CONNECTICUT GEOGRAPHIC ALLIANCE
Steering Committee Meeting Minutes
Central Connecticut State University
Geography Conference Room, Social Sciences Building
Wednesday, October 07, 2015
4:30 PM
Welcome
CGA Coordinator Dr. Andy Ballantine opened the meeting at 4:40 PM. In attendance
were Ed Argenta, Tom Brodnitzki, Bill DeGrazia, Kathleen Ryan, and Mark Goetz of the CT
Metro Council of Governments.
Review Minutes from June meeting
The minutes were reviewed. Ed Argenta asked that a spelling correction be made for
Lauren Amatruro’s name on the bottom of page 1.
Special Guest Mark Goetz of the CT GIS User-to-User Network and the ConnectED
GeoMentors Initiative
Andy Ballantine introduced Mark Goetz of the CT Metro Council of Governments who
distributed flyers and explained the program of GeoMentoring through ESRI and AAG’s
ConnectEd GeoMentors Program which brings GIS professionals into classrooms to set up ESRI
platforms to provide free online ARC-GIS.
National Geographic Certified Educators Program—do we want a local training?
NGS is looking to raise awareness among educators of its educational resources, and an
access to its new web portal will soon be available for teachers as it seeks to create a teachertrained community of certified educators from its new program. VT Geographic Alliance TC
Keighan Chapman has been trained in this program and could come to CT to train our teachers.
It was decided that Andy Ballantine would contact her to check her availability for PD here in
early December.
Hiring a new Administrative Assistant
Andy Ballantine informed the Committee that Stephanie Beron at UConn will be able to
handle the financial aspects of CGA but due to union contract cannot also serve as the Alliance’s
administrative assistant. A clear need for an administrative assistant for the Alliance has been
demonstrated. Responsibilities of the position would include the On the Road newsletter for
publication in April and November, handling the CT HS Geography Challenge registration,
attending Alliance meetings and recording the minutes, etc. It was the consensus of the
Committee to set the administrative assistant stipend at $4000 and initially to advertise the
position within the Alliance and then more widely advertise the opening.
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Co-Coordinator
It was the consensus of the Committee to see if the hiring of a new administrative
assistant would make a difference in Andy Ballantine’s work load as Alliance Coordinator
before a change is made in this regard.
Budget report
Our current budget shows a surplus, as we have not had an Alliance administrative
assistant for the past 9 months. The National Geographic Society has also given a budget
extension to the Alliances this year. Budget updates will again be provided at each Alliance
business meeting.
Approve end-of-fiscal-year budget expenditures
Standing expenses
Andy has UConn Geography Department administrative assistant Stephanie Beron
looking into any Alliance outstanding financial commitments such as paying stipends.
GPS unit lending library
The Alliance currently has 4 GPS units that can be loaned out for instructional uses to
TC’s and schools. A policy for lending and usage of these units needs to be developed. It was
the Committee’s consensus that a maintenance / rental fee for these $150 units should also be
assigned when the units are loaned.
CGA Bank Account policies
Andy Ballantine reported that the Alliance’s savings account is now with Charter Oak
Federal Credit Union, and his name is on the account. It was agreed that a second person’s name
should also be on the account. Andy will ask TC Laura Krenicki to have her name on and access
to the account as well.
Website Report
Andy went online and showed the Committee the Alliance’s new and re-vamped web site
at http://www.ctgeoalliance.uconn.edu .
Bioblitz
The National Geographic Society’s new national educational initiative Bioblitz will take
place in Connecticut at Two Rivers Magnet Middle School in East Hartford in late May. The
Bioblitz in Connecticut is being funded by a $20,000 grant from the UConn Biology Department
and a $3,000 grant from CGA. An overnight camp will be held at Two Rivers as part of the
Bioblitz program.
Reports from Committees
Mission
Andy Ballantine and Bill DeGrazia met with CT state social studies consultant Stephen
Armstrong to discuss what CGA can do to promote the new state social studies frameworks. Bill
DeGrazia also met with John Tully of CCSS on the need to strengthen our relationship. In light
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of the discussion to reduce the statewide high school social studies requirement of 3 credits to
2.5 for graduation, Bill DeGrazia will meet with CCSS’ Advocacy Committee.
Capacity Building
Kathleen Ryan will join Tom Brodnitzki as co-chairs of the Capacity Building
Committee for CGA. Tom will continue to guide strategic planning and membership
development, while Kathy will lead the fund-raising side.
Professional Development
TC Ed Argenta attended an underwater robotics workshop at Monterrey Bay Community
College in California this summer and demonstrated the marine ROV that he designed and
developed at the workshop conducted by MATE, Marine Advanced Technology Education
(http://www.marinetech.org ). CGA now has underwater robotics kits for schools to use, thanks
to Ed’s initiative. Ed said that he is willing to run Alliance-sponsored workshops on the topic of
marine ROV’s.
Partner Meeting on November 9 at CT Historical Society
The next Alliance meeting will be a partnership meeting with the Connecticut Historical
Society at CHS (1 Elizabeth Street, Hartford; 860-236-5621; http://www.chs.org ) on Monday
evening, November 9.
Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 6:56 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen Ryan
Teacher Consultant, CGA
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