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The MCDHH Board is comprised of Advisory Council Representatives and At-Large Members. Advisory Council Representatives are selected from the 8 statewide Advisory Councils that advise the Department of Human Services Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Division. At-large Members can be selected from any area of Minnesota. All MCDHH Board Members bring the concerns of their communities to MCDHH and help to communicate the work that MCDHH is doing back home.

DHHSD Advisory Council Members

Advisory Council Representatives are selected from the 8 statewide Advisory Councils that advise the Department of Human Services Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Division.

Lyle Hoxtell

Region: Northwest
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Lyle Hoxtell is a member of the NWMN Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing Advisory Board. He has been hard of hearing and wearing hearing aids since 1990. Lyle has worked as Otter Tail County Public Health Coordinator on Aging for 10 years. He earned a Master of Divinity Degree from Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Mn., and a Masters Degree in Guidance and Counseling from North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND.. Along with his employment as a counselor for the State of North Dakota for 19 years, he was active in many community organizations and projects such as organizing the Jamestown Hospice program and asset building for youth. Serving on boards and community committees in Fergus Falls and Otter Tail County doesn’t stop him from fishing and yard work. Lyle enjoys creating projects out of wood and metal. Lyle is originally from Ortonville, MN., and lived and working in North Dakota for 25 years before returning to the promised land in Fergus Falls in 1998.

Areas of interest: public access and consumer advocacy: education.

Dave Kyler

Kyler of Crookston holds a number of positions with Independence Plus, Inc. in Crookston. He has been a member of the regional services advisory committee for the deaf and hard-of-hearing for over 10 years, and has taught sign language classes with Crookston Park and Recreation. Kyler, who has been a member of the Commission since 2006, is reappointed as the upper northwest Minnesota representative to another term that expires on January 2, 2012.

Region: Upper North West
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Jason Valentine

Jason Valentine, of Minneapolis, is a counselor with the Minnesota Chemical Dependency Program for Deaf and hard-of-Hearing Individuals in Minneapolis. Valentine earned his Master’s of Social Work degree with a cencentration in maternal ond childhealth leadership, developmenthal disabilities, and health care delivery systems, as well as his bachelor of science degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Sue Gensmer

Region: South East
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I have an Associates degree from Inver Hills Community College with an emphasis in Human Services, and a BA from the College of St. Catherine in Occupational Therapy. I am the parent of a son with a hearing loss. I work part time for Fairview Red Wing Health Services as an OT and am the former South East Parent Guide for MInnesota Hands & Voices.

Michele Isham, Chair

Region: East Central
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Michele Isham has been working as a teacher of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing since 1992 for Benton Stearns Education District in Sartell. She graduated from Western Oregon State College with a degree in Special Education with an emphasis on Deaf Education. She also received a degree in Elementary Education from the University of Oregon. Michele is a member of the E/W Regional Advisory Committee with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services. She also serves on the MN Deaf/Blind network, Region 5 and 7 Teachers of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing network and her regional Early Hearing Detection and Intervention team. Michele lives in St. Cloud where she grew up and is a proud mother of 2 great kids.

Nancy Diener

Region: Northeast
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Dr. Nancy McFarlin Diener is an assistant professor in the Deaf Studies Program at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. Her doctorate is in Educational Leadership and her dissertation was titled: “Cultural Themes Across Generations: Exploring Changes in Lived Experiences of Six Deaf Individuals”. She holds the CI/CT Sign Language Interpreter Certification from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and has interpreted in a variety of settings including medical, political, education, video-relay, and performing arts. Previously, Nancy worked in the office of Disability Resources as an Academic Advisor for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind students and coordinator of academic support services. Nancy also serves on the Northeast Region Advisory Board. Raised in the Twin Cities, Nancy has lived in Duluth for 26 years, and now calls Duluth home. She and her husband Tom have three grown children.

Adrienne Haugen

Region: Central
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Adrienne Haugen aka Ade is progressive deafblind to include both residual vision and hearing loss and uses limited sign language. She has served in other deafblind organizations; But, is currently serving three: as Commissioned Member of the Commission Serving Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans; as a Member and Representative of the West-Central Advisory Committee of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Division of St. Cloud, Minnesota; and, as DeafBlind Committee Member of the State Blind Rehab/State Services for the Blind DeafBlind Committee.

Roberta Johnson

Region: South
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Roberta Johnson is a Placement Specialist with Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Mankato, MN. This agency is within MN Department of Employment and Economic Development. She has performed a variety of positions over her forty year period of employment with this agency. Roberta has provided services to consumers with a variety of disabilities. Over the last twenty five years, she has provided job placement services to consumers who are deaf and hard of hearing. Roberta has served on the SW DHHS Advisory Committee in the past and currently, is serving as their chairperson. In the past, she completed training in Deafness and Rehabilitation at University of Northern Illinois. She also completed training in American Sign Language at South Central College, North Mankato, MN.

At-Large Members

At-large Members can be selected from any area of Minnesota.

Monique Hammond, Executive Committee

Monique Hammond

Monique Hammond was born and raised in Luxembourg, Europe. She studied Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota and graduated with High Distinction. She is married and has one daughter. Monique has worked in health care for over thirty years. As a hospital pharmacist her major priorities have always been patient advocacy and safety as well as health education and disease prevention.
Monique entered the world of hearing loss in Fall 2005 when – in a matter of four hours – she went totally deaf in her left ear. In no time at all, life had changed forever! Yet, it was also the start of a new calling. Monique joined the Twin Cities’ Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA TC), a local support and education group for people with hearing problems. She is Past President and maintains her devotion to HLAA TC.
Monique’s quest and dream are to move the issues of the hearing challenged people to the forefront and to raise public awareness through educational efforts. She does public speaking on a variety of topics related to hearing loss. At the MCDHH her major focus is to be a staunch advocate for the Hard of Hearing community whose interests she represents. There is so much to do, so little time!

