From the President
MEMBER STRENGTH -
NCASE ANNUAL MEETING
An organization is as strong as its members and promotion is one of the keys to its future growth.
NCASE’s membership will multiply in 2016 through our demonstrating the value of NCASE while strengthening member benefits and aggressively promoting these benefits. You will be hearing more from our new membership chair, Tony Fowler, Director of Interagency Affairs, U.S. Department of Education. Tony has lofty goals for growing our membership this year and we should all rally around him, providing our support. This is an activity for each and every Member.
Promotion can take many forms, including media outreach, advertising, public relations, and campaigns. Promoting membership is a human experience. It’s a relationship between the one promoting and the potential member. On the horizon are tools for you to promote and cultivate new NCASE member interest.
Our 2015 NCASE Annual Membership Meeting on January 5th was hosted at AOPA’s Washington, DC office. A special thanks to Katie Pribyl, AOPA Senior Vice President, Communications, and Katie McMichael for all their support. During the member highlight discussion Katie Pribyl shared two exciting AOPA programs: You Can Fly - A National Aviation Learning Academy - and AOPA's High School Aviation Initiative. Our newest partner, Humans in Space Art Program, was presented by Jancy McPhee. The program is a wonderful compliment to the FAI, NAA Art Contest.
Other news reported during the annual meeting included:
NCASE Director, John Teipen and Jim Brough, FAA National STEM-AVSED Program Manager are teaming together for an incredible member benefit called YouthWINGS. This program will be available in the NCASE website’s Members Only section. Members will have access to view and create LIVE video broadcasts, to use or develop interactive STEAM student video courses where a student earns a certificate of completion, and much
more. Lisa Bacon provided a written report regarding our NCASE Mascot, Skye Bleu (shown at right). Lisa and Skye have been busy conducting outreach all across the nation spreading the STEAM and NCASE message.
Awards Committee Co-Chairs Shelia Bauer and Jim Brough are finalizing a prestigious venue for presenting the Strickler and Crown Circle awards. This venue will increase visibility and promotion for both awards. Stay tuned for the upcoming announcement!
NCASE is in discussion with the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) for future development of an Aviation & Aerospace exhibit hall presence and an Aviation & Aerospace Track during their national conference. NSTA has more than 55,000 members with 9,000 to 12,000 attending the national conference each year. NCASE members will be invited to join in the ‘Aerospace Alley’ and to help present aviation and space education seminars.
Grant Committee Chair Lee Siudzinski (shown at right) will be focusing on sponsorship support for our mission. Kim Stevens, Communications Committee Chair and editor for our beautiful eNewsletter and web site, is inviting all members to submit articles highlighting their organizations. This member benefit is a no-cost promotional member benefit and we are finding that our readership is increasing with each issue.
Secretary Betty Wilson reported that the NCASE Operating Procedures are well developed and useful for our Officers, Directors, and Committee Chairs. Because the Operating Procedures comprise a living document she welcomes continued input from our members. Nominations Committee Chair Scott Wintner prepared a slate of Officers and Directors, who were subsequently elected or re-elected to their terms of office. Scott announced that the Treasurer position is vacant. If you have an interest in serving your organization in that position, contact Scott at swintner@gmail.com.
Each year our Officers and Directors are held accountable to eight goals that are drafted and voted on by the group. We extend our complements to each Director as they reported favorably on their 2015 NCASE Goals and accomplishments. Our NCASE Officers and Directors volunteer countless hours working together representing or Members (you!) to government, industry, educators, and students, supporting a unified voice on aviation and space education.
As I begin my third and final year as your President, I wish to thank you for your support and your trust.
Best Wishes,
Judy Rice
NCASE President
2015 Annual Meeting
Left to right are Tony Fowler, Rol Murrow and Judy Rice.
Jim Coon (standing), AOPA's Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Advocacy, provides an overview of initiatives at AOPA.
Meet Tony Fowler
NCASE Membership Chair
Since 2004, Tony Fowler, newly named NCASE Membership Chair, has served as Director of Interagency Affairs for the U.S. Department of Education. In this capacity, he monitors educational activities in all federal agencies. Prior to that, he served as interagency coordinator for six years. Tony has also worked in the Office of Grants and Contracts, the Office of Migrant Education and the Office of Educational Research and Improvement. (Photo above - Tony served as copilot on a trip across the country, following the Lewis and Clark trail on the “Flight of Discovery”)
Tony, who has been active in NCASE for a number of years, enthusiastically agreed to take on the duties of Membership Chair, during the NCASE annual meeting held earlier this month. When not engaged in NCASE business, Tony among other things is assigned to update the highlights box on the Department’s home page,
www.ed.gov, and provides twitter updates on educational topics. He is serving on the planning committee for the Real World Design Challenge; the ED/DoD MOU working group and on the DOT/ED/DOL MOU planning team. Tony also serves on the Board of Directors of Think Global Flight.
“Tony has fully embraced the challenges of Membership Chair,” said NCASE Communications Chair, Kim Stevens. “His enthusiasm for the role is infectious and he brings a great deal of relevant experience to the position.” For the past three years, Tony has also provided assistance to the Office of the First Lady in planning and holding Let’s Read, Let’s Move summer activities and he is a volunteer judge for FIRST Robotics and the National History Day competition.
Since 2006, Tony has served as an outreach liaison to the math and science education community on the President’s Competitiveness Initiative. In that capacity, he has spoken on behalf of the Department before the National Congress on Aviation and Space Education, the National Center for Women and Information Technology and the National Alliance of State Science and Mathematics Coalitions.
Tony owns a consulting business, is married, has five children and lives in Annapolis, Maryland.
