The CFD’s “Banishing Burnout: Flourishing as Faculty” series includes opportunities to participate in a book read of Rebecca Pope-Ruark’s 2022 publication, “Unraveling Faculty Burnout: Pathways to Reckoning and Renewal.” Ahead of these November sessions, we offer a short review of the work.
Pope-Ruark’s book opens on a very personal note. She is clutching a pillow in her therapist’s office asking for ADD medication when she is forced to confront the fact that as a faculty member, she is experiencing burnout. “Probably severe,” the therapist concludes (p.3). So begins the first of many personal vignettes in the book that explores the author’s lived experience with burnout. Pope-Ruark ties the health problem to the culture of higher education where she portrays faculty as cogs in a capitalistic machine that exploits their labor and forces them to be both competitive and productive to keep their jobs. As the corporate machine engages in an ever-widening pursuit of profit-driven initiatives, Pope-Ruark argues, it creates a constant demand for more labor (p.31). In the end, she theorizes, the system itself sets faculty up for burnout. Burnout isn’t a personal failing, therefore, but a systemic problem that must be acknowledged and reckoned with. She offers the book to readers as an exploration of the lessons learned from her own recovery process (p.23).
Pope-Ruark defines burnout by citing the World Health Organization’s acknowledgment of the condition as a syndrome resulting from “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions: 1) feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; 2) increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and 3) reduced professional efficacy. Burnout refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life” (pp. 7-8). The first part of the book explores the ramifications of burnout as exhaustion, imposter syndrome, self-imposed isolation, reduced sense of efficacy, sleeplessness, health crises, and emotional breakdown, all conditions the author experienced. Four interventions to mitigate burnout are thereafter discussed: purpose, compassion, connection, and balance. Pope-Ruark calls them the four pillars of burnout resistance and emphasizes active engagement and community building to enhance sense of belonging (p. 138). Reflective questions accompany the chapters to help readers better understand themselves and their wants and needs. Useful appendices offer more strategies for self-exploration as antidotes to burnout including encouragement to make a plan that highlights one’s professional legacy within academia.
The major criticism of the book is that it overlooks reasons male faculty and people of other genders might suffer burnout. This fact is troubling given that the title of the book offers no indication that the content is gender specific. Pope-Ruark argues that women, especially women of color “fulfill the core mission of educating students” more so than men and most often as non-tenure-track faculty and adjuncts (pp. 32-33). Women are also most often saddled with academic service, she observes, which adds to their workload. As such, most of the personal reflections, anecdotal vignettes, and interviews Pope-Ruark shares in the book come from the experiences and perspectives of women faculty. Even so, readers who are not female will find useful and relatable material in the book. They will benefit from studying the text and using the reflective exercises throughout.
We hope you will join the Center for Faculty Development November 12 from 12:30-1:30 or November 18 from 10am-11:30am, or both on ZOOM to discuss this fascinating book. Because we will encourage open discussion, the two sessions could be quite different, but there is likely to be much overlap as well. While not required, we encourage you to register for either or both events at: . The ZOOM link is here: .
A few copies of the book are still available. Contact Annette Finley-Croswhite if you would like a copy: acroswhi@odu.edu.