THE ADVISOR UNDER STRESS—FIRED UP OR BURNED OUT?
Do you feel tired and worn out? Has your enthusiasm for your work diminished? Do you feel professionally stuck, unable to fulfill your professional expectations? Have you developed a cynical attitude toward your workplace and profession? Do you feel that you are spending more time thinking about vacations and retirement and less about helping students? If you have experienced (or are currently experiencing) these or similar symptoms, you may be suffering from “advisor burnout.” The literature is replete with accounts of teacher burnout, manager burnout, military wife burnout, preacher burnout, and so on. With excessive caseloads, lack of status, and poor pay, it is likely that more and more advisors will experience burnout, also. This paper examines possible causes and symptoms of advisor burnout and makes suggestions for its prevention.
Contributor Notes
*GERALD L. MURRAY, Ed.D., is the assistant director of Academic Advising and an associate professor at Ball State University. He received his B.A. in History from Purdue in 1967, an M.A. in Student Personnel Administration in 1968 from Ball State, an M.S. in Industrial Psychology from Purdue in 1977, and his Ed.D. in Administration in Higher Education with cognates in Educational Psychology and Counseling from the University of Virginia in 1981. Dr. Murmy claims that he should have been “burned out” a long time ago, but until recently he didn't know about burnout!
