Office: WRNH 2124 | Phone: (308) 865-8627 | Email: unruhsa@unk.edu
Dr. Unruh completed his undergraduate degree at the School of the Ozarks at Pointe Lookout, Missouri. He completed his graduate studies, to include his Masters and Doctoral degrees, at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Dr. Unruh has worked as an athletic trainer at the high school and collegiate levels. He was a member of the athletic training staff at the University of Arkansas from 1990 – 1995. Upon completion of his doctoral degree, he began his work in higher education at Barry University in the fall of 1995. After serving in the athletic training education program at Barry, Dr. Unruh spent one year as a clinical professor and assistant athletic trainer at the University of Tulsa. In 1999 he began his work at the University of Nebraska Kearney as the Athletic Training Education Program Director. He is a tenured full Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Sport Sciences.
He began his work in quality assurance while working in accreditation of academic programs in athletic training. His accomplishments include initial and continuing accreditation of the athletic training education program, submission/review of the bachelor’s and master’s degrees by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents and the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Post-secondary Education. The MAT in AT was the first graduate program approved for the UNK campus since joining the University of Nebraska system. He has attended multiple conferences on academic program accreditation & assessment to include the IUPUI Assessment Conference, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) annual conference, the Emory University Conference of assessment in student affairs, the National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE) conference, the Commission for Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) annual conference. He has served as an accreditation site reviewer, on the Site Visit Review Committee & the Site Visit Report Committee for the Commission on Athletic Training Education (CAATE). He has served as the Assessment Coordinator for the Department of Kinesiology and Sport Science at UNK & as Assistant Dean for the College of Education. He oversaw the most recent Nebraska Department of Education and CAEP review of the educator preparation program at UNK and assisted in the writing and management of the most recent HLC review for the UNK campus.
His research areas include athlete satisfaction of care, emergency action planning and medical delivery at high schools & therapeutic outcomes measures. He has enjoyed collaborating with a variety of professionals in and around the athletic training profession to include his wife, Nita. He is a devoted family man and enjoys spending time with his two sons, Justin and John.
