Burke earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Middlebury College and a doctorate in botany from the University of Wyoming.
She soon decided to switch her major to biology after realizing that she could spend her life working outside and conducting scientific investigations as a profession.
Burke's career as an environmental scientist and educator began in the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University, where she was hired as a Postdoctoral Fellow in 1987.
[3] In 2008, she joined the faculty at the University of Wyoming, where she served as director and then dean of the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources.
[4] She has published over 170 peer reviewed articles, chapter, books, and reports, including the investigation of a significant project titled, "A Regional Assessment of Land Use Effects on Ecosystem Structure and Function in the Central Grasslands" from 1996-1999.