I’m ready to help Grand Forks
reach its full potential.
Meet Robin
After growing up in Wahpeton, N.D., and graduating from UND as a first-generation college student, I taught high school in western North Dakota in the late-1990s. The promise of Grand Forks drew me back a few years later.
I turned a second UND degree into a job as Assistant Director of the UND Honors Program, where I led civic education efforts for 17 years, sending students out of the classroom and into their adopted community to engage in hands-on training in Grand Forks. It offered me a phenomenal opportunity to connect with and learn from the community.
In that time I also founded Global Friends Coalition, an immigrant integration organization, helping it grow from a loose group of volunteers into a dynamic nonprofit known nationally for its integration model.
In 2018, I was awarded a fellowship by the prestigious Bush Foundation. This fellowship allowed me to hone my leadership skills, gaining an even deeper understanding of my community and a certificate from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Since that time I have been leading welcoming efforts for the City of Grand Forks, a workforce and community development role that ensures Grand Forks is positioned to help newcomers put down roots here and benefit from what they bring.
In addition to my civic work, I’m a mother of three kids who are active in the city’s arts community and a wife of a Grand Forks native who works at the University of North Dakota. From our home in the middle of the city, we value our connections with people across the community.
Although I no longer spend my days in a classroom, I am forever a teacher–someone who loves nothing more than making genuine connections with people, learning from them, and helping them to be more and do more.
And I’m ready to help Grand Forks reach its full potential. Let’s do this. Let’s be more
In my work with youth, college students, business owners, immigrants, legislators, teachers, retirees, and volunteers, I am astounded at the potential I see in our residents—they’re smart, creative, and dedicated to making Grand Forks better. Our people and our institutions are tremendous resources.
With those assets, we all know we can be even more as a city.
I have a history of identifying opportunities, pulling people together, thinking tactically, rolling up my sleeves, and making things happen. And I will empower people to face our city’s unique challenges and help the community envision a shared future.
Together, let’s make Grand Forks known as a place where every person has the opportunity to make things happen.
