North Dakotan elected to board of National Rural Recruitment and Retention Network Mary Amundson, assistant professor at the Center for Rural Health, has been elected to the board of directors for the National Rural Recruitment and Retention Network (3RNet). The network helps health professionals locate practice sites in rural and underserved areas throughout the country. Amundson was elected by 3RNet members to this leadership position for a three-year term. She is a founding member of the organization and served as a board member from 2003 to 2006. In addition to being the administrator for North Dakota’s 3RNet membership, she also works with health workforce policies and programs within the state. Amundson is an expert in the area of recruitment and retention of health care providers, student interdisciplinary service learning programs, and access to health care in underserved and frontier areas. She presents across the nation routinely on those topics and has produced several publications. She served as a member of the National Frontier Definition Committee to issue regulations to define the concept of "frontier" area. She also served on the National Advisory Committee on Interdisciplinary Community-Based Linkages, which advises Congress on Title VII programs related to educational training for health professional students. Presently, she is the director of the new Area Health Education Center in North Dakota. Created in 1995, 3RNet works to improve rural and underserved communities' access to quality health care through recruitment of physicians and other health care professionals, development of community based recruitment and retention activities, and national advocacy relative to rural and underserved health care workforce issues. -- Wendy Opsahl, Communications Coordinator, Center for Rural Health, wopsahl@medicine.nodak.edu, 777-0871