Meet the Team

Daniela Larsen is a certified National Geographic Educator specializing in digital media and cultural diplomacy. As the Director of the Hutchings Museum Institute she has created virtual reality experiences, 3D exhibitions and digital knowledge banks for cultural preservation. Daniela has led expeditions to Everest Base Camp, Madagascar, Mongolia, and several other locations for educational and cultural exchange. She has implemented conservation projects in Utah, empowering participants to use technology for citizen science and impact in their local communities.  She has created several online science and history programs for local schools, provided internships, and has created several opportunities for municipalities to participate in conservation and geographic education. Daniela has experienced firsthand the power of technology in allowing diverse cultures and geographies to collaborate on identifying and solving our world’s issues together.

Executive Director, Natural History and Peoples and Culture Museum
Latin x/Hispanic/First Generation American Citizen

Website

Leah has been working at the Hutchings Museum Institute for over 10 years. She graduated from UVU with a degree in Public History. She has helped to develop field trip programs, outreach programs, and museum events. She has been working as Museum Manager for 3 years. She loves her job and loves the staff and volunteers she works with. She enjoys teaching the students that visit the museum.

Leah enjoys camping, hiking, and looking at the night skies. She participates in the sport of falconry and flies a prairie falcon. She loves traveling and getting to learn about different countries and cultures. Some of her more recent trips include France, Mongolia, Nepal, and Canada.

Elise Williams joined Hutchings Museum Institute in 2017 as an Executive Assistant and has transitioned to taking on the additional role of Director of Operations.

Elise is a former teacher with a Master’s degree in Educational Technology. Her greatest accomplishments are her three sons (17, 14, & 10) that keep her busy with competitive swimming, football, and basketball.

Information coming

 Lucy Farnsworth has been working at the Hutchings Museum Institute for the past 5 years as an Educator and Volunteer Coordinator, helping with conservation and humanitarian projects, as well as some digital preservation for the Museum’s artifacts.

  She is currently working on her general education and enjoys the learning opportunities that working at the museum provides.  

Lucy’s greatest accomplishments are hiking to Everest Basecamp, going to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and being IWRC Certified.

Nancy grew up in northern Utah.  She got her BFA from Utah State University and studied at Pratt Institute in New York City.  After living on both coasts, she has returned to Utah to curate her grandparents’ doll museum collection and care-take their Victorian home.

Nancy has worked in a broad spectrum of museum environments, from curating contemporary art to organizing large public events for a children’s museum.  Her curiosity and penchant for discovery have brought her to Hutchings Museum Institute where she coordinates events and programs.

Kandus Linde is a natural adventure seeker. She has a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Utah State University and has worked as a field archaeologist for cultural and environmental resource management firms over the past 20 years. With extensive archaeological field and laboratory experience in the American Southwest and Pacific Islands, her skill set includes archaeological survey, monitoring, excavation, data recovery, and artifact analyses. Some interests include culture and mobility, social structure, patterns of subsistence, and burial practices. She is versed in lithic, ceramic, and osteological identification and analysis, compliance and preservation law, as well as working with local tribal members and cultural monitors. She is proficient in photography, technical writing, and editing, including the co-authored publication of Atlas of Human Cranial Macromorphoscopic Traits 1st Edition. Most recently her endeavors have been concentrated on historical research of the Uinta Basin, museum curation, buying and selling antiques, and being a full time caretaker of Skinwalker Ranch.

Information coming

Toph Cottle works with days for girls in Madagascar. He is finishing a Masters’s in Development Economics from the University of London SOAS. He is the proud board member of three non-profits working around the world to close opportunity gaps. He completed his undergraduate at Utah State University and worked in Italy, Kiribati, Madagascar, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. In his free time, Toph loves to read, fish, and has a small obsession with checking his Twitter account.