Why Do I Care? Underrepresented Public Administration Faculty and Their Experiences of Emotional Burden and Burnout

Abstract

Faculty in higher education face growing challenges to their well-being, with underrepresented Public Administration (PA) faculty experiencing heightened risks of emotional burden and burnout. While burnout has been widely studied, the identity-related stressors shaping the lived experiences of underrepresented faculty, including hypervisibility, tokenization, cultural taxation, and structural challenges, remain underexplored. This study addresses that gap by centering the voices of underrepresented PA faculty and situating their lived experiences. Using an interpretative phenomenological approach, we conducted in-depth interviews with eighteen underrepresented PA faculty across thirteen universities, representing diverse identities, ranks, and career stages. Participants described six interrelated themes: motivations for teaching, emotional burden and burnout, professional challenges, identity and belonging, structural barriers, coping strategies, and resilience. Findings revealed that while faculty are deeply motivated by commitments to students and equity, these commitments also amplify emotional burden and burnout, often leading to questioning the value of remaining in academia. At the same time, faculty employ strategies of resilience through boundary-setting, self-care, peer support, and purpose-driven work.

Keywords

faculty burnout underrepresented faculty faculty emotional burden public administration education phenomenology

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