Larry K. Olsen

Larry K. Olsen, MAT, DrPH, MCHES, is a professor in the College of Graduate Health Studies at A.T. Still University of Health Sciences, Kirksville, Missouri. He currently resides in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He completed a baccalaureate degree in health and physical education and a master of arts in teaching at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. He completed a master of public health (MPH) degree at the University of California, Berkeley, and the DrPH at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1970. His doctorate is in health education with a minor in environmental and occupational medicine. By profession, he is a health educator and has worked in community, school, and university settings. He is a fellow of American School Health Association (ASHA) and is currently on the ASHA Board of Directors. He has served ASHA in numerous capacities including being president in 1990. He is a distinguished service award winner as well as a recipient of the Howe Award. He has been in academics for over 45 years and has been a program coordinator, department chair, associate dean, and interim dean at various colleges and universities. He has authored or coauthored over 30 textbooks and more than 100 publications that have appeared in the professional literature. He has made over 300 presentations at the meetings of local, national, and international organizations. He has been a national officer in numerous national and international professional organizations. He was a member of the steering committee for the CUP to delineate the generic roles of both entry- and advanced-level health educators. He is a fellow in the AAHE, the Research Consortium of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education Recreation and Dance (now SHAPE America), and the SOPHE. His research interests lie in factors that affect health behavior, program evaluation, and environmental health issues. He has directed or served on over 300 masters’ and doctoral dissertation committees. Among his numerous awards are the ASHA William A. Howe Award, a Distinguished Career award from the Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section of the American Public Health Association, and Presidential Citations from ASHA, AAHE, Eta Sigma Gamma, and the National Center for Health Education. He recently received a Professional Service award from the AAHE for outstanding service to the health education profession and to AAHE.