National voice reshaping how higher ed understands burnout and wellbeing
Dr. Rebecca Pope‑Ruark is a nationally recognized expert on faculty burnout, compassionate leadership, and sustainable academic cultures in higher education and the author of Frayed: Leadership Burnout Among Women in Higher Ed and Unraveling Faculty Burnout: Pathways to Reckoning and Renewal. A PhD in Rhetoric and Professional Communication, she is the Director of the Office of Faculty Professional Development at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a former tenured professor with 17 years of classroom experience. With two decades in the academy, she brings deep insight into the pressures, possibilities, and lived realities of faculty and academic leaders.
A sought‑after keynote speaker and facilitator, Pope-Ruark has partnered with colleges, universities, and higher education organizations around the country to address burnout, strengthen faculty vitality, and cultivate cultures of clarity, care, and alignment. Her Frayed Campus Experiences—high‑impact keynotes, workshops, and leadership sessions—help institutions move beyond crisis response toward sustainable, human‑centered academic environments. Campuses where she’s spoken include Brown University, Northwestern University, University of Tennessee, Vassar College, University of Minnesota, Rutgers, Texas Tech, and Smith College.
Pope-Ruark’s work is rooted in her own experience with significant burnout during her faculty career. That reckoning reshaped her life, her leadership, and her commitment to helping others navigate the invisible weight of academic work. Her book Unraveling Faculty Burnout (Johns Hopkins, 2022) grew directly out of her journey and has become a touchstone for faculty and leaders seeking language, validation, and a path forward.
Pope-Ruark’s newest book, Frayed (Johns Hopkins, 2026), is reshaping the national conversation about leadership burnout in higher education. Drawing on in‑depth interviews and the lived experiences of women leaders across the academy, Frayed exposes the structural, cultural, and gendered forces that make leadership both essential and unsustainable. It offers a powerful framework for understanding why burnout among women leaders is not an individual failing but a systemic issue—and what institutions must do to create cultures where leadership is shared, supported, and sustainable.
Pope-Ruark is also the host of The Agile Academic, a podcast for women in higher education now in its fifth season, and a certified coach supporting faculty and leaders navigating burnout, career transitions, and the day‑to‑day challenges of academic life. Her work blends research, storytelling, and compassionate facilitation to spark honest conversation and meaningful culture change across campuses.
Rebecca Pope-Ruark is also the author of Agile Faculty: Practical Strategies for Managing Research, Service, and Teaching (University of Chicago Press, 2017), and the editor of two Johns Hopkins University Press collections—Redesigning Liberal Education (2020) and Of Many Minds (2025)—which explore the evolving landscape of academic work and the university as workplace.
Praise for Rebecca Pope-Ruark’s Presentations
“Working with Rebecca Pope-Ruark was a transformative experience for our community. Her workshops gave us a shared language for understanding burnout along with practical tools—such as a Guide to Burnout Resilience—that we continue to use and reference across our programming. I especially appreciated the time she built in for participants to consider how to implement these tools for lasting change. She has been an excellent thought partner in suggesting additional ways to extend this work with our faculty. Overall, her work has helped us tremendously as we build a culture that more intentionally recognizes burnout and that seeks to address it.”
—Diedra Wrighting and Sam Stokoe, ADVANCE Office of
Faculty Development at Northeastern University
“Dr. Pope-Ruark was absolutely lovely to work with! Her workshops were very timely in a year when scientific funding was uncertain, and burnout was high as our community had to work extra hard to ensure job security. Her strategies to mitigate the impacts of burnout were tangible, and her workshops provided therapeutic conversations between community members as we discussed our own experiences with burnout and how we might use her strategies to not just survive but thrive. Attendees had positive feedback and appreciated their takeaways and the overall experience.”
—Christine Gabrielse, Research Scientist, CEDAR-GEM
Geospace Environment Modeling Steering Committee Chair
“UNC Charlotte welcomed Dr. Rebecca Pope-Ruark to our campus for two workshops – one for administrators and a session for faculty. Participants in both sessions demonstrated sustained engagement with the material and left with actionable, evidence-informed strategies to support the recognition and mitigation of burnout in both themselves and their colleagues. Rebecca’s real world personal and leadership experiences clearly contributed to the high level of engagement. Feedback from participants in each session was overwhelmingly positive.”
—Andrea Dulin and Tehia Glass, UNC Charlotte Center for
ADVANCing Faculty Success
“At a time when burnout was rampant for female academics, our committee partnered with Dr. Pope-Ruark at our annual meeting. As we planned out the session leading up to it, she was the ultimate professional providing insight to identification and solutions, and she targeted the session to the unique needs of our group. During the session, Dr. Pope-Ruark facilitated and delivered multiple active strategies for our members to take home and continue to use as they worked to balance their lives and become resilient in the face of burnout.”
—Sarah Greising, Past Orthopaedic Research Society Women’s Leadership Forum Chair, Associate Professor, University of Minnesota
“Rebecca Pope Ruark’s session was both impactful and timely, offering our faculty meaningful insights into leadership, culture, and the growing realities of burnout in higher education. Her ability to translate research into practical, relatable strategies created space for reflection while also equipping participants with tools to lead with greater awareness and intention. Faculty left feeling both affirmed and empowered, with a clearer sense of how to foster healthier, more sustainable academic environments.”
—Allison Curington, Director of Faculty Development
University of Alabama“A deeply resonant session that captured the realities of faculty burnout with honesty and empathy. Dr. Pope-Ruark didn’t just name the problem—she offered meaningful pathways back to vitality that feel both achievable and hopeful. It was exactly the kind of conversation higher education needs right now.”
—Amber Dailey-Hebert, Director,
Transformative Teaching & Learning Center Park University
