Our Advisory Boards:

• 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.

CORE PLANNING TEAM

Mario Browne, MPH, CHES
Mario Browne works at the Allegheny County Health Department as a Public Health Administrator coordinating chronic disease prevention and community engagement efforts. Just prior to joining ACHD he worked at the Center for Minority Health (CMH) since September 2002, as a Project Director and Community Health Coordinator. Mario also served as liaison between CMH, the University of Pittsburgh's Health Sciences community, and community based organizations, where his primary responsibilities were community outreach, education and health promotion, and recruitment and retention of minorities in innovative, community-based health promotion projects and research. He has presented his work both nationally and internationally, and has published in peer reviewed journals. Mario, a Pittsburgh, Pa native holds a BS in Biology and a BS in Medical Technology from Salem International University and an MPH from the University Of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences. He currently serves on the PA DEP Environmental Justice Advisory Board and the Consumer Health Coalition Board of Directors.

Chuck Harmon
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 70,000 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.

Anthony Ratajczak
Tony is a route researched for the Adventure Cycling Association and the County representative on the Bicycle Advisory Council at the regional (northeast Ohio) metropolitan planning organization. As an Adventure Cycling route researcher, he has worked on the Northern Tier Route, the Northeast Ohio portion and Pittsburgh Spur of the Underground Railroad Route, and the Lake Erie Connector Route, and is currently engaged in designing and researching the northwest addition of the Underground Railroad Route System. He has also published a guide for a bicycle route linking the Northern Tier Route in Cleveland to the off-road bicycle route system connecting Pittsburgh to Washington, DC, and works with his County Engineer to develop a local bicycle transportation infrastructure. Mr. Ratajczak retired from NASA in1995 where he had been responsible for the development of numerous prototype photovoltaic power system applications for the Department of Energy, the World Health Organization and the U.S. Agency for International Development. He also served as the Technology Transfer Officer for the NASA Glenn (formerly Lewis) Research Center.

Todd Scott
Todd Scott is the Detroit Greenways Coordinator for the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance (MTGA). As coordinator, Scott supports the collaborative effort of city staff and non-profit organizations in planning and building trails, greenways, and Complete Streets within the cities of Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park. This work is supported through private foundations, including the Kellogg Foundation's Food and Fitness Initiative which is helping increase Detroiters' access to healthy foods and promote active living by improving the built environment. Scott is also a member of Detroit's non-motorized task force, the Michigan State Parks Advisory Committee, and the M-DOT Metro Region non-motorized advisory committee. Prior to working for MTGA, Scott was the executive director for the Michigan Mountain Biking Association.

Stephen Thomas PhD
Stephen B. Thomas, Ph.D., is professor of Health Services Administration and Director of the Center for Health Equity in the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland in College Park. One of the nation's leading scholars in the effort to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities, Dr. Thomas has applied his expertise to address a variety of conditions from which minorities generally face far poorer outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and HIV/AIDS. He is principal investigator of the Research Center of Excellence on Minority Health Disparities, funded by the NIH-NCMHD. He is also principal investigator with Dr. Sandra Quinn of the NIH National Bioethics Infrastructure Initiative: Building Trust Between Minorities and Researchers awarded in 2009.

Dr. Thomas was a co-sponsor, with Adventure Cycling, of the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route and founding member of the national advisory board. Additionally, Dr. Thomas has served on numerous national committees and his work has been published in leading peer reviewed journals such as the Journal of the American Public Health Association, Social Science and Medicine, Health Promotion Practice and Archives of Internal Medicine.

After completing his undergraduate degree in school health education at The Ohio State University, Dr. Thomas went on to earn his master's degree in health education at Illinois State University and later earned his doctorate in community health education from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He has held tenured faculty positions at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta and the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health where he was also the Inaugural Philip Hallen Professor of Community Health and Social Justice. Learn more about the Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland, College Park.

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS -- DETROIT ALTERNATE

Barb Bickel is the executive director of Visit Lorain County in north central Ohio. She researched and created both the “On the Trail to Freedom in Lorain County” that is now part of the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program and the Back Roads and Beaches Bike Route. Barb is also a member of the Oberlin Underground Implementation Team. The team serves as the primary advisory body to the Oberlin City Council during the design, fundraising, construction and implementation phases of the Underground Railroad Center. The Center, once finished, will serve as both a tourist gateway and transportation hub. It will celebrate Oberlin’s rich history in the anti-slavery movement. The Team is working to restore the Gasholder Building in Oberlin for this purpose. www.visitloraincounty.com

Nancy Darga is the Managing Director of MotorCities National Heritage Area. Dedicated by congress in 1989, Ms. Darga was one of the founding members. She was formerly President of Fortunate Land Planning & Design specializing in heritage tour development. A licensed Landscape Architect, Nancy served as Chief of Design for Wayne County Parks from 1978 -2003 spearheading many large regional park and trail developments. www.motorcities.org

