Gretchen Oltman, Vicki Bautista
Publication Date: October 24, 2025
Pages: 128
This self-care action plan is written for today’s leaders in higher education regardless of rank, tenure, or stature.
Being a successful professional takes stamina, and successful individuals can only sustain their momentum for as long as they maintain their well-being. Approached in a thoughtful and personal way, this book identifies self-care challenges faced by professionals in higher education and provides strategies for building a rewarding, long-term career. The authors identify the root cause of issues that impact well-being to achieve professional sustainability. Each chapter provides background information on a topic, engaging activities to explore the topic in greater depth, and reflective questions for self-evaluation, and the final chapter offers guidance to help readers design their own self-care plan. Chapter topics were selected based on the authors’ interactions with professionals, information from the field, and trends in higher education. The topics include communication complexities; role clarity; lack of control; the need for meaningful recognition; lack of confidence in leadership; the need to trust others; building personalized professional growth opportunities; recognizing “job creep”; and the inherent challenges of high-achieving professionals.
Book Features:
Gretchen Oltman is an associate professor of organizational leadership at Creighton University, an attorney, and author. Vicki Bautista is the doctor of education, program director at Clarkson College, and a board-certified health and wellness coach.
“If you are a higher education professional felling stretched thin, this book is your indispensable, energizing guide to wellness. Filled with real, relatable strategies and thoughtful reflection questions to support well-being and professional sustainability, the authors remind us that self-care isn’t selfish—it’s essential. After 2 decades as a professor in higher education and a behavioral health professional, I can say with confidence that this is a vital resource for nurturing both ourselves and our careers.”
—Cynthia Clark, founder of Civility Matters, professor emeritus, Boise State University, School of Nursing
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