Extension Professor, Northwest Minnesota

[email protected]
Phone: 218-281-8689
Fax: 218-281-8686

Northwest Regional Extension Office

510 County Rd 71, Ste 119
Crookston, MN 56716

Education

• B.S., Environmental Studies, Concentration in Public Policy and Literature, Northland College, Ashland, WI
• M.S., Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration, Concentration in Rural Destination Development and Management, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL

Work experience

Before joining the Community Economics team in 2012, Rani served as a community development fellow with the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs where she worked on agritourism research and served as statewide field staff for Rural Partners Illinois. With Rural Partners, she also worked on housing and rural broadband access issues throughout the state. Prior to her fellowship in Illinois, Rani also served for three years with the Peace Corps in Bulgaria, where she helped implement a regional sustainable tourism development strategy - focusing on engaging migrant populations within regional development strategies concerning tourism entrepreneurship and environmental education of youth. More recently, she worked with Green Seal in Washington, D.C. on promoting environmentally responsible facility management practices and with the social enterprise Local Flavor, LLC in Minnesota.

Affiliations, honors and community service

• Affiliations: Polk County Social Services board member, Local Workforce Development Board 1 non-voting board member, Editorial board member of HotelExecutive.com; guest presenter on Lodging Certification in the Environmental Management of International Tourism Development course offered by the Harvard Extension School, Cambridge, MA; volunteer alumna of: Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, West Bengal; Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul; and Three Rivers Park District Natural Resources Division, Minnesota.
• Certification: Global Sustainable Ecotourism Development: Achieving Economic Growth, Alleviation of Poverty and Environmental Conservation from the University of Vermont , Burlington; VT; UpStarts Instructor, Inspiring Trust by Franklin Covey, UMN Employee Civil Rights Certified, Trained in Tribal-University Relations, Certified to Faciliate Allyship in the Workplace, Certified Facilitator of Business Retention & Expansion in Your Community Instructor; and At Your Service Instructor from University of Minnesota Extension.
• Member: Association of Economic Researchers of Indigenous Peoples, National Association of Community and Economic Development Extension Professionals, the Community Development Society, and Advance CTE. 

Selected publications

• Bhattacharyya, R., Lewis, B. and Clevenger, M.R. (2022). A Framework for Decolonizing Community Economics and Entrepreneruship with Native Nations in Minnesota. Vol 2. Empowering Entrepreneurial Communities and Ecosystems: Case Study Publisher Routledge. Editors Michael Fortunato and Morgan Clevenger. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003287681/empowering-entrepreneurial-communities-ecosystems-michael-fortunato-morgan-clevenger
• Tuck, B., and Bhattacharyya, R. (2020). Economic Contribution of American Indian Health Care Spending in Northwest Minnesota. Paul, MN: University of Minnesota Department of Community Development https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/213950
• Bhattacharyya, R. and Qian, X. (2016). Shooting Star Casino Event Attendee Study. St. Paul., MN : University Department of Community Development. https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/182431
• Bhattacharyya, R. and Pesch. R. (2015). Waubun Grocery Market Analysis. Paul, MN: University of Minnesota Department of Community Development http://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/179081
• Bhattacharyya, R. and Darger, M. (2015) Cultural Adaptation of the Business Retention & Expansion Program. Presented at the University of Minnesota Extension Program Conference. Bloomington, MN. https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/188321

Workforce Development, Sustainable Tourism Destination Development, Entrepreneruship, Community Economic Development, Community Development, Analytical Autoethnography