MAND March Member Spotlight: Amy Pleimling

Amy Pleimling, RD, LD, MPH
Coordinated Program Director, University of Minnesota and Incoming Twin Cities Regional Rep-Elect

Briefly tell us about your day-to-day work: I teach, advise, coordinate and administrate an ACEND accredited dietetic internship at UMN. The UMN CP is an MPH degree blended with the dietetic internship. I teach a 4-part course called Nutrition and Dietetics in Practice which covers all of the clinical and dietetics competencies that the MPH curriculum does not cover. I also coordinate all of their internship places and experiences. Program evaluation and improvement is a big part of the administration responsibility. Mostly, I am responsible for supporting the students throughout the 2 year program so that they learn and grow into entry-level dietitians and public health practitioners.

Tell us about things you do that you find particularly interesting or motivating: I am motivated by the young RDs to Be! I have learned so much from them (in the 3 years I have been in this role), specifically how to teach in a way that resonates with their lived experiences. My non-white students have taught me so much about cultural competency!

What has surprised you about your work? Most of my 25 years in this field have been clinically focused. I was seeking a position where I would be able to use other skills, such as innovation, creativity but an interest in leadership has developed. There are so many amazing opportunities that come across a DI Director’s email (which is another surprise) and I take part in as many as I can. I took ASPHN’s Courage in Leadership course and learned that leaders are not required to be people who are outgoing and high-energy, but a leader really is someone people want to follow.

What trends are you seeing in your work? I think last time I answered this question I shared what the graduate students are interesting in but I’ll answer this time from an ACEND director perspective. ACEND is working to advance our field by adding the Master’s degree requirement (2025) but they are also going to be adding advanced competencies to CPs and separate the DPD competencies out of the CP, creating a “laddering” of education. The latest message received from ACEND is that RDs need to broaden our scope and lessen saying “that is out of my scope.”… keeping up with the interprofessional team.