AHC Office of Education Team Members

Barbara Brandt , PhD
Associate Vice President for Education
(612) 625-3972

Dr. Brandt's responsibilities include implementing academic health center-wide interprofessional education, community-based education, technology-enhanced learning, and faculty development.

Dr. Brandt has worked in a number of areas of curricular and educational change in pharmacy and the health professions.  From 1996 to 2000, she served as a facilitator for the annual American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Institute on Pedagogical and Curricular Change, a program in which over seventy colleges of pharmacy have participated.  In 2000, she was a United States Public Health Service Primary Care Policy Fellow, and in 2004 she is a member of the Kellogg Commission on Community-Engaged Scholarship in the Health Professions.  These appointments are based upon her scholarship in education to prepare health professionals to work with medically underserved populations.  Dr. Brandt is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, the accreditation agency for pharmacy educational programs.  In 2002, she was the Samuel W. Melendy Memorial Lecturer in the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy.

Dr. Brandt holds a Masters of Education and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Adult and Continuing Education with a specialty in continuing professional education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Dr. Brandt has extensive teaching and administrative experience in continuing education for health professionals.  Upon receiving her doctorate, she held a visiting assistant professorship in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Education for three years.

Prior to her current position, she was Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Science and Director, Curriculum and Faculty Development, at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy.  She co-chaired the Curriculum Committee charged with implementing the entry-level Doctor of Pharmacy degree.  In that role she was responsible for assisting faculty to implement innovations in educational practices such as teaching, admissions restructuring, curricular assessment, community-based education, service learning, and non-traditional Doctor of Pharmacy education.

Dr. Brandt has written many articles, given numerous national presentations, and consulted with universities and organizations in the area of continuing professional education, curricular development in health professions education, and organizational leadership.  Currently she serves as Professor, Pharmaceutical Care and Health Systems, University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, and director of the Minnesota Area Health Education Center (MN AHEC).

Judy Beniak , DNP, DNP, MPR, RN
Director, Health Careers Center (HCC)
(612) 624-0607

Dr. Judy Beniak has had the privilege of working in a wide variety of clinical and administrative roles at the University of Minnesota. Since 2002, she has served as the Founding Director of the Health Careers Center (HCC) to position the University of Minnesota's Health Careers Center (HCC) as a premier resource for health career information.  The Center now plays a vital role in helping to address the importance of health careers and the need for more qualified health care professionals within our communities. This Center collaborates across 12 academic units at the University.

Dr. Beniak is a nurse leader with extensive experience in public health, administration including comprehensive programs in prevention, population health, health promotion, case management and regulation. Program development skills include program planning and design, e-learning tools, material production, marketing, budgeting and evaluation.

Dr. Beniak holds a teaching appointment with the College of Pharmacy. She was instrumental in the development of the Immunization Tour as an inter-professional public health course that provided mass immunization for flu vaccine on the campus. Previous professional work has included the Director of Student Services, School of Nursing and as Chief of AIDS/Sexually Transmitted Diseases Section at the Minnesota Department of Health at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.  Other clinical specialties include organ transplantation, epilepsy, medical surgical nursing and public health. 

Educational background includes a B.S.N. from Alverno College, Milwaukee, and a Masters of Public Health in Public Health Nursing from the University of Minnesota. Doctoral education includes a Doctorate of Nursing Practice with an emphasis in Public Health.  Her DNP project was the development of an e-learning module for faculty and staff entitled, “Working with Threatening Students” on campus. A certificate in leadership in health informatics completed July, 2011.

HCC - Health Careers Center

Jennifer Stumpf Kertz , MPP
Associate to the Assistant Vice President for Education
(612) 624-1923

Jeny Stumpf Kertz is the Associate to the Assistant Vice President for Education.  Jeny provides direction and coordination to support the AHC Office of Education's strategic and annual work plans.  Her responsibilities include advancing strategic initiatives that contribute to the overall mission of interprofessional education, community-based education, and technology-enhanced learning.

Previously, Jeny worked in Community Relations for the Academic Health Center, developing the Mini Medical School program and other community-related activities.  Prior to coming to the University, Jeny worked for Weber-Shandwick, a public relations firm in Minneapolis, and for the City of Moorhead, Minnesota, coordinating community-campus partnerships between the city and the local institutions of higher education.

Jeny grew up in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, received her bachelor's degree in communications and political science from Moorhead State University and her masters degree in Public Policy from the University's Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs.

Gina Kundan , MA
Director, Center for Health Interprofessional Programs (CHIP)
(612) 625-1113

Gina Kundan is the Director of the Center for Health Interprofessional Programs (CHIP). She has more than15 years of experience in student affairs that includes: leadership development, diversity education, organizational development, event planning, recruitment and retention, and fundraising. Gina provides structure, support, and inspiration for the co-curricular programmatic initiatives that enhance the aims of interprofessional education for AHC students.

Gina holds a bachelor’s degree in dance and performing arts from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, a master’s degree in social theory, and a certificate in mediation and conflict resolution from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

CHIP

Jane Lindsay Miller , PhD
Director, Teaching and Learning Initiatives and Interprofessional Education and Resource Center (IERC)
(612) 624-6989

Before joining our staff, Dr. Miller served as Director of the MnSCU Center for Teaching and Learning and the System Director for Academic Professional Development.  Dr. Miller's areas of expertise include organizational and faculty development in higher education, especially in the design and delivery of effective instruction, assessing student outcomes, and designing and conducting classroom research.  Prior to coming to Minnesota, she served as a program officer with the United Nations Development Programme, evaluating and delivering maternal-child health care training programs in West Africa.  As a doctoral candidate in medical anthropology at the New School for Social Research, she worked on a project sponsored jointly by Hunter College School of Public Health and the Columbia University School of Public Health to develop and assess culturally specific HIV/AIDS prevention programs for diverse communities in New York City.

IERC - Interprofessional Education and Resource Center

Janet Shanedling , PhD
Director, Educational Development
(612) 626-2873

Janet's expertise is in the development of curriculum and instructional programs for health care professionals.  In addition, she has extensive experience in the application of technology to the learning and teaching processes.  Before joining our office, she was an independent consultant who designed and developed curriculum and instructional programs for clients primarily in the pharmaceutical and medical products industries.  She also created programs and trained individuals and teams in the area of Emotional Intelligence.  She received her master's degree in Teaching English as a Second Language and a Doctorate in Curriculum and Instructional Design from the University of Minnesota.

AHC Learning Commons