New appointments

Jennifer Dinneen, MBA, joined the school as director of human resources with 15 years of experience, including her most recent position as senior human resources consultant for the College of Liberal Arts. Her previous experiences include director of human resources of the Department of Homeland Security, Customs, and Border Protection and HR officer in Command & Director of HRM Commander’s Staff, US Air Force in Minot, North Dakota. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota - Duluth and an MBA with human resources focus from Touro University International. She is a SHRM-CP Society for Human Resources Management Certified Professional.

Heidi Eschenbacher, PhD, joined the school as project manager for the Advancing Higher Education for Afghanistan’s Development (AHEAD) project. She earned a doctoral degree in organizational leadership, policy and development from the University of Minnesota, specializing in comparative and international development education and evaluation. Prior to coming to the School of Nursing, she was at the Institute on Community Integration as a researcher focused on the housing and supports and services that people with intellectual or developmental disabilities receive across the United States.

Annie Koolen, BS, joined the Office of the Dean as the operations administrator. She comes to the school with 20 years of experience in administrative and operations management. For the past six years, she supported university administration and academic operations at St. Catherine University. She has also served 14 years as an assignment editor for television news. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Maria Krautkremer, BS, joined the school as Population Health and Systems cooperative unit assistant. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development from the University of Minnesota. During her studies, she served as a curatorial assistant in the Bell Museum’s herbarium and as a teaching assistant.

Huong Nguyen, PhD, joined the school as a clinical associate professor. Nguyen earned PhD and master’s degrees in social work from the University of Chicago, a master’s degree in mass communications from the University of Nebraska and a bachelor’s degree in foreign trade economics from Hanoi Foreign Trade University. Her most recent position was a research associate professor at the University of South Carolina in the Department of Religious Studies. Nguyen’s multi-site research spanning the U.S., Thailand and Vietnam focuses on understanding the root cause of mental health disorders in order to develop an innovative therapy to treat these disorders, including areas of spirituality and religion in mental health, Buddhism-based psychosocial interventions in mental health, elder care, supporting family caregivers of elderly people with dementia and Buddhist social work.