Advisory Board

Anne Dybsetter
Executive Director, Southwest Regional Sustainable Development Partnership
https://extension.umn.edu/regional-partnerships
Fun fact: My family (immediate and extended) includes 9 exchange students, who were hosted starting in 1998.

Dawn Hegland
Executive Director, Upper MN Valley Regional Development Commission
dawn.hegland@umvrdc.org
Fun Fact: I live on a farm in Lac qui Parle County where we have turned our barn’s second story into a recreation center where we have hosted concerts, parties, and lots of informal gatherings.

Jill Amundson
Innovation Strategist, West Central Initiative
jill39@icloud.com
Fun Fact: I am an award-winning washcloth knitter. In the early 2000s, I brought home a cash prize and a third-place ribbon from the Grant County fair, having entered a competition of three.

Denise Odello
Associate Professor of Music
odell059@morris.umn.edu
Fun Fact: I don’t like lemon bars, but I love making them for other people!

Miriam Gieske
Assistant Prof. of Biology
gies0107@morris.umn.edu
Fun Fact: A fun fact about me is that I worked as a wildland firefighter in northern MN one spring after college.