News Archives - 2004

Lue Her, one of Minnesota's leading advocates for education and development opportunities for minority communities, has been named executive director of the new Augsburg Academy for Health Careers in St. Paul. The charter school, established to help students from diverse backgrounds explore and prepare for careers in health care and health-related programs, opens in September.

Augsburg Academy is one of five charter Star Schools with support from the University of Minnesota Center for School Change and a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the University of Minnesota School for Change.

In his new position, Her will oversee all start-up activities for the school, including recruitment of faculty, students and staff. He also will work to engage leaders from diverse communities to help with both student recruitment and membership on the new school's governing board.

The Augsburg Academy for Health Careers, located at 1326 Energy Drive, across from Bandana Square, is being co-sponsored by Augsburg College and Fairview Health Services, in collaboration with a unique partnership known as Faith in the City (FITC). FITC is a collaboration of seven Lutheran institutions in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area committed to improving the quality of life of the communities in which they serve. Other members of the collaborative are Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, Luther Seminary, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Central Lutheran Church (Minneapolis), and Augsburg Fortress Publishers.

" We are very excited about Lue's appointment to this very important position," said Jeri Nelson, executive director of FITC and chairperson of the Interim Board of Directors for the Augsburg Academy. "He brings a wide range of experiences and a strong background in education to this role. His dedication to young people and to excellence in education will be key to the school's success."

Her said that he, too, welcomes the opportunity and brings "a passion for public affairs and organizing communities to empower themselves." He noted that he looks at the Augsburg Academy "as an important way to bring a diverse collaboration of sponsors, students, parents, and communities together to prepare young individuals for careers in the health field." The new school will open with students in the 9th and 10th grades only, and then be expanded to a full four-year school by 2006.

Prior to assuming his current duties, Lue has worded in a variety of educational and economic development roles, most recently with Ready-4K, a public policy advocacy organization focused on addressing systematic changes to preparing young children for kindergarten.

Her is a graduate of the University of Minnesota at Morris, where he received several major education awards and honors and earned his secondary teaching license for the State of Minnesota. He also graduated from the prestigious San Francisco-based Coro Fellowship Program in Public Affairs. He was also selected to participate in the inaugural class of the IDEAL fellowship program with the Great Valley Center of Modesto, Calif., while working on community economic development projects in the Central Valley region and implementing initiatives for immigrant populations.

Her is married to Kita Vang, and is a teacher at Humboldt Senior High School in St. Paul.