliance for Curriculum Reform.  Dr. Smith has directed a wide diversity of projects in health education and health promotion funded by government, corporation, and foundation sources.  She served as the Editor of the Journal of Health Education and currently serves as the Executive Editor of both the American Journal of Health Education and the International Electronic Journal of Health Education.  She has served on more than 20 national advisory committees, and is the author of numerous publications and papers presented at national and international meetings.
www.aahperd.org/AAHE/template.cfm?template=staff.html

Floyd Thomas, Jr. graduated from the University of Kansas and served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War.  He studied cultural conservation and African American history and culture in graduate school and began his museum career as an intern at the Kansas State Historical Society.  Thomas served as senior historian and chief of the research division at the Kansas Museum of History during the development of its permanent exhibition.  At the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce, Ohio, Thomas is Chief of the Curatorial/Exhibitions Division.  While there he completed his Ph.D. in American Studies at KU.
www.ohiohistory.org/places/afroam

Catherine Walker, Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary, was a member of REI’s Board of Directors from March 1998 until December 2005, when she resigned to become REI’s VP/General Counsel.  During her board tenure, Catherine served as Vice Chair and as chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee.  Her professional career includes five years of private law practice and seventeen years as general counsel, first with Westin Hotels & Resorts and then with Seattle University.  Catherine has executive leadership experience in both for-profit and non-profit organizations.  Her duties at REI include overseeing the company’s legal affairs, acting as corporation secretary, and managing the Legal Department.  In her free time, Catherine bicycles, hikes, backpacks, travels, and volunteers.  In the summer of 2004, she and her husband rode their bikes across the U.S. to raise funds for the American Lung Association of Washington.  She also serves on the board of a non-profit human services organization in Seattle. 
www.rei.com

AUXILIARY BOARD MEMBERS & ADVISORS

Richard Bailey, PhD Candidate, University of Kentucky  www.baicutt.com/richard.htm

Ernest Britton, Chief Community Officer, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
www.freedomcenter.org/

Don Burrel, Bike/Ped Coordinator, OKI Regional Council of Governments www.oki.org

Anthony Cohen, Founder and President, Menare Foundation www.menare.org

Sonja Cropper, Economic Development and Tourism Director, Brown County, OH www.ripleyohio.net

Jim Coppock, Bicycle Transportation Program, Dept. of Transportation, Cincinnati, OH
www.cincinnati-oh.gov/transeng/pages/-6807-/

Betha Gutsche, WebJunction Community Associate, Seattle, WA  www.webjunction.org

Rose Hall, Major Taylor Association, Worcester, MA www.majortaylorassociation.org/friends.shtml

Cathy Nelson, Founder, Friends of Freedom Society, OH  www.ohioundergroundrailroad.org

Dennis Scott, Director, Owen Sound Annual Emancipation Day Festival www.emancipation.ca

Kitty Terry, Executive Director, The Birmingham Pledge Foundation birminghampledge.org

Guy Washington, Regional Coordinator, The National Park Service Network to Freedom Program  209.10.16.21/TEMPLATE/FrontEnd/index.cfm

Barry Zalph, Executive Director, Bicycling for Louisville, KY  www.bicyclingforlouisville.org

Thanks to REI for their generous support of the
Underground Railroad Bicycle Route project.