Rachel L. Anderson
Rachel Anderson earned her B.A in Psychology from Beloit College (Beloit, WI) her M.A. in Social Policy and Ph.D. in Social Policy from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL). In addition she earned her Postdoctoral Fellow from Rutgers University Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research-Mental Health Services Research. Her current occupational positions include: Adjunct Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Iowa, Associate at the Center for Health Policy and Research (U of I), and Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy in the College of Public Health (U of I). Dr. Anderson recently received the Collegiate Teaching Award at the University of Iowa. She has had a number of articles concerning mental illness and their policy implications published in scholarly journals.

Joan Blundall
Ms. Blundall is currently the Director for Mental Health Programs: The Higher Plain, Inc. She earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Education/Social Work with a special emphasis in Family Adaptation to Loss from Temple University (Philadelphia, PA). She has earned two Master’s degrees, the first being a Masters of Science in Child Development/ Family Relations with a special emphasis in Individual and Family Transitions Over the Lifespan from the University of Rhode Island (Kingston, RI). She earned her second Masters Degree in Health Care Administration from the University of Osteopathic Medicine (Des Moines, IA) with a special emphasis in mental health, financing, and creating integrity in internal systems. Blundall has done extensive research and correlated work including writing numerous articles and participating in many workshops focusing on the area of mental health in relation to the rural community.

Jane Corinne
Jane Corinne is an experienced health researcher and program evaluator. She currently is employed as a Public Health and Social Service Consultant as well as a Research Consultant. In addition she maintains her certification for being a Licensed Master Social Worker. Corinne earned a B.A in Sociology from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) and a Master of Public Health, Community Health Practice Degree from the University Of Texas School Of Public Health (Houston). She has been involved with training people on many issues including the subjects of community health improvement and alcohol, tobacco, & drug prevention Corinne has been involved with developing special projects and raising funds for various community wellness projects. Her most recent research and writings focus on frontier communities and behavioral health.

Blanca Fuertes
Blanca Fuertes, MPA, is Public Health Analyst for the federal Office of Rural Health Policy. Among her many other duties, Ms. Fuertes is the Grants Officer for the Sowing the Seeds of Hope projects.

Karl Goodfellow
Karl Goodfellow has been a United Methodist pastor for the past 20 years. He earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree and Master of Divinity Degree at Oral Roberts University (Tulsa, OK). He has also earned a Doctorate of Ministry Degree in which he focused his studies upon the relationship between spiritual development and personal change through prayer. Goodfellow has received training in working with patients at Hutching Hospital (Syracuse, NY) where he learned about mental disorders and the use and effects of pharmaceuticals. In 1993 he founded Safety Net Prayer Ministry. Among research papers he has written, one is about the inner relationship between praying for farmers in Iowa and the decrease in farm accidents and fatalities. His writings about prayer have also been featured in newspapers, magazines, and books.

Charlie Griffin, M.S.
Charlie Griffin, M.S., director of the Kansas Rural Family Helpline, and Assistant Research Professor, Kansas State University

Charlie Griffin, M.S., grew up on a diversified family farm in Rice County, Kansas, and has a background in rural mental health, chemical dependency counseling, stress management and crisis intervention. Before beginning his work with farm crisis assistance in 1985, he maintained a private practice as a marriage and family therapist.

Currently he is an assistant research professor in the School of Family Studies and Human Services, College of Human Ecology, at Kansas State University. In addition to his role at the Kansas Rural Family Helpline, he serves as director of a dispute resolution and mediation skills training project.

Chrysanne Grund
Chrysanne Grund is the Project Director for Greeley County Health Services in Sharon Springs, Kansas. Her primary objective in being the Project Director is to improve the healthcare services that are available to the underserved communities in West-Central Kansas and across the nation. Grund is responsible for promoting partnerships within the community and among healthcare entities in Greeley County as well as another neighboring county. She has experience in organizing, program development, and grant writing. She received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Agribusiness from Kansas State University.

