Unraveling Faculty Burnout: Pathways to Reckoning and Renewal

by Rebecca Pope-Ruark

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 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. 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

Genres: Academia, Nonfiction, Teaching, Psychology, Self Help, Academic

256 pages, Paperback

Published September 20, 2022

Reviews

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Higher ed will take as much as you give it" – Rebecca Pope-Ruark

These are hard times for higher education in the US. Legislators and the American public think education is a frill that is not cost-effective or socially useful (there is considerable evidence opposing this conclusion). University budgets have been slashed by unsupportive legislatures. Many universities are consolidating or closing (Higher Ed Dive Team, 2022). Since the start of COVID, faculty have been more isolated and teaching larger classes while also expected to learn and use unfamiliar learning software under more challenging circumstances (e.g., hybrid/hy-flex/multimodal classrooms, see Beatty review). We are often asked to be all things to all people. These stressors have disproportionately affected women, young faculty, and parents (Fidelity Investments/Chronicle of Higher Education, 2021).

These factors mean that significantly more faculty have felt burned out since COVID (69% of respondents felt stressed in 2020, only 32% in 2019). They are reporting more anger and fatigue (respectively 35% and 68% in 2020, and 12% and 32% in 2019). Only 13% felt hopeful in 2020, down from 41% in 2019 (Fidelity Investments/Chronicle of Higher Education, 2021).

As a result, even experts in academic productivity (i.e., Rebecca Pope-Ruark) are reporting feeling burned out. She took a medical leave, then left her more traditional teaching position to work without tenure on faculty development.

Pope-Ruark proposed a four-pronged approach to battling (preventing?) burnout. People who have read the positive psychology literature will not be surprised that her prescription includes purpose, compassion (self-compassion and compassion from others), social support, and work/life balance. These prongs all focus on faculty changes, however, rather administrative or cultural changes. Perhaps she plans another book addressing university culture??? (Would administrators buy and read such a book?) To me, this feels like focusing on addressing PTSD rather than also the sexual violence in our families and culture. Let's do both/and.

Pope-Ruark also focused almost entirely on cis-gendered, heterosexual, white women. She admitted this and apologized on several occasions that she was unable to get a broader sample. (Why couldn't she?)

I am angrier and more stressed than I generally am, but this is not burnout at this point, perhaps because I naturally attend to Pope-Ruark's four prongs. I'm reading Unraveling Faculty Burnout with my faculty development group, who are finding her ideas more novel.

[Corinne Mason · Rating 3 out of 5]

My fundamental issue with this book is that it frames faculty burnout mostly as a result of one’s unrealistic self-expectations. While that is important, there was really nothing here to help with the source of most of the burnout I see, which stems from structural issues like austerity measures, the neoliberalization of higher education, and unsupportive administration. At times, the book is pretty unrealistic about what boundaries one can set in the current climate of higher education.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author’s vulnerability in sharing her story shines, and the identification of systemic causes of burnout is a welcome change. But the solutions suggested are personal rather than institutional, which hurts the message.

[Valorie Zonnefeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had read this earlier in my career. RPR knows about the pressures facing faculty.

[Bsigma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author’s courage to speak out on burnout is commendable. However, the title is misleading. It really should be “Unraveling female faculty burnout”.

The cases mostly relate to women and the book is written for women from a female perspective. As a male reader, I again and again felt left out. While many of the ideas apply to men, the writing makes it clear that it is women that are disproportionately affected. Again, it is automatically assumed that women are the caretakers and who have to shoulder a bigger share of housework and chores. This is not always the case, as busy female faculty often rely on their spouses and it is not rare that the men shoulder as much as their significant others, if not more. In today’s gender neutral environment, this should not be assumed.

What is worse is that, because of the strong focus on women, the book sometimes comes across as saying that women are not as fit for the job as men. Which is the complete opposite of what is intended. But one unfortunately begins to wonder… if women struggle this much in academia and its competitive culture, maybe it is just not for them? While I know that this is not the intention of the author, it is a bit unfortunate. A more balanced account could show that men are just as vulnerable as women and this unintended implication could be avoided.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book for addressing your own compliance in burnout-inducing situations. It’s a bit disappointing in that the author recovers from burnout in part by leaving her faculty role (but not her university), which isn’t a path available to most. There’s also a lot of focus on what we do to ourselves and not much on what to do about particular configurations of jobs or colleagues or expectations that lead to burnout that faculty aren’t complicit in creating for themselves, or are working against but are tilting at windmills in doing so (e.g., advice to only do what’s written in your contract isn’t terribly helpful if you’re at a place where your contract is literally rewritten every year and revised during the year as “needed” by the powers that be—faculty have nearly no control). Reading this book made it clear to me that I’m not yet over my own burnout, though I’m on the way. Some helpful tips in here and a few great quotes, but for me not the “omg this book can totally solve/prevent burnout!” reading experience I was kinda hoping for.

[Liz Norell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pope-Ruark has gifted us the fractured shards of her burned out soul ... a precious gift intended to help us navigate our own choppy waters as higher ed faculty. This book's target audience is women in academia who are constantly fighting the hustle culture of academic capitalism. 🙋🏻‍♀️ I loved this book. It's like the prequel to my own work, or the justification for it. What I'm positive generated a massive vulnerability hangover for the author has the potential to change your life for the better.

[Bonnie Irwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides a helpful combination of personal testimony and scholarly references on burnout, especially as it pertains to female faculty. The author demonstrates that the academic culture itself can lead many to burnout, as we are trained to always be striving for the next accomplishment in a structure that leads us to seek recognition from outside sources rather than developing a strong sense of self-worth.

[Rolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent as both a theoretical and structural critique of current university structures, and as a starting point for considering how we could do academic work differently (both as individual academics and as an academic community).

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

All right. Some good recommendations and exercises to get you thinking and start dealing with your burnout.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was our faculty Book Club choice for winter. There are helpful prompts for examining one's own role in higher ed whether experiencing burnout or not.

[Renee Adelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gets an extra star for the reflection prompts throughout. The author succeeds at her goal for the most part. Not a funny book but thoughtful content.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book on dealing with stress and burnout for those in academia. Lots of helpful suggestions, stories, and ideas.