Biography of Charles Burack, Ph.D.

Brief Bio

Dr. Charles Burack is an inspirational teacher and gifted coach of integrative approaches to personal transformation and professional development.  He is also a widely published writer, award-winning scholar, and author of two books.  His innovative approach to teaching, coaching, and training draws on his diverse, 28-year career.  Currently, a liberal arts professor and life/work coach as well as a professional writer/editor, Chuck has also worked as a psychology researcher (University of Chicago Medical Center), a strategic planner and communications consultant (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago), and a professional writer/editor (at numerous institutions).  With a Ph.D. in English from UC Berkeley, and Master's degrees in English and Human Development from Northwestern U. and the U. of Chicago, Burack began his teaching career in 1990.  He is chair of the Department of Liberal Arts and director of the B.A. Psychology Program at John F. Kennedy University, where he teaches interdisciplinary courses in creativity, psychology, writing/literature, work studies, and religion.  He has also taught at UC Berkeley, St. Mary's College, Naropa University, Oakland, and other universities and institutes.  Since 2006, he has volunteered as an interfaith chaplain and grief counselor at Kaiser Permanente Hospital. 

Extended Bio

For over a decade, Dr. Charles Burack has been an inspirational  teacher and gifted coach of integrative approaches to creative empowerment, personal transformation, and professional development.  He is also an innovator in creative approaches to education, leadership, and interfaith relations. In 2007, he because the chair of the Liberal Arts department and director of the B.A. Psychology program at John F. Kennedy University in Pleasant Hill, CA.  He has also taught at UC Berkeley, St. Mary's College, John F. Kennedy University, and California Institute of Integral Studies.  For many years, he was on the faculty of Naropa University, Oakland, where he was a professor, counselor, and writing coach.   In his university courses, Chuck teaches creative power, psychology, creative writing, work visioning, and interdisciplinary studies in literature, psychology, and religion.  In his classes and workshops, he uses a variety of pedagogical techniques to foster learning and growth.  These include: discussion, visualization, creative writing, music, art, experiential exercises, and lecture. He also offers academic advising and career coaching to students.   Outside of the university, he has coached educators, business professionals, lawyers, clergy, programmers, consultants, writers, and artists.

A widely published writer and award-winning scholar, Chuck is the author of two books as well as numerous essays, stories, and poems. He also enjoys painting and photography.  Many of his essays present integral perspectives on contemporary religion, education, literature, and work.  Chuck’s books are Songs to My Beloved (Sacred Arts Press, 2004) and D.H. Lawrence's Language of Sacred Experience (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).  He recently completed a book entitled Guidance and Grace at Work and is currently working on a book entitled Creative Power at Work.   In 2001, Chuck received the New Scholar Award (first recipient) from the D. H. Lawrence society for several articles about Lawrence’s language of sacred experience. 

Chuck is a professional editor and writing coach.   His clients include corporations as well as individuals.   He has offered writing and editorial assistance to business professionals, professors, scientists, novelists, poets, consultants, lawyers, artists, engineers, therapists, and many others.  Chuck is a manuscript reviewer for several international journals and was on Tikkun magazine’s Editorial Board for six years.  Over his 28-year career, he has done professional writing and editing for such organizations as Kaiser Family Foundation, Franklin Bowles Galleries, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the University of Chicago Medical Center, the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Business, and major law firms in New York and San Francisco.  He has also provided editorial support for individuals affiliated with Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Sipex, Wells Fargo, Kaiser Permanente Hospital, and UCSF Medical Center.

Before entering the teaching profession in 1990, Chuck gained considerable experience and expertise in the business world.  During his six years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, he held successive positions as a human resource development specialist, strategic planner, and communications consultant.  In all of these positions he worked with a wide range of employees.  As a communications consultant, Chuck wrote speeches, reports, and briefing memos for the President and First Vice President and supervised the Communications Center, which is responsible for official communications sent to Midwestern banks.  He also served as the communications specialist on various task forces and taught communications workshops.  As a strategic planner, Chuck coordinated the planning process for several departments, taught planning skills, and helped write the Bank’s Management Plan and Strategic Plan.  He also monitored departmental and Bank performance and composed scripts for the President and  Senior Vice President of Planning when they made presentations to the Board of Directors in Chicago and the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C.  As a human resource development specialist, he coordinated the quality improvement program and helped develop a new performance appraisal system.  He also provided employee counseling and training in decision making, quality control, planning, and communications.

As a counselor, Chuck has worked with a wide range of clients from all over the world.  In 1999, he joined the faculty of the newly founded Chaplaincy Institute (Berkeley), and in 2001, he directed one of its interfaith programs.  At the Institute, Chuck has counseled aspiring chaplains and taught courses in counseling, Jewish Studies, and poetry.  He received training as a counselor at the Mercy Center in Burlingame, CA.  His counseling practice is also informed by chaplaincy training and work at Kaiser Permanente Hospital, graduate studies in Human Development at the University of Chicago, and three years of psychological research at the University’s Medical Center.  He also taught social psychology at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

Chuck holds a Ph.D. in English from UC Berkeley and Master’s degrees in English and Human Development from Northwestern University and the University of Chicago, respectively.  He also studied religion at schools in New York and Jerusalem and is a graduate of the 3-year counseling program at the Mercy Center in Burlingame, CA and the volunteer chaplain training program at Kaiser Permanente Hospital, Walnut Creek, CA.  His B.A. in Psychology is from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.