Rate My Professor Amy LaRue

Amy LaRue serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, where she contributes to programs in health promotion, wellness management, and exercise science. Her academic background includes a Doctor of Health Education from A.T. Still University, completed in 2017 with a dissertation titled “An Analysis of PTSD Symptoms and Perceived Quality of Life among Firefighters and Police Officers.” She earned dual Master of Arts degrees from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota in 2010—one in Management and one in Health and Human Services Administration, the latter featuring a thesis on reducing health care costs through obesity prevention—and a Bachelor of Science in Community Health Promotion from the University of Wisconsin-Superior in 2007, complemented by an internship at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation.

LaRue's professional career encompasses extensive experience in public health education and wellness. Since September 2015, she has been Public Health Educator at Carlton County Public Health and Human Services in Cloquet, Minnesota, delivering health and wellness programming, serving as emergency preparedness coordinator, leading substance use coalitions, and managing grants and budgets. She founded and owns Aspire Health and Wellness in Duluth, Minnesota, since 2014, providing personal training, health coaching, and yoga instruction. Prior roles include Guest Lecturer and Education Specialist/Instructional Designer at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy (2012–2015), Workforce Development Health Educator Coach and Health Educator at CIGNA (2009–2012), and Health Promotion Specialist at AdvantageHealth Corporation (2007–2009). Her scholarly contributions include co-authoring “A Community Partnership to Respond to the Heroin and Opioid Abuse Epidemic” in the Journal of Rural Health (2016). LaRue has presented extensively on opioid prevention, motivational interviewing, community engagement, and public health topics at venues such as the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, Minnesota Rural Health Conference, and International Conference on the Health Risks of Youth. She has partnered on grants, including a $7,500 Engaged Department grant and a $4,000 Dissemination & Implementation Award from the University of Minnesota, to fund community forums addressing the opioid crisis. Her service record features leadership on numerous committees, including Carlton County Drug Abuse Task Force, Suicide Prevention Task Force, Community Health Assessment Planning Committee, and Northeast Minnesota Healthcare Preparedness Coalition.