Tracy Lindemer

Tracy Lindemer, of Lino Lakes, is an owner, and office manager of Lindey’s Prime Steak House in Arden Hills. Previously, she held positions as director of performance improvement, a nurse supervisor/nurse preceptor and a registered nurse with Caregivers Network in Minnetonka. Lindemer earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing from Montana State University in Bozeman. Lindemer has a hard-of-hearing child, and is interested in contributing her experience with our education system and options offered for deaf or hard of hearing children.

Dr. Susan Rose

Susan Rose, Ph.D. is a professor at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Educational Psychology where she is the coordinator of the special education programs and the faculty representative for the ASL-World Languages program. She is the co-author of two widely used textbooks related to reading and language practices with deaf and hard of hearing students. She is also a co-author of the Reading Milestones/ Reading Bridge series specifically designed for students with language differences and is a co-developer of the AVE web-based system for progress monitoring in the area of reading and written expression. Dr. Rose has served as a speech–language pathologist, classroom and itinerant teacher, researcher and teacher development specialist in the field of education with students who are deaf or hard of hearing for more than 40 years.

Alan Parnes

Alan Parnes has worked as a deafness professional for 41 years, 21 of those years here in MN as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the deaf with the MN VR Services in the MN Dept. of Employment and Economic Development. He is retiring(ed) effective March 26, 2010 and will devote considerable time to being an advocate for the deaf. Previously, Alan worked in Ohio as a program administrator for a community services program for the deaf and hard of hearing; in Michigan as an executive director for another community services program for the deaf and hard of hearing and as an executive director for a Center for Independent Living Center and in Indiana as a VR counselor for the DHH. Alan has previously been appointed to the Commision in the 1990’s for 2 terms and looks forward to being active again with MCDHH.
Alan hopes to be especially active in the area of employment issues affecting deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind individuals. Communication in the workplace has been an ongoing and long standing concern for Alan. He recently joined the Collaboration for Communicative Access via Captioning (CCAC), a national online advocacy group that was formed this past December. He will be the lead person for employment related issues. Of special interest is the need for greatly reduced costs or no costs to employers of D/DB/HH employees for interpreter and CART services.

Rhonda Sivarajah

Sivarajah, of Lino Lakes, has served as an elected member of the Anoka County Board of Commissioners since 2003. Previously, she was a program manager with the Anoka County Income Maintenance Department, where she worked for 12 years. Sivarajah earned her bachelor of arts degree from St Cloud State University. She has a deaf child and is president of Northern Voices, an oral school for deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

John Lee Clark

John Lee Clark is a deaf-blind writer and freelance editor. His writings have appeared in many publications, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Hollins Critic, McSweeney’s, Poetry, Sign Language Studies, and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. His chapbook of poems is Suddenly Slow (Handtype Press, 2008) and he edited the anthology Deaf American Poetry (Gallaudet University Press, 2009). He is a 2011-2012 Intermedia Arts Center Beyond the Pure Writing Fellow and holds another fellowship at The Loft Literary Center. He is married to the cartoonist Adrean Clark, and they live in suburban Twin Cities with their three sons.

Staff

Mary Hartnett, Executive Director

For over 30 years Mary Hartnett has worked with the deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind communities in many different roles. Mary has been an educational sign language interpreter, a freelance sign language interpreter, a lobbyist, a community organizer and an executive director of three different nonprofit agencies. Mary has received awards from the Minnesota Association of Deaf Citizens, The Minnesota DeafBlind Association, the Ramsey County Bar Association, The Dispute Resolution Center, Lifetrack Resources, the Public Policy Award for Age and Disability from the Minnesota Department of Human Services and the Antonia Branca Award for Excellence in Early Hearing Detection and Intervention from the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management and the Center for Disease Control.

Jamie Taylor, Civic Engagement & Access Specialist

Jamie Taylor, Technology & Access Specialist

A Minnesota native by heart, Jamie was born deafblind to hearing parents.

Later she would attend the University of Minnesota, earning a bachelor’s degree in Deaf Studies. She has travelled extensively in the US and abroad as an ambassador, access specialist, mentor, and lecturer at several professional conferences and workshops on a variety of subjects ranging from communication methodology to the psychological importance of support groups in the lives of young adults with deafblindness.
Currently, in addition to her continued involvement on behalf of the deafblind community, she is finishing up her master’s degree in Deaf Education at the University of Minnesota and working as Civic Engagement and Access Specialist for MCDHH. Jamie hopes to strenthen Minnesota’s deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing community and increase their civic participation.

Teika Pakalns, Senior Project Manager

Michelle Ooley, Office Administrative Specialist Senior

Michelle has 20 years of experience in office administration and customer service. She worked as a Human Resource and Administrative Assistant at Edward Jones Mortgage, and at Wells Fargo served as an Administrative Specialist, Loan Documentation Specialist, Operations Manager, New Accounts Administrator, Work Director and Customer Service Representative. She has a sister who is hard of hearing. In her free time she is a volunteer for the National Bone Marrow Registry and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.