The post examines the connection between vocation and rhetoric, particularly focusing on the concept of ethos. Reginald Bell, Jr. reflects on his father’s influence on his ethos, contrasting it with modern religious figures promoting materialism. He emphasizes the importance of an ethos rooted in love and encourages educators and students to embody this kind of ethos as a way to foster positive societal change.
This post is the first in a series of four that explores the relationship between vocation and rhetoric, focusing on how ethos, logos, pathos, and mythos offer a fresh perspective for creatives, educators, and scholars to conceptualize their professional and personal callings.
Reginald Bell, Jr.
In February 2020, I found myself in the pulpit in Phoenix, Arizona, ready to deliver the message of a three-night revival. My father—a significant influence in my life and vocation—had flown in with my mother from Birmingham, Alabama, to support me and to introduce me on the revival’s second night. Among the many things he said during his introduction, one statement resonated deeply and has stayed with me ever since. “My son’s biggest problem his entire life,” he said, “is that he always thought he was me, Reginald Bell, Sr.”
This statement reflects more than our father-son dynamic; it also represents how ethos is transmitted, often subconsciously, from one generation to the next. It made me ponder how much my father has shaped my own ethos, and how, as educators, our ethos invariably influences those we teach.
The series explores integrating vocation into a gateway course for English majors. By emphasizing purpose and community, the course helps students articulate their skills while fostering hope, connection, and sense of professional direction. It features a conversation between the course’s professor and one of its students as they discuss the course’s positive impact on vocational discernment.
A series of posts on integrating vocation into a gateway course for the major, featuring conversations between a professor and her student.
In conversations with some friends in higher education these days, there’s a moment where we make eye contact, and—in some form or another—admit this isn’t quite what we signed up for. We see our students’ isolation and mental health crises, fostered by an over-reliance on technology and the aftereffects of the COVID pandemic. We live in a divisive political climate that undermines our deepest shared commitments to civil and informed conversation. We face grave challenges such as slimming—or disappearing—budgets, diminishing numbers of college-bound students, and a perceived lack of confidence in the liberal arts. Let’s face it, the burnout many of us feel is real.
It’s easy to lose hope. But as Paul Wadell reminds us, a vocational perspective embodies hope.
At my small liberal arts college, our intentional focus on vocation through our English curriculum has given us and our students a sense of purpose and hope.
On September 12, 2024 Loras College hosted the launch of NetVUE’s “Big Read,” which this year is the book, “Called Beyond Ourselves: Vocation and the Common Good.” This series showcases interviews with authors who contributed to this volume, and this post features Robert Pampel, author of “The University as the Common (Good) Place.”
A series featuring interviews with NetVUE Scholars whose essays appear in Called Beyond Ourselves: Vocation and the Common Good, the most recent publication of the NetVUE Scholarly Resources Project.
On September 12, over one hundred people gathered at Loras College for this year’s launch of NetVUE’s “Big Read,” which is Called Beyond Ourselves: Vocation and the Common Good, the fourth volume of the NetVUE Scholarly Resources Project. Edited by Erin VanLaningham (who also served as this gathering’s host), this new collection of essays brings together a diverse range of voices to consider vocation in relation to the concerns of the common good and communal flourishing. The event featured presentations by four of the volume’s authors, along with a powerful keynote address by Mary Dana Hinton, a conversation between two college presidents, and presentations by faculty and staff from Loras College, all of which aimed to provide educators with ways to think about the roles of leadership and advocacy as we deepen our understanding of the common good as an essential part of vocational exploration on our campuses.
Robert Pampel
This series of posts showcases interviews with NetVUE Scholars who contributed to this volume and generously agreed to respond to my questions about their experience participating in this project, as well as reflecting on their essays and their relation to vocation and the common good. For our first interview, I’m pleased to feature Robert Pampel, who graciously opened the Loras gathering with reflections on his chapter, “The University as the (Common) Good Place.” Robert is currently the director of student academic affairs and associate dean at Washington University, in St. Louis.
The September 2024 NetVUE Webinar explored the the integration of vocation and athletics in liberal arts education. Three speakers shared strategies for engaging student-athletes in vocational exploration beyond academics, highlighting personal development, athletic identity, and community connections.
As liberal arts institutions continue to work to educate the whole person, connecting vocational inquiry to sports can engage students in exploring vocation in creative ways. NetVUE’s September 2024 Webinar focused on vocational elements of personal development within the context of college athletics, opening up opportunities to explore meaning and purpose in both curricular and co-curricular contexts. NetVUE hosted a webinar on September 19, featuring three speakers who discussed experiences and strategies of how we can take vocation beyond the classroom in our work with student-athletes.
Stephanie Ahlfeldt (left), Angela Morenz (center), and Marcus Wagner (right).
Stephanie Ahlfeldt is an associate provost and professor of communication studies at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. She has taught a variety of courses in communication and theatre. Currently, she is committed to high-impact learning practices, including community engagement, undergraduate research, and student-athlete initiatives. She explored how to connect sports to broader life experiences.
Angie Morenz of Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois, is chair and professor of physical education and sport management. She has served as commissioner of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Her research focuses on NCAA Division III student-athletes, athletic identity, and retirement from college athletics. She shared the student-athlete vocation arc and fostering connections on campus.
Finally, Marcus Wagner of University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, discussed fostering relationship and identity in student-athletes in the context of university mission. As the associate director of intercollegiate athletics for mission, he assists in the department’s “Greatness through Virtue” strategic plan.