Deborah Johnson is a clinical therapist who is working on her doctoral degree in health psychology. As a therapist I work with individuals and families in overcoming personal challenges and making a positive lifestyle change. Deb rides all year with the hopes of encouraging others to engage in a healthier lifestyle. She is a member of the Black Women's Health project. www.blackwomenshealth.org

Jon Levin joined the League of American Bicyclists when it was still the League of American Wheelmen. He was a charter member of BikeCentennial, Missoula, Montana in 1976. He has been a member of Transportation Alternatives, New York City, the Cyclists Touring Club (CTC) Godalming, Surrey, England and other bicycle advocacy groups. Jon was a board member of the Bicycle Co-Op in East Lansing, Michigan in the mid 1970's. He is currently the founder of a program in conjunction with the Leader Dog School for the Blind in Rochester, Michigan. They provide tandem rides to blind stokers. He have also been a qualified ride leader for the American Youth Hostels (now Hostelling International). Jon has led AYH rides in New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Ontario. He is the past president and current vice president of an umbrella organization of 45 neighborhood associations in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, representing approximately 7,000 homeowners and their families. He on the board of the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance. www.michigantrails.org

Carol E. Mull, B.A., M.S., is the author of The Underground Railroad in Michigan [McFarland Publishers, Inc., July, 2010]. Ms. Mull is a current and founding member of the Michigan Freedom Trail Commission and Chairperson of the Site Identification and Preservation Committee. She consults as a museum curator and researches, writes, and lectures about the Underground Railroad. She is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. www.carolmull.com

Joseph D.R. Tanner works with The Hub of Detroit as an administrative generalist and educational outreach specialist. Focusing on bicycles in urban contexts and lowering the age of civic engagement via bicycle, Joseph has helped identify and support factors in Detroit that have grown into projects, such as Downtown Detroit's sole year-round bicycle service center, which play a major role in growing and sustaining the most recent bicycle boom in Detroit. Joseph commutes year-round via bicycle, has taken multiple extended tours across state lines, and moved residences three times in Detroit, all by bicycle (and sometimes trailer.) thehubofdetroit.org

Kimberly L. Simmons believes that ’Life is a journey, an adventure.” After leaving a 20 year career as a financial executive, Simmons became the founding President and Executive Director of the Quarlls Watkins Heritage Project, a non profit organization devoted to the public enlightenment of the Underground Railroad legacy. Ms. Simmons is descended from an original Virginia Colony family that traces its American heritage well over 400 years and is the direct descendant of two UGRR freedom seekers. Simmons has been privileged to present to nationally known scholars and historians on integrity in educating about cultural heritage. Ms. Simmons is a governor appointee to the Michigan Freedom Trail Commission. Currently Simmons is the visionary and Project Director for a 4yr time lined grassroots initiative that will culminate in January 2013 with the designation of the Historic Detroit River as an International Historic site to be followed by a World Heritage site nomination. www.michigan.gov/freedomtrail

Leslie C. Strong Williams, President of the Fred Hart Williams Genealogical Society, was elected to the office in 2006. A fifth generation Michiganian, born in Detroit, Michigan, her interest in genealogy and the preservation of African American history harkens back to her ancestor, abolitionist and UGRR Conductor William Webb. She is historian of the Descendants of William and Harvey Webb, organized to honor their family’s heritage, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Friends of African and African American Art, Detroit Institute of Arts; Friends of E. Azalia Hackley, Detroit Public Library; and the Detroit Recreation Department Advisory Commission. Leslie completed her BSD at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and graduate studies at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. She recently retired from the Detroit Children’s Museum, where she held the positions of Community Relations Coordinator, Curator and Design Director responsible for the exhibitions, family programs and special events. www.fhwgs.org

Kathryn Underwood is a city planner with the Detroit Planning Commission. www.detroitmi.gov/CityCouncil/CouncilDivisions/CityPlanningCommission.aspx

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS -- MAIN ROUTE

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 produced the half hour "Biking Through Black History" television special for WPXI.

Dr. Randall R. Cottrell 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. He now works at Texas A&M University.

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.gomdot.com/Home/Home.aspx

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.

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. More about Ms. Kraft.

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.

Sarah (Jameela) Martin served as the Health Safety and Physical Education Program Officer for PPS. Undergraduate work completed at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. 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.

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

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.
http://www.aahperd.org/pressroom/smith.cfm

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

AUXILLARY MEMBERS & ADVISORS

Richard Bailey, PhD, University of Kentucky; Professor of History, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY www.canisius.edu/history/faculty.asp 

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

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

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