Reclaiming Vocations: Finding Purpose Amidst Loss

This post opens by reflecting on a mock funeral at Montclair State University that protested cuts to humanities and social sciences, highlighting deep grief in higher education. This shared sense of loss prompts a need for vocational recommitment. The podcast episode featuring Victor Strecher illustrates how purpose can guide healing, emphasizing the importance of meaningful work amidst adversity.

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A photo from a recent news article in The Guardian stopped me in my tracks. It featured a black tombstone memorializing 15 departments within the humanities and social sciences facing cuts at Montclair State University, where students organized a mock funeral in protest of this proposal. At the top of the tombstone, a large RIP dramatically introduced the list of the departments, starting with anthropology and ending with English.

This story is an all too common one across higher education right now, leaving students, faculty, and staff in a state of grief over profound vocational dislocations as their callings are being devalued by college administrators and policymakers. This student-organized funeral resonated with me upon my return from a recent retreat for educators, who gathered to reclaim our vocational visions and voices. One undercurrent in our conversations was a deep sadness for all that has been lost in higher education in recent years: departments slashed, dedicated colleagues terminated, harmful narratives about our work increasing.

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Called to Leisure

A student’s disbelief over a statistic regarding sleep deprivation reflects a broader concern about time poverty among students, which hinders their ability to engage in “productive leisure.” This engagement is crucial for personal growth and vocational exploration, urging educators to emphasize meaningful co-curricular activities and critique the cultural obsession with busy-ness.

A student sat down in my office for what I thought was going to be a quick check-in on a paper idea, but her face darkened as her eyes passed over my monitor. “What?” she exclaimed, “Who are those other 42%? Who? I don’t know them!” I’d been skimming a news article reporting that 58% of Americans reported not getting enough sleep. She could not believe that the number was so low, for she and her classmates were so squeezed by school, employment, and, in many cases, athletics that she could scarcely imagine a world where anyone had enough time to get it all done, never mind sleeping enough. I couldn’t blame her. I’d had the same basic reaction to that headline.

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Self-Positioning as Vocational Exploration in Community-Engaged Learning

This post discusses how community-engaged learning (CEL) transforms students’ vocational exploration by emphasizing self-positioning and relational practices. It highlights the importance of understanding one’s identity and context, which fosters authentic connections and transforms perceptions. Through reflective exercises and community interaction, students gain insights into their roles and aspirations, leading to meaningful career paths.

A series on the role that community-engaged learning can play in vocational exploration and discernment.

Our students come to us and into our educational spaces—our classrooms, laboratories, studios, and offices—with different experiences, identities, interests, and talents. Recognizing this dynamic is central to our ability to harness the power of community-engaged learning (CEL) for vocational exploration. CEL is a pedagogical strategy that pairs meaningful and mutually beneficial work in communities with reflection. In our first post, we asserted that CEL helps students explore vocational paths by exposing them to new voices; it enables them to explore their interests and talents within this context and offers them a pedagogy of hope. 

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In this post, we explore vocational practices that elevate student learning within CEL and prepare students to build positive relationships with community partners and fellow learners. We focus on moments in which vocational exploration can strengthen CEL by equipping students to understand their own identities, assumptions, and knowledge about a community. When we integrate opportunities for individual self-positioning, good neighbor practices, and contextual preparation into our CEL courses, students are better equipped to explore their callings in community with others.

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Building Connections in the Classroom: The Role of Friendship in Vocation

Entering a classroom can be daunting for both new professors and students. Many students may feel isolated, lacking connections with peers. Fostering friendships through group projects and ungraded exercises can enhance belonging and satisfaction. Creating an inclusive environment benefits students academically, emotionally, and vocationally, enhancing their overall college experience.

Walking into a classroom on the first day of a semester can be intimidating, especially for new professors. A room full of strangers looks at you, expecting so much, including a masterful demonstration of your disciplinary expertise. If I as a faculty member can can admit that this experience has been daunting, especially in the early years of my teaching career, imagine what a room full of strangers feels like for some students.

For years, I assumed (wrongly) that the students in my classes knew each other. Certainly, I thought, they had certainly spent time together at orientation, sporting events, and the student union. That perspective ended quickly one afternoon when a student shared something that surprised me.

“I don’t know anybody in this class.”

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Grit and Purpose: Angela Duckworth

In a recent episode of NetVUE’s podcast Callings, Angela Duckworth discusses her book “Grit” and the significance of passion and perseverance. The conversation touches on mentoring, the importance of connection in education, and the relationship between human flourishing and serving others. Duckworth emphasizes goal setting and intentionality in pursuing one’s vocation.

Angela Duckworth

NetVUE’s podcast Callings recently released an episode featuring an interview with Angela Duckworth, the author of the well-known book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, a number one New York Times bestseller. Her TED talk on this topic is one of the most watched of all time. A 2013 MacArthur Fellow, Angela is the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor in the department of psychology and faculty co-director of the Behavior Change for Good initiative in the Wharton School, both at the University of Pennsylvania. Angela’s wide experience includes having advised the World Bank, NBA and NFL teams, Fortune 500 CEOs, as well as working as a math and science teacher in the public school system. She founded a summer school for underserved children and co-founded the Character Lab, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing scientific insights that help children thrive. Angela holds degrees from Harvard, Oxford, and the University of Pennsylvania.