Roger W. Hannan, MS
Roger lives with his wife in deep southern Illinois near the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers. Roger is Executive Director of the Farm Resource Center (FRC) which he helped create in 1985. FRC provides outreach mental health crisis intervention to rural families in Illinois, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Eastern North Carolina. Roger has been a mental health professional for over 30 years and has involved himself in rural health planning throughout his career. Prior to becoming Executive Director of FRC, Roger directed a community mental health center for nearly 20 years. Roger has authored several professional papers, has testified before Congressional committees and is a freelance outdoor writer in his spare time. He has published two outdoor books. Roger was the 1998 recipient of the Victor I. Howery Award presented by the National Association for Rural Mental Health and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Rural Mental Health. Roger is a member of the Illinois Rural Health Association Board of Directors and is a member of the National Advisory Committee on Suicide for the Suicide Prevention Action Network.

Stephanie Hauge
Stephanie Hauge is currently a graduate student in the School of Public Health (University of Minnesota) working towards obtaining a Master of Public Health Degree. She earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin (Madison). She has experience working for the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health where she executed several full-length community health assessments and performed secondary data analysis on national, state, and local data sets. Hague most recently has been working at the University of Minnesota providing research assistance to the Department of Health Services Research & Policy where she has developed research publications on rural mental health issues.

Ken Imhoff
Ken Imhoff is the Manager of the Farm Stress Unit, the Farm Stress Line, Saskatchewan Agriculture Inquiry Line, and the Saskatchewan Feed Grain and Forage Listing Service as well as the Saskatchewan CONNECTIONS Services Directory. His most recent achievement is being named the Provincial representative to the Board of Directors Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, and the Saskatchewan Alliance for Agriculture and Safety. Imhoff received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University Saskatchewan and a Masters Degree from the same institution in Continuing Education. He has special interests in Canadian government, interest group behavior, and lobbying techniques.

Jane Hayes-Johnk
Jane Hayes-Johnk earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Agricultural Business and Master of Science Degree in Agricultural Education from Iowa State University. Hayes-Johnk is currently a 4-H Youth Development Specialist for Iowa State University Extension in Red Oak, Iowa. She is involved in program development, volunteer development, training and marketing for 4-H Youth Programs. She also designs and delivers youth development based educational programs in a variety of settings including 4-H Community Club, special interest groups, and school enrichment programs. In addition she actively collaborates with other agencies to provide training and information on youth development issues.

Alana Johnson
Alana Johnson is the Director of the Foundation for Australian Agricultural Women and a fifth generation farmer. She is a qualified social worker, a registered clinical family therapist and teaches part-time at Charles Sturt University in New South Wales. She is conducting research on sustainable farm families to investigate factors that contribute to farm families’ ability to overcome adversity. She is Past President of the Foundation for Australian Agricultural Women and a past member of the Rural Women’s Advisory Group to the Federal Minister for Agriculture. Recently Ms. Johnson returned from twelve months’ study and living in France and a speaking tour of Ireland.

Paul Jones
Paul Jones is Manager of the Breaking New Ground Resource Center at Purdue University. His areas of focus include farming with a disability, caregiver issues, and farm safety among Old Order Anabaptist groups, such as the Amish. He is currently the Project Manager for a multi-state NIOSH-funded surveillance initiative to better understand the nature of Old Order farm injuries and best-practice intervention strategies. Paul has also been the Chairman of the Caregiving in the Heartland planning committee for the past two years, and has served in a leadership capacity with that committee since it began in 1999.

Paul and his mentor, Dr. Bill Field, recently authored a peer-reviewed journal article on Old Order Anabaptist farm injuries, and Paul has written, edited, or designed more than 20 additional publications, newsletter editions, and brochures.

Michelle Kobayashi, MSPH
Michelle Kobayashi, MSPH, is Vice President of NRC, Inc.  Michelle has a Masters degree in Public Health with an emphasis in statistical analysis.  Michelle has made scores of presentations to public managers, elected officials and staff. She has designed and overseen a wide variety of research projects on topics that include domestic violence, patient satisfaction, elder care, childcare, unintended pregnancy and the health and lifestyle of older adults.  She has worked extensively on outcomes in cancer, speech and audiology, biofeedback and asthma.  She co-authored Citizen Surveys: How to do them, how to use them, what they mean with Tom Miller and Outcome Handbook for Programs Serving Older Adults.  Michelle has worked as Chief Project Manager on a variety of health care outcome projects with Evaluation Systems International, Inc.  Her work includes integration of research outcomes on cancer risk estimates for exposure to power line electromagnetic fields, published in Risk Analysis, and studies of low-income patients for Denver Health and Hospitals and the Tri-County Health Department. Michelle conceived and managed the evaluation of the Sowing the Seeds of Hope project. 

