Jodi A. Burns née Pezek

For more than 30 years, Dr. Jodi A. Burns has dedicated her career to supporting college students as an academic advisor, athletic coach, teacher, and through leadership development.

Burns began her professional journey in athletics, launching her coaching career in 1992 as the assistant men’s volleyball coach at Juniata College. Soon after, she returned to her alma mater, Clarion University, as head women’s softball coach and assistant women’s volleyball coach. Within three years, she was promoted to head women’s volleyball coach, mentoring student-athletes and building a competitive program grounded in teamwork and personal growth.

In 1999, Burns shifted her focus toward academic support and student services. She began by teaching freshman seminar courses and advising students on academic probation—an experience that ignited a passion for helping students find direction and resilience. Over the next decade, she served as outreach coordinator for TRIO Educational Talent Search and later as interim director of Clarion’s Academic Advising Center. During this time, she also taught courses in the university’s Sport Management program.

Burns holds a B.S. in Elementary Education from Clarion University, an M.A. in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and an Ed.D. in Sports Management with a specialization in Sports Leadership from the United States Sports Academy.

In 2014, she joined the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, first serving as retention specialist for TRIO Student Support Services. She then moved into the Academic Advising Center, where she taught first-year seminar courses, advised undeclared students, and helped launch the College Life Coaching program. In 2020, she returned to athletics in a new capacity, becoming program director and assistant professor for Pitt Bradford’s Sport and Recreation Management major and Athletic Coaching minor.

After the spring 2024 semester, Burns stepped back from full-time academia to care for her father during illness. She continues to support students as a part-time student success coach with the ACT 101 Flourish – Educational Opportunities Program at Pennsylvania Western University – Clarion.

Burns’s research focuses on the collective well-being of sports teams, a topic she has presented internationally—including at the 2023 International Positive Psychology Association World Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Throughout her career, she has remained active in volleyball coaching, working with youth clubs, interscholastic teams, camps, and clinics. She and her husband, Joe, have five children and six grandchildren. Her work reflects a lifelong dedication to helping students and athletes grow with confidence, purpose, and resilience.