Office of Public Affairs

Staff

Mark Kinders has been director of Public Affairs since 1985. His responsibilities include managing media relations, serving as the liaison between the University and Legislature, Congressional relations, maintaining community and business relations, and providing oversight to Sports Information and Photography Services. He also is the information and media liaison between the University and the Kansas City Chiefs, which holds its Summer Training Camp at UW-RF.

Kinders is a past president of the bi-state St. Croix Valley Regional Tourism Alliance, a nationally recognized marketing collaborative of 20 communities in Wisconsin and Minnesota. He also served on the Professional Development Committee of the Wisconsin Governor's Council on Tourism. His activities in the hospitality and tourism industry led to his recognition as a 2004 Wisconsin Idea Fellow by the UW System Board of Regents.

Kinders is engaged in public higher education advocacy nationally, serving a second term as the Chair of the Advisory Council for Communications and Public Affairs to the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. The council’s purpose is advise AASCU on its work with Congress, the administration and the public to promote the essential role of public higher education in society and of the responsibilities and contributions of AASCU’s 430 public colleges, universities and higher education systems nationwide.

In his public service activities, he is a member of the U.S. Military Academies Selection Boards for U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold and U.S. Rep. Ron Kind.

Prior to joining the University, Kinders held editing and reporting positions with Lee Enterprises newspapers, including the Decatur Herald & Review in Illinois and the Bismarck Tribune in North Dakota. He also served as a correspondent for the Southwest News Herald in his hometown of Chicago.

Kinders holds a B.S. in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, an M.A. in history from UW-River Falls, and an MPA in public affairs through the Executive Program of the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota. While at the U of M he was named a finalist for a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellowship.

He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1968 to 1972. (He delivered the UWRF Veterans Day speeches in 2005 and 2006). Kinders is married to Linda Bowlby-Kinders, a graphic designer (designer of the St. Croix Valley Regional Tourism Alliance graphics.) They have three sons: Christian, Casey (a Marine delployed in 2007-08 to Iraq) and Matthew, daughter-in-law Mindy, and granddaughter Katie.

Jim Thies is a veteran of sports media relations and has been the Falcons sports information director since 1976.

He has served on several national, state and local committees for the College Sports Information Directors of America and the Wisconsin Sports Information Directors Association. For the past decade, he's served as the sports information director for the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association.

His game-day publications and media guides have won more than 20 national awards for excellence. He manages 15 student writers and statisticians and also serves as assistant director of public affairs. He is also the manager of the UW-RF Falcon Athletics Web site, which provides up-to-the-minute information for fans, media and the campus community. He is also a member of the UW-RF Athletic Hall of Fame committee.

Thies also coordinates the UW-RF media internship program and official Web site for the Kansas City Chiefs Summer Training Camp. The KCC Summer Training Camp Web site has received numerous awards and is a must-read by fans near and far. He is a member of the American Football Writers Association and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

He is married to Cheri and they have two grown children, James and Kairsten. Thies is also active in the Hudson Hockey Association and St. Patricks Catholic Church. Thies serves as the Hudson High School girl's hockey coach and has led them to four consecutive state championship titles.

Thies earned his undergraduate degree in mass communications from Mankato State (Minn.) University.

Jens Gunelson has served as director of photography services since 1977. He has a master's degree in instructional media and technology from Mankato State University.

In addition to his responsibilities providing campus photography services, Gunelson also provides passport photos, prints as well as "best of" campus event CDs for a nominal fee.

As head photographer, Gunelson has documented the Kansas City Chiefs Summer Training Camp since its beginning in 1991. A rare photo opportunity presented itself when Gunelson photographed President George W. Bush, who visited the KCC summer camp on Aug. 18, 2004.

Gunelson also serves as a computer specialist for the Office of Public Affairs. He has created a photo archive Web site featuring current campus scenes and events.

His daughter is a 2005 graduate of the B.S.W. program at UW-RF. He is the newsletter editor for the Unitarian Universalist Society of River Falls. His other interests include woodworking, digital imaging technology and spending time with his granddaughters.

Deb Toftness joined the Office of Public Affairs in 1989. Her responsibilities include office management, supervision of student workers, and writing, editing and distributing Falcon Daily, the campus electronic newsletter, which received a 2006 national award of distinction from The Communicator Awards and a Hermes Creative Award in 2007. She also provides assistance with news release editing, writing and distribution. Toftness has worked with the Kansas City Chiefs Summer Training Camp at UW-RF since the first camp in 1991.

She began her career at UWRF in the Director's Office of the Chalmer Davee Library in 1985 before transferring to the English department in 1986. Prior jobs included working for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and for West Publishing Company.

Toftness earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in print journalism from UW-Eau Claire. She enjoys spending time with her four children; her eldest daughter attends UW-La Crosse.

Toftness frequently volunteers at school, church and community activities. She is an annual participant in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life and the newsletter editor for the River Falls High School Band Boosters.

Brenda K. Bredahl joined the Public Affairs Office in 2004 as a part-time communications specialist. Part of her duties include coordinating the Public Affairs Internship Program. In addition to being a UWRF alumna, she has taught occasionally in the journalism department since 2000. She was a freelance writer/researcher for UWRF's 125th anniversary publication, which received a CASE bronze award. While an undergraduate, she was an associate editor in the UW-RF publications office from 1985 to 1990 as well as a student copy editor and reporter for the UWRF Student Voice.

Currently she is a communications consultant for various organizations and companies and a freelance writer whose articles and photos have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Corporate Report Wisconsin, Grit, Historic Traveler, Milwaukee magazine, Minnesota Monthly, Wisconsin Trails, and other publications.

She is a former consulting copy editor of International Wolf and Wisconsin West magazines. Her previous staff positions include associate editor at the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center, associate editor at Minnesota Medicine magazine, publications manager for the Minnesota Historical Society and public relations representative for Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College-New Richmond. In 1993 and 1996 she received the Minnesota Government Communicator's Northern Lights Award of Excellence for annual report writing for the Minnesota Historical Society.

Bredahl has a B.S. with a double major in journalism and art from UWRF, and an M.S. in mass communication from the University of Minnesota. She is married to Tony, an art director in the UWRF publications office. They have a son.