Fredrick O. Lorenz, Ph.D.
Fredrick O. Lorenz, Ph.D., is Professor of Statistics and Sociology at Iowa State University. Educated at Mankato State University, South Dakota University and Iowa State University, Dr. Lorenz’s interests are in the application of statistical methods to the analysis of multi-informat and panel data. Working with the Iowa Youth and Families Project, Dr. Lorenz has helped describe the complex interrelationships of economic pressures with symptoms of depression, substance abuse and antisocial behavior in farm families.

Larry McMullen
Since 1992, Larry has served as an Iowa State University Extension Swine Field Specialist covering six counties in east central Iowa. He has also been the Coordinator of the Southeast Iowa Quality of Life Team for the past two years. He joined Iowa State University Extension in the fall of 1990 as the O’Brien County Extension Agriculturist. Previous to joining ISU Extension he was a Vocational Agriculture Instructor at Macomb, Illinois and was also concurrently farming 250 acres producing corn, soybeans, wheat, and oats. Larry has an extensive background in agriculture and is quite diverse in agriculture production knowledge and skills. Larry received a B.S in Agricultural Education from the University of Illinois and an M.S. in Swine Nutrition from the University of Nebraska.

Carol Miller
Carol Miller is currently the Executive Director of Frontier Education Center: The National Clearinghouse for Frontier Communities, Santa Fe and Ojo Sarco, New México, which she founded in 1997. The Center is the only organization in the U.S. devoted solely to the issues and concerns of frontier communities. She also serves as a Public Health Consultant and is involved in health education, community organizing, and personnel policies. Her research is primarily focused on health policy and advocacy including pushing for state and national health reform. Miller received her B.A. in Art from Wheaton College (Norton, MA) and her Master of Public Health Degree in Health Education from the School of Public Health, University of California (Berkeley). Her post graduate studies have included courses in bioethics, curriculum development in health education, and statistics.

Marcene Moran
Marcene Moran, Ed.D. is a Consultant for program development and services for the Diocese of Sioux Falls, SD, a board member for the National Association for Rural Mental Health and for AgriWellness, Inc. and has many years of experience providing behavioral health services and training to farm and ranch families in South Dakota and elsewhere. Dr. Moran was trained as a nurse and is licensed in that profession in Iowa and South Dakota and completed a doctoral degree in Educational Psychology and Counseling at the University of South Dakota and is licensed as a psychologist in Iowa. Dr. Moran has presented more than 100 workshops, chiefly on managing stress, grief issues, self-esteem and farm culture. She has achieved many awards for her leadership and contributions to improving behavioral health care in South Dakota and elsewhere.

Wayne Myers, M.D.
Wayne Myers M.D. is a retired pediatrician. The former Director of the federal Office of Rural Health Policy (1998-2000), Dr. Myers is currently President of the National Rural Health Association. Dr. Myers spent most of his career developing and managing rural medical schools, allied health and AHEC programs in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest and Appalachian Kentucky. He directed a branch of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Alaska from 1975-85 and was the Associate Dean for Regional Affairs of the UW Medical School from 1985-90. He and his wife, JoAnn, developed the University of Kentucky Center for Rural Health in Hazard between 1990 and 1998. Dr. and Mrs. Myers live at Waldoboro, Maine where they raise commercial organic produce and heritage livestock.

Peter Nathan, Ph.D.
Peter Nathan, Ph.D., is University of Iowa Foundation Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Public Health. Before coming to Iowa, he was on the faculty of Rutgers University where, between 1983 and 1989, he directed the Center of Alcohol Studies. He has done research and clinical work in alcoholism for almost 40 years. With Jack Gorman, he has edited A Guide to Treatments that Work, which was recently revised (Oxford, 2002).

