Paperback / softback
September 20, 2022
9781421445120
English
256
68602
3
9.00 Inches (US)
6.00 Inches (US)
0.67 Inches (US)
.8 Pounds (US)
$25.95 USD, £21.50 GBP
v2.1 Reference
Electronic book text
September 20, 2022
9781421445137
9781421445120
English
256
68602
3
9.00 Inches (US)
6.00 Inches (US)
$25.95 USD, £21.50 GBP
v2.1 Reference

Unraveling Faculty Burnout

Pathways to Reckoning and Renewal

A timely book about assessing, coping with, and mitigating burnout in higher education.

Faculty often talk about how busy, overwhelmed, and stressed they are. These qualities are seen as badges of honor in a capitalist culture that values productivity above all else. But for many women in higher education, exhaustion and stress go far deeper than end-of-the-semester malaise. 

Burnout, a mental health syndrome caused by chronic workplace stress, is endemic to higher education in a patriarchal, productivity-obsessed culture. In this unique book for women in higher education, Rebecca Pope-Ruark, PhD, draws from her own burnout experience, as well as collected stories of faculty in various roles and career stages, interviews with coaches and educational developers, and extensive secondary research to address and mitigate burnout. Pope-Ruark lays out four pillars of burnout resilience for faculty members: purpose, compassion, connection, and balance. Each chapter contains relatable stories, reflective opportunities and exercises, and advice from women in higher education.

Blending memoir, key research, and reflection opportunities, Pope-Ruark helps faculty not only address burnout personally but also use the tools in this book to eradicate the systemic conditions that cause it in the first place. As burnout becomes more visible, we can destigmatize it by acknowledging that women are not unraveling; instead, women in higher education are reckoning with the productivity cult embedded in our institutions, recognizing how it shapes their understanding and approach to faculty work, and learning how they can remedy it for themselves, their peers, and women faculty in the future.

Contributors: Lee Skallerup Bessette, Cynthia Ganote, Emily O. Gravett, Hillary Hutchinson, Tiffany D. Johnson, Bridget Lepore, Jennifer Marlow, Sharon Michler, Marie Moeller, Valerie Murrenus Pilmaier, Catherine Ross, Kristi Rudenga, Katherine Segal, Kryss Shane, Jennifer Snodgrass, Lindsay Steiner, Kristi Verbeke

About the Author

Rebecca Pope-Ruark, PhD, is the director of the Office of Faculty Professional Development at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is the author of Agile Faculty: Practical Strategies for Managing Research, Service, and Teaching and the coeditor of Redesigning Liberal Education: Innovative Design for a Twenty-First-Century Undergraduate Education.

Endorsements

"Pope-Ruark introduces burnout as a common experience in academia, offers ways to understand and assess burnout levels, and provides pathways out of burnout. Given the pandemic and the late stage of academic capitalism, this is a timely and significant topic."

- Kate Willink, Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs, University of Denver

"Unraveling Faculty Burnout couldn't have arrived at a more crucial time in higher education. This book is essential reading not only for current and future members of the faculty but also for all of us in the academy who work with them and care deeply about their well-being."

- Mary L. Churchill, coauthor of When Colleges Close: Leading in a Time of Crisis

"In the wake of the 'Great Disengagement,' a book on how to combat burnout in higher education could not be more necessary. Thankfully, Rebecca Pope-Ruark is here with a carefully researched, thoughtfully written, and compassionate guide to regaining our vitality and purpose."

- Sarah Rose Cavanaugh, author of The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion

"Pope-Ruark captures the essence of burnout in higher education, its root causes and solutions. More importantly, she provides a pathway out of the darkness."

- Lee Keyes, author of Delivering Effective College Mental Health Services

"A must-read for those within and adjacent to academia that might convince us to build more humane workplaces. This book gives me hope that this is possible."

- Kelly J. Baker, author of Grace Period: A Memoir in Pieces

"Pope-Ruark upholds the core of academic integrity by inviting besieged academics to ask themselves the humane and anti-capitalist question—'but at what cost?'"

- Sekile Nzinga, author of Lean Semesters: How Higher Education Reproduces Inequity
Johns Hopkins University Press
From 17

9781421445120 : unraveling-faculty-burnout-pope-ruark
Paperback / softback
256 Pages
$25.95 USD
9781421445137 : unraveling-faculty-burnout-pope-ruark
Electronic book text
256 Pages
$25.95 USD

Other Titles by Rebecca Pope-Ruark

Redesigning Liberal Education

edited by William Moner, Phillip Motley, and Rebecca Pope-Ruark - foreword by Michael S. Roth
Jul 2020 - Johns Hopkins University Press
$47.00 USD - Hardback
$47.00 USD - Electronic book text

Other Titles in EDUCATION / Higher

Transylvania

John D. Wright Jr.
Dec 2025 - University Press of Kentucky
$30.00 USD - Paperback / softback
$12.95 USD - Electronic book text

Lessons from the Foothills

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Sep 2024 - University Press of Kentucky
$60.00 USD - Hardback
$30.00 USD - Electronic book text
$30.00 USD - Paperback / softback

The Search

Thomas Ehrlich
Jul 2024 - Indiana University Press
$65.00 USD - Hardback
$32.00 USD - Paperback / softback

Other Titles in Higher & further education, tertiary education

Transylvania

John D. Wright Jr.
Dec 2025 - University Press of Kentucky
$30.00 USD - Paperback / softback
$12.95 USD - Electronic book text

Lessons from the Foothills

Gretchen Dykstra
Sep 2024 - University Press of Kentucky
$60.00 USD - Hardback
$30.00 USD - Electronic book text
$30.00 USD - Paperback / softback

The Search

Thomas Ehrlich
Jul 2024 - Indiana University Press
$65.00 USD - Hardback
$32.00 USD - Paperback / softback