Staff and Board of Directors
Founder / Project Leader
T Allan Comp, Ph.D.
Jo Hanson, the pioneering public artist in San Francisco, once described Allan as "a relaxed blend of John Muir, John Dewey and John the Baptist." He holds a Ph.D in history, worked for several years in cultural resources with the National Park Service, left that to work as a developer of historic properties and consultant to historic preservation projects, and then to work for a regional Heritage Area in western Pennsylvania where he invented AMD&ART. Always a volunteer for AMD&ART, his work attracted the attention of other watershed and community improvement projects in the Appalachian coal country and in the Western hard rock mining country as well. Winner of multiple awards in partnerships and planning, Allan now leads the OSM/VISTA Team and Brownfields Initiatives at the Office of Surface Mining in the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Board of Directors
President of the Board, E. Jeanne Gleason
Jeanne Gleason was among the first to realize Allan might not be crazy and this idea just might work. She insisted it had to be big. She has been a constant partner/contributor/leader and inspiration throughout the development of AMD&ART. She is the former director of the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance and now serves as a Board Member for the PA Council on the Arts, among many other responsibilities.
- Mary Lavine, Ph.D., Vice President; Assoc. Professor of Geography & Coordinator of Enviro. Studies Program, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
- Richard Burkert, Treasurer; Executive Director, Johnstown Area Heritage Association
- Tim Phillips, Secretary; Vice President, Planning and Marketing, PBS Coals, Inc.
- John W. Foreman, District Engineer, Bituminous District (Retired), Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation
- Thomas Grote, Project Coordinator, Kiski Basin Initiative
- E. Jane Marines, Former President, Vintondale Municipal Authority
- Anthony Sossong, President (Retired) Berwind Natural Resources Inc.
- Andrew Rose, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Technology, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
- William G. Barbin, Esq., Legal Counsel, Gleason, DiFrancesco, Shahade, Barbin, McQuillan & Markovitz
AMD&ART Design Team
We are committed to an interdisciplinary approach on two levels. First, our Design Team is one of three critical elements to the AMD&ART process, the other two are the community and our AmeriCorps and VISTA staff. Second, the Design Team itself is a collection of diverse disciplines and perspectives, creating a collaborative process critical to success in environmental reclamation and community building.
The core Design Team for Vintondale included:
T Allan Comp Historian and Project Director
Bob Deason Hydrogeologist
Stacy Levy Sculptor
Julie Bargmann Landscape Designer
Others deeply engaged with AMD&ART and with specific installations on the Vintondale site:
Peter Richards Sculptor
Angelo Ciotti Sculptor
Michael Oppenheimer Sculptor
Lily Yeh Artist
Jessica Gordon Liddell — Great Map Mosaic
Anita Lucero — Mine No. 6 Portal Etching
AmeriCorps Members and VISTA Volunteers
AmeriCorps Members and VISTA Volunteers have constituted the entire staff of AMD&ART from early idea to final completion. We are proud of their work and deeply appreciative of their efforts.
Full-time AmeriCorps and VISTA with AMD&ART
Rob McCombie |
Other AmeriCorps and VISTA have been of significant assistance, working from their own projects with AMD&ART. Jill Byers |
Researchers / Work Study Students / Interns
No project can prosper without the assistance of many. We are indebted to all of those listed below for their assistance, large and small.
Erin Bouch |
Amy Gossow |
Susan Thering |
All Rights Reserved AMD&ART 2003 – 2016 Email: [email protected]