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Reflecting before I Assign Reflection: On Vocational Exploration in Business Education

The author reflects on the integration of vocational exploration within business education, highlighting the mismatch between students’ career readiness and the search for purpose. Despite feelings of imposter syndrome, she is driven to empower students to connect professional success with personal values, advocating for a holistic understanding of vocation in business contexts.

I’ve got a confession: When I applied for a NetVUE grant to embed vocational exploration in my organizational communication program, I did it partly because I knew I had what we in business call a “unique selling point.” Ever since being introduced to NetVUE, I’ve been reading its blog posts and listening to its podcast episodes, so I knew that my application would be considered alongside proposals for further integrating calling into English, philosophy, and theology programs. I was confident that NetVUE would be interested in bringing the language of calling into classrooms where it’s rarely, if ever, heard.

But that strategic thinking was not my only motivation. My study of organizational communication majors shows that students struggle with career transitions because they can’t connect professional preparation with individual purpose. My research on mid-career women reveals how a clash of personal and professional values lead to career disruptions—research with such a wide scope that it’s the foundation of my forthcoming book.

I know that underemphasizing vocation has serious consequences across the lifespan of work. But here’s what I didn’t know when I submitted my proposal: a serious case of imposter syndrome would follow. 

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A NetVUE Conversation on Vocation and Character

On February 18, NetVUE hosted a webinar discussing the connections between vocation and character, featuring scholars Paul Wadell and Hannah Schell. They explored how to inspire students towards meaningful lives rooted in values amid a success-driven culture. The session also included audience questions and additional resources for educators.

On February 18, NetVUE hosted its most recent webinar, focusing on the deep connection between vocation and character. Speakers explored the power this connection has to shape who we become and live lives of meaning and purpose, guided by values and virtues—a challenging enterprise in a world that often rewards winning and success at any cost. The webinar featured Paul Wadell and Hannah Schell, two prominent scholars on virtue who both contributed essays to At This Time and In This Place: Vocation and Higher Education, the inaugural volume from the NetVUE Scholarly Resources Project. In their presentations, they highlighted the urgency of this conversation at this moment in time and its potential for cultivating hope. Sharing how they became interested in the intersection of vocation and character, they also addressed the relational nature of these concepts and encouraged viewers to understand our callings within larger communal contexts.

Paul Wadell (left) and Hannah Schell (right).
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You Can’t Hack Your Higher Purpose: Restoring Faith in Vocation in the Age of AI

an artificial intelligence illustration on the wall

Increasingly, college students are outsourcing their schoolwork to artificial intelligence. This development is troubling for college educators everywhere, but especially for those of us working at church-related liberal arts institutions. Many of us believe that higher order thinking is not merely a marker of our humanity but the mark of our Maker. We hold that reasoning, like loving, is something God made us to do. We reason to learn the truths of Creation and to see ourselves as beings created in the divine image. When we ponder mysteries and solve problems, we act in accordance with our higher purpose. Conversely, when we too readily substitute artificial intelligence for our own, we compromise our callings. Generative AI can aggregate information, but it can tell us nothing about our souls. As philosopher Lily Abadal points out, only you can search your heart. Indeed, as the Catholic Church’s recent doctrinal note reiterates, what distinguishes human intelligence from AI is “the person’s openness to the ultimate questions of life.”

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NetVUE at AAC&U: Advancing Public Purpose through Vocational Exploration

In January, a panel from NetVUE presented at the AAC&U Annual Meeting, focusing on higher education’s public purposes and vocational discernment. Panelists discussed integrating civic engagement, arts accessibility, and career development into education, emphasizing the need for collaboration and purpose in student experiences. The session highlighted both challenges and strategies for fostering student flourishing.

This January, I led a team of five colleagues affiliated with NetVUE who presented at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Annual Meeting: Answering the Call for Constructive Engagement. One of the meeting’s tracks was “Advancing Public Purpose,” providing attendees the chance to explore many related questions: how we define the public purposes of higher education, how we think about telling and retelling our stories, and how a sense of purpose informs our leadership. There were also opportunities to learn more about anchoring purpose in various undergraduate experiences, including liberal arts pathways, civic engagement, research, project-based learning, and career and professional opportunities. Our NetVUE panelists shared concrete strategies for incorporating vocational exploration into undergraduate education by attending to career development and preparation, civic learning, community engagement, student well-being, and purposeful pathways.

Presenters included (left to right): Sheila Bauer-Gatsos, Michelle Hayford, Kamara Jackson, Terese Lund, Richard Sévère, and Darby Ray.
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Fostering Belonging through Community-Driven Theatre

The article explores the importance of theatre in fostering community, belonging, and vocational exploration. It advocates for theatre programs to focus on community needs through productions and projects that engage local issues. This approach not only enhances belonging among students but underscores theatre’s role as a vital community resource.

A series on the role of theatre in vocation, with a focus on how it supports community-building, the uncommon good, and vocational exploration and discernment for all our students.

Lights up on STUDENT after campus workshop using theatre to address a community need.

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STUDENT

I didn’t know I could do this with theatre.

Enter AUDIENCE MEMBER who just saw a production created from the workshop.

AUDIENCE MEMBER

I don’t see a lot of theatre, but the topic brought me here. . . I learned stuff I had no idea about and I’m now asking what can I do.

Lights fade.

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