Mark Oleson
Mark Oleson is the Executive Director of the Financial Counseling Clinic at Iowa State University. He is also a Financial Counselor at Iowa State University and Utah State University. In addition he serves as a Credit Counselor Trainer for In-Charge Institute (Orlando, FL). He earned his B.S. in Psychology from Brigham Young University. He then earned his Master of Science Degree in Family & Human Development from Utah State University. In addition he earned his Ph.D. in Family Life (Family Financial Counseling) from Utah State University. He is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist as well as a Registered Financial Consultant. Oleson is a member of the American Association for Marriage & Family Therapy and the Association for Financial Counseling & Planning Education.

Deborah Reed
Deborah Reed is an Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health as well as being a Professor in the College of Nursing. She is a volunteer program director of the Parish Nurse Program, Bruner’s Chapel Baptist Church. In addition she is the Project Manager for the NIOSH sponsored Farm Family Health and Hazard Surveillance Project (University of Kentucky). She earned her BSN (Nursing), MSN (Community Health), MSPH (Public Health: IH), and Ph.D. (Nursing) all from the University of Kentucky. Reed is a member of the Kentucky Farm and Home Safety Council and the American Public Health Association. She has submitted articles to journals on topics including injuries to farm children and adolescents and theoretical explanations of injured farmers’ return to work.

S.M. Robertson
S.M. Robertson is a Senior Research Technician in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Penn State University. She is Project Coordinator for the research project, Identifying Family and Community Impacts of Farm Work Injuries. Along with Dennis Murphy, she revised the Farm and Agricultural Injury Classification (FAIC) code. Previously, she served as Director of Education and Co-directed The AIDS Project, and HIV/AIDS agency that provided services to three primarily rural Pennsylvania counties.

Michael R. Rosmann, Ph.D.
Michael R. Rosmann received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Colorado (1968) and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Utah (1976). Following a five year stint as a faculty member in the Psychology Department of the University of Virginia, Rosmann and his family moved to their farm in rural western Iowa where he developed an organic crop and livestock operation. He also began providing mental health services to the farm population, first in private practice and then in community mental health centers. He developed the first mental health response in Iowa to the farm crisis of the 1980’s. He initiated Prairie Rose Mental Health Center in Harlan, Iowa and was its Director for eight years. Rosmann received recognition from the National Health Service Corps for his work to broaden incentives to mental health practitioners who serve in rural areas. Rosmann is the winner of the 2002 Victor I. Howery Memorial Award, given each year by the National Association for Rural Mental Health to an individual who has made significant contributions to the rural mental health field. The Sowing the Seeds of Hope program, which AgriWellness administers, was selected for inclusion as a model program in Rural Healthy People 2010: A Companion Document to Healthy People 2010. He is a leader of national efforts to fund health care for uninsured and underinsured farm and ranch families and agricultural workers and to establish a National Center for Rural/Agricultural Behavioral Health.

Leslie Schmalzried
Leslie Schmalzried, MA, LMSW, is associated with Prevention Concepts, Inc., located in central Iowa. She has many experience delivering substance abuse services and prevention information.

Kathy Schmitt
Kathy Schmitt is a Community Services Specialist for the Wisconsin Farm Center, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, and Trade & Consumer Protection. She assists farmers with career development, career change, and job transition information. In addition she is a project manager for Sowing the Seeds of Hope, a behavioral health program for Wisconsin farmers. She has 19 total years of experience as a vocational counselor including 11 of which she specialized in the farm population. Schmitt earned a Master of Science Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling Psychology from the University of Wisconsin. She has presented at a variety of conferences including the Wisconsin Rural Health Association Conference.

