Damon Burton, Ph.D.

Damon Burton, Ph.D., is a professor of sport and exercise psychology and interim department chair of Movement Sciences. He has bachelor of science degrees in physical education and journalism from Kansas State University, a master’s in sport psychology from the University of Wisconsin, and a doctorate in sport psychology from the University of Illinois. Dr. Burton’s research focuses on motivation/goal setting, anxiety/stress, leadership, intervention evaluation, instrument development and competitive engineering/coaching education. He has co-authored 2 books, “Competitive Anxiety in Sport,” with Rainer Martens and Robin Vealey, and “Sport Psychology for Coaches,” with Tom Raedeke. He has published 40+ refereed journal articles and book chapters, and 15 other nonrefereed articles, manuals and reports. Burton has presented over 130 professional lectures, symposia and colloquia, including multiple international keynotes. He has also conducted over 140 workshops and practitioner presentations. Burton teaches undergraduate courses in sport psychology, peak performance, team building and behavior change and graduate courses in sport psychology, motivation, leadership, team building and survey research. Burton has also chaired 17 dissertations and over 30 master’s theses, plus advising 30+ non-thesis majors. He provides extensive service and outreach to professional organizations (e.g., Past President, Fellow, Certified Consultant and Certification Chair for the Association of Applied Sport Psychology), coaching education organizations (e.g., ASEP), community organizations (e.g., Moscow Parks and Recreation Commission) in addition to service to the U of I. A former high school football and basketball coach, Burton has consulted extensively with athletes, coaches, and teams at the high school, collegiate, Olympic and professional levels.