Month: November 2025

Attention and Contradiction: Willie James Jennings

Willie James Jennings, an esteemed theologian at Yale Divinity School, emphasizes the importance of belonging in education through his insights shared on NetVUE’s podcast. He advocates for educators to engage with students as fellow learners and highlights the need to confront racial injustices within education systems while committing to challenging antisemitism and advocating for Palestinians.

Willie James Jennings

The most recent episode of NetVUE’s podcast Callings features an interview with Willie James Jennings. Willie is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at Yale Divinity School. A highly sought-after speaker, Willie teaches and writes in areas that include theological anthropology, liberation theologies, cultural identities and race theory, and environmental studies. He is the author of numerous articles and several award-winning books. He is also an ordained Baptist minister, and before completing a Master of Divinity from Fuller Seminary and a PhD from Duke University, he received his undergraduate education from Calvin University, a NetVUE member institution. Willie was also the keynote speaker for the NetVUE Unconference in March of 2021.

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Breaking Free from the Iron Cage of Rationality

The discussion emphasizes students’ financial motivations when choosing careers, highlighting the influence of Max Weber’s “iron cage” of rationality. This focus can overshadow values, creativity, and purpose. While some students prioritize money, others seek balance, suggesting a potential shift in career perspectives that educators can encourage for a better societal future.

A series on how the great sociological thinkers from the past can help us understand the struggle of today’s students as they explore and discern their vocations.

black steel pet cage with one dollar
Photo by Reynaldo #brigworkz Brigantty on Pexels.com

Colleagues and I have recently been interviewing students to learn more about how they think about vocation. One question has generated especially striking responses: “If money was not an issue, what would you do the first year after college?” Explicitly asking students to do the unthinkable—to set aside their overwhelming concern about money—opens whole new worlds of possibility. One student I spoke with said that she would want to be a teacher if money was not a concern; she would love to work with young kids, but has eliminated that possibility because she knows that early childhood education does not pay well. Even though students do not always have the most accurate sense of how a major in the liberal arts can be a foundation for financial success, they know that (at least from a financial standpoint) they are at college so that they can get a “good job.” This focus on money is entirely rational; but where do feelings, values, a sense of purpose, and the greater good fit?

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The Case for the Modern Polymath: Why a Broad Education Matters

Students will confront complex challenges like AI, climate change, and inequality. To tackle these “wicked” problems, they need polymathic thinking, which entails integrating knowledge across disciplines. Small liberal arts colleges can cultivate this mindset, fostering adaptability and diverse experiences, crucial for navigating a complicated world and achieving fulfilling careers.

Leonardo Da Vinci, Self-portrait (circa 1517-1518), Turin, Royal Library.

Students today will enter a world of unprecedented challenges that were unfathomable a generation ago. The problems our students will face include artificial intelligence, political divisiveness, climate change, access to healthcare, growing economic inequality, and countless other issues. Addressing these social and political issues will require our students to learn how to solve “wicked” problems that are complicated, incomplete, and interconnected—ones that require complex solutions. Polymathic thinking will be increasingly necessary for our students to navigate this new world successfully.  

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Exploring Vocation Beyond Career: A Guide for Students in the Sciences

The post reflects on mentoring a student who struggled after not being accepted into graduate school, emphasizing the importance of distinguishing vocation from career in the sciences. A four-part vocational discernment assignment encourages students to explore their callings beyond professional paths, fostering self-awareness and engagement with their values and community roles.

A series exploring the teaching of vocation in physics.

young man sitting on table throwing papers
Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels.com

A few years ago, I mentored a student in their senior year who, despite their best efforts, did not get accepted into graduate school. The student was crushed. They had identified the path of graduate studies as their calling. Now, with the gate to that path closed for at least a year, what was their calling? For students in the sciences, their vocation and even their value are often tied up in their career. As a practice, science is all-consuming. It has a way of eating up your time, energy, goals, and personal life. You feel that if you are not “all in,” then you are doing it wrong.

Reflecting on this student’s experience, I realized that I could have done more to help them see how their calling or vocation could play out in multiple aspects of their life, which is why I now have students think and write more fully about this part of their vocation exploration. In this post, I highlight the impact of my four-part vocational discernment assignment for science students, which I described in my previous post. I also discuss a follow-up assignment, which instructors can use to help students think about vocation as something that intersects with multiple aspects of their lives, not just their future career.

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Cultivating Character: Michael Lamb

In the second episode of NetVUE’s podcast Callings, hosts Erin VanLaningham and John Barton interview Michael Lamb, a faculty leader at Wake Forest University. He discusses ethics and the importance of virtues in public life, encouraging listeners to connect passions with community needs and to cultivate virtues in discovering personal callings.

Michael Lamb

In the second episode of this season of NetVUE’s podcast Callings, hosts Erin VanLaningham and John Barton interview Michael Lamb, the senior executive director of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University. An associate professor of interdisciplinary humanities and the F.M. Kirby Foundation Chair of Leadership and Character at Wake Forest, Michael also serves as an associate fellow of the Oxford Character Project at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, a project which helps graduate students in various fields, including government, law, medicine, business, and academia, think about the role of ethics in their professions. Michael’s research and teaching focuses on the ethics of citizenship and the role of virtues in public life, all of which offers many connections to the exploration of vocation.

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Vocation and Life Studies

The final post in this series discusses how creative writing pedagogy can benefit vocational education. It emphasizes the importance of life stories in addressing students’ identity crises and fears about the future. By studying the lives of various figures, students can gain insights into their own unpredictable journeys, learning that success often comes from embracing unexpected paths and overcoming failures.

The final post in a series on what creative writing pedagogy has to offer vocational teaching in any discipline.

Teaching and advising creative writing students can mean dealing with frequent identity crises. “But how do I become a real writer?” my students often ask. “How do I get published?” they want to know, or, “How can I pay my rent while pursuing my art?” Instructors of other disciplines may be able to relate, with students doubting their abilities to become a skilled enough doctor, lawyer, or engineer. “Do I really have what it takes to go to med school?” they might ask, or, “How do I choose between my passions and a job that pays the bills?”

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Scriptural Reasoning for Vocational Reflection

On October 22, a NetVUE webinar led by Nick Adams discussed Scriptural Reasoning, focusing on engaging faculty, staff, and students. Presenters included experts in theology and higher education. The session addressed practical aspects and campus partnerships, concluding with participant questions. In 2026, NetVUE will host a series of Scriptural Reasoning Training Hubs.

On October 22, NetVUE’s scriptural reasoning coordinator, Nick Adams, led a webinar on the tenets of Scriptural Reasoning and ways to implement this program successfully. The discussion with his co-presenters explored various ways to engage faculty, staff, and students in this work, focusing on the technical aspects of the practice, its connection to chaplaincy and community building, important campus partnerships, and ways to engage students. As NetVUE institutions continue to explore how to augment their vocational and other educational efforts through Scriptural Reasoning, NetVUE is pleased to support this work and will host several Scriptural Reasoning Training Hubs in 2026.

Webinar presenters included (left to right) Nick Adams, Ashleigh Elser, Kelly Schaefer, and Khan Shairani.
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