Wade Seibert
Wade Seibert is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Lock Haven University (PA). In addition he teaches Health Administration and Management courses as an Adjunct Professor at Lebanon Valley College and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Among his research interests he focuses upon care giving by non-traditional caregivers. Seibert is a licensed social worker in Pennsylvania. He had a varied career in human service agencies that spanned 20 years before he started teaching. He has a Bachelors Degree from Pennsylvania State University, a Masters of Science Degree in Organizational Behavior from Cornell University, a Masters of Social Work Degree from Marywood University, and a Doctor of Social Work Degree from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to his private clinical practice and teaching he volunteers for various organizations that deal with health related issues. He also lectures widely to support groups and volunteer groups on topics of care giving, anger, and grief with particular emphasis on men, adolescents, and children.

Beth Hudnall Stamm, Ph.D.
Beth Hudnall Stamm, Ph.D., is Research Professor, the Director of Telehealth and the Deputy Director of the Idaho State University Institute of Rural Health. Educated in psychology and statistics at Appalachian State University (B.S., MA) and the University of Wyoming (Ph.D.), Dr. Stamm has held previous appointments at the VA National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Dartmouth Medical School and the University of Alaska at Anchorage. Working primarily with rural underserved people, Stamm’s efforts focus on health policy, cultural trauma and work-related traumatic stress where telehealth figures prominently. She is the author of numerous professional writings and books, including serving as editor of “Rural Behavioral Health Care: An Interdisciplinary Guide” which has been published by the American Psychological Association (2003). Her work is used in over 30 countries and in such diverse fields as health care, responding to disasters, news media and the military.

Larry Tranel
Larry Tranel works for Iowa State University Extension as a Dairy/Beef and Forage Field Specialist in Dubuque, Delaware, Clayton, and Buchanan Counties. Prior to his current position he worked as an Agriculture Agent, Assistant/Associate Professor, and Department Chair for the University of Wisconsin Extension in Iowa County. He received two B.S. degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville; they are Agricultural Economics and International Studies. Tranel later earned his M.S. in Agricultural Industries from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

Margaret Van Ginkel
Margaret Van Ginkel is currently the Families Field Specialist and Hotline Coordinator for Iowa State University Extension. For this position she organizes, develops curriculum, markets, and teaches classes on Family Resource Management to a variety of audiences in the Central Iowa Area. In addition she supervises and markets the Iowa Concern Hotline which includes Teen Line, Healthy Families, and Bets Off. She also collaborates with a variety of agencies and organizations to promote hotlines and extension programs. She belongs to a number of professional organizations including the National Association for Rural Mental Health. She also is on different boards and advisory committees including Agriwellness and Iowa Disaster Human Resource Council. Van Ginkel earned her B.S. in Family and Consumer Science Education and her M.S. in Adult Education.

Randy R. Weigel, Ph.D.
Dr. Randy Weigel is an Associate Professor and Extension Specialist in the Family & Consumer Sciences Department at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming, USA. He has been at UW since 1987 as faculty and administrator in the Cooperative Extension Service. He has a BS degree in Psychology from Colorado State University, a MS degree in Human Development and Family Life from Kansas State University, and Ph.D. in Professional Studies from Iowa State University. Randy has taught the human resource section of the Western Integrated Resource Education (WIRE) course since its inception. He is a contributing author for AG Help Wanted: Guideline for Managing Agricultural Labor. Prior to coming to UW, he worked for Iowa State Extension and taught techniques for addressing farm stress to Iowa farmers during the farm crisis of the mid 80s. His current extension and research interests include personal life planning using the WIRE model, wellness, rural male psychology, and human interaction in agricultural families.

Steven Wilhide
Steven Wilhide grew up in a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Maryland. He graduated with a BA degree in Social Sciences from Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland in 1965. After service as a VISTA volunteer in Cherokee, North Carolina, he served in the US Army with a tour in Vietnam.

He graduated in 1972 from the University of Maryland School of Social Work with a Master of Social Work in Community Organization. In 1976, he completed a Master of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh.

In the fall of 1976, Wilhide accepted a position of Executive Director of the Southern Ohio Health Services Network, a newly formed community health center serving five Appalachian counties. Today, SOHSN operates 12 primary care clinics with a staff in excess of 250 and a budget over $17 million.

In January 2002, he became the Executive Director of the National Rural Health Association.

He is the author of numerous articles about rural health and medical group management and has consulted in the majority of states with rural health providers.