Michael Rank is an associate teaching professor in the Virtual Academic Center. Previously, he served as director of the school's San Diego Academic Center. He has been affiliated with the USC Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans & Military Families since January 2011. From 1995 to 2010, he was a tenured associate professor at the University of South Florida School of Social Work.

Rank is a Vietnam War veteran, having served as an infantryman in the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1970. He spent 10 years as a state parole agent in Pennsylvania; directed family advocacy and Children Have a Potential (CHAP) programs for the U.S. Air Force; was a team leader for a Veterans Administration Vet Center program; and was director of employee assistance programs for Family Service America. He has designed and implemented domestic violence programs for perpetrators and survivors, and has conducted many critical incident stress debriefings following bank robberies, most notably for Bank of America (formerly Nations Bank) and the United States Postal Service. He has consulted for international programs of social work, most notably that at Kuwait University, and currently consults for domestic programs of social work regarding curriculum development and accreditation issues.

His research interests include virtual education, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic stress, bioterrorism, compassion fatigue, military social work, veterans’ issues, motivational interviewing, personality disorders, incarcerated fathers, and academic leadership and reaccreditation. Rank has created a bioterrorism training protocol for mental health preparedness funded by the Department of the Army. 

Rank is cofounder of the International Association of Trauma Professionals. He has presented numerous workshops, trainings and seminars about autonomic arousal, military social work, veterans’ issues, the psychological effects of biological and chemical disasters, critical incident stress debriefing, traumatic stress, PTSD, compassion fatigue, fatherhood, motivational interviewing and academic leadership. His publications include articles about military social work, PTSD, compassion fatigue, bioterrorism, traumatic stress, critical incident stress debriefing, academic leadership and accreditation, fatherhood, and resistance to change.