Formerly she was on the faculty in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at Northwestern University, with an adjunct appointment in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her primary research areas are modeling and compensating for the effects of sensorineural hearing loss and other communication disorders. She is the author of numerous journal and conference publications, an undergraduate textbook, and holds a patent. She has served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on over $20 million dollars in grant funding in support of research and graduate education, mostly from federal agencies and private foundations. Rutledge received a B.S.E.E. from Rensselaer in 1983, and an M.S.E.E. in 1984 and a Ph.D. in 1990 both in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech. She was inducted into the inaugural class of the Georgia Tech Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni. Rutledge has been actively involved in many organizations, including serving an ABET engineering program evaluator for the IEEE and the Biomedical Engineering Society. Rutledge serves on the Council of Graduate Schools Board of Directors, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Minority Ph.D. Program Advisory Committee, and is chair of the GRE Board. She is Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Barrie School, (an independent school serving grades PK-12). Rutledge served on the board of trustees of the Rensselaer Alumni Association, and is a past president of the Rensselaer Club of Chicago. She received the 1991 Rensselaer Alumni Association's Director Award, the 1992 Alumni Key Award, and the 1998 Albert Fox Demers Medal.