About
Designing institutions where faculty can stay, contribute, and thrive
Your Cooperative Colleague exists to help higher education move away from endurance-based work and toward intentionally designed systems that sustain people, purpose, and possibility.
Across colleges and universities, faculty are asked to teach, write, mentor, and lead through complexity—often inside structures that rely on invisible labor, informal norms, and individual coping strategies. When sustainability is treated as a personal responsibility rather than an institutional one, burnout and attrition become predictable.
My work focuses on redesigning those conditions—so faculty can do meaningful, rigorous work without constant overextension, and institutions can retain talent while supporting stable, innovative learning environments.
The person behind the work
I’m Dr. Brielle Harbin, a political scientist, educator, and institutional design strategist.
My work bridges three interconnected domains:
- faculty experience
- institutional structures
- leadership and civic responsibility
I bring over a decade of experience working inside higher education—teaching, mentoring, facilitating faculty development, and partnering with institutions navigating change, strain, and uncertainty.
I’m especially attentive to how institutional design shapes who is able to stay, contribute, and be recognized—particularly for women of color and others carrying disproportionate, invisible labor.
Why institutional design
Many efforts to address burnout, disengagement, or polarization focus on individual behavior: time management, resilience, or communication skills.
Those approaches fall short.
The challenges facing higher education are design problems—problems of structure, expectation, rhythm, and responsibility. They show up in how teaching is organized, how writing is supported, how decisions are made, and how care is distributed.
My work addresses these challenges at the systems level, helping institutions and faculty redesign:
- teaching and learning environments
- writing and scholarly work practices
- leadership and decision-making structures
so care, rigor, and courage are built into daily practice—not left to individual sacrifice.
What this work looks like in practice
Through Your Cooperative Colleague, I partner with faculty and institutions to design systems that can hold difficulty without harm or shutdown.
This includes:
- faculty writing retreats and cohorts that rebuild sustainable scholarly rhythms
- teaching development rooted in clarity, care, and intellectual courage
- institutional partnerships that translate stated values into durable structures
This work is not about quick fixes or one-off interventions. It is about building capacity that lasts.
Recognition and context
My approach is grounded in both research and practice. I am the recipient of the American Political Science Association’s Distinguished Teaching Award and have collaborated with faculty and leaders across a wide range of institutional contexts, including research universities, teaching-focused institutions, and professional programs.
Across these settings, the throughline remains the same:
when institutions design for sustainability, everyone benefits—faculty, students, and the broader academic community.
A guiding belief
Higher education does not need more individual endurance. It needs better design.
Your Cooperative Colleague exists to support the work of redesigning academic life so people can think, teach, write, and lead with integrity over time.
Ongoing Connection
Notes from a Work Friend
Story-rich reflections on teaching, writing, and leadership in higher education—for those reimagining what sustainable academic work can look like.
Contact
Interested in a conversation or collaboration?