National Expert on Faculty Burnout, Compassionate Leadership, and Culture Change in Higher Education
Rebecca Pope‑Ruark, PhD, is a nationally recognized speaker, author, and leadership development facilitator who helps higher education institutions address faculty burnout, strengthen leadership culture, and build sustainable academic environments. Her work blends research, storytelling, lived experience, and Appreciative Inquiry to shed light on the systemic pressures shaping academic life and the compassionate leadership practices that can transform it.
“Our committee partnered with Dr. Pope-Ruark at our annual meeting. As we planned, she was the ultimate professional providing insight to identification and solutions, and she targeted the session to the unique needs of our group.”
Sarah Greising
Past Orthopaedic Research Society, Women’s Leadership Forum Chair
Associate Professor, University of Minnesota
Why Do This Work?
After nearly 20 years teaching undergraduates, Rebecca experienced a level of burnout she didn’t yet have language for. This experience caused a seismic shift in her understanding of what it meant to thrive and succeed in higher ed. Ans as she began listening to the stories of other women in higher ed, she realized her experience was not isolated; it was systemic. The emotional labor, the invisible service, the care-giving, the pressure to be endlessly available and perfect. These patterns were everywhere.
That realization became the foundation of her research and her mission: to help faculty and leaders understand burnout not as an individual failure, but as a cultural and leadership issue that requires clarity, compassion, and systemic change.
After years of researching burnout and compassionate leadership, Rebecca has found that sustainable change requires a strengths‑based, collaborative approach, and she draws on Appreciative Inquiry to offer leaders a practical way to build cultures of clarity, compassion, and vitality.
Books & Research
Rebecca is the author of three influential books:
- Frayed: Leadership Burnout Among Women in Higher Education (Johns Hopkins, September 2026)
- Unraveling Faculty Burnout: Pathways to Reckoning and Renewal (Johns Hopkins, 2022)
- Agile Faculty: Practical Strategies for Managing Research, Service, and Teaching (University of Chicago Press, 2017)
Her work explores the lived experiences of burnout, the gendered dynamics of invisible and emotional labor, and the leadership practices that support faculty vitality and well-being. These works shape her keynotes, workshops, and consulting engagements across the country.
She is also the co-editor of two collections:
- Of Many Minds: Neurodiversity and Mental Health Among University Faculty and Staff, with Lee Skallerup Bessette (Johns Hopkins, 2025)
- Redesigning Liberal Education: Innovative Design for a Twenty-First-Century Undergraduate Education, with William Moner and Phillip Motley (Johns Hopkins, 2020)
National Speaking & Leadership Development
Rebecca has spoken at colleges, universities, and higher‑education organizations around the country. Her keynotes and workshops help faculty, chairs, deans, and leadership teams
- Understand the systemic roots of burnout
- Recognize and address invisible labor
- Develop compassionate leadership practices
- Build cultures where faculty and leaders can thrive.
She is also the host of The Agile Academic podcast, now in its fifth season, where she amplifies the voices and experiences of women in higher ed.
Rebecca’s Approach
Rebecca’s work is grounded in
- Research and lived experience
- Deep listening and storytelling
- Compassionate, human‑centered leadership
- Appreciative Inquiry
- Practical strategies leaders can use immediately
- A commitment to sustainable, systemic change.
She partners with campuses to create environments where people do more than persist — they thrive.
If your campus is ready to address burnout, strengthen leadership culture, or support women faculty and leaders, Rebecca would love to partner with you.