Staff Directory

Jeff Ruser, Ph.D., CMPC

Title:
Director of Mental Health & Performance Services
Email:

Jeff Ruser, Ph.D., CMPC, serves as the Director of Mental Health & Performance Services for Kansas Team Health. In his role, Ruser oversees the delivery and development of mental health and performance services for Kansas student-athletes, including clinical care, mental performance services, team programming, coach consultation, psychological assessment, and collaboration with Kansas Team Health and Athletics staff.

Ruser came to Kansas from the University of Notre Dame, where he served as a counseling and sport psychologist embedded within Notre Dame Athletics. At Notre Dame, he provided mental health and performance psychology services to NCAA Division I student-athletes and teams and contributed to interdisciplinary student-athlete care through psychological assessment, sports science research, and data-driven approaches to athlete development. Prior to Notre Dame, Ruser held clinical and sport psychology roles at Indiana University and Texas A&M University, where he completed advanced training and provided direct services within collegiate athletics.

In addition to his applied work, Ruser has been active in research and professional service within collegiate sport and sport psychology. His NCAA-funded research has focused on student-athlete mental health and well-being, social media and athlete experiences, coach-athlete relationships, and psychological factors related to performance. He has authored peer-reviewed publications and presented his work at national conferences. Ruser has also held leadership and service roles within collegiate sports, including serving as Chair of the Atlantic Coast Conference Mental Health Subcommittee.

Ruser earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, with a minor in Sport and Performance Psychology, from Indiana University. He earned his master’s degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis in Sport Psychology from California State University, Fresno, and his bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is a licensed psychologist and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant® (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology.