Insights and Conversations from the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE)
Author: Rachel F. Pickett
Rachel Pickett is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of First-Year Experience at Concordia University Wisconsin. She is also a licensed psychologist. Her area of academic interest includes college student development and the role of vocational discernment. She was a member of the 2017 cohort of NetVUE's Teaching Vocation Exploration seminar.
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.
On January 28, NetVUE hosted its first webinar of the year, discussing Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore’s book, Follow Your Bliss and Other Lies about Calling. Faculty members shared diverse experiences relating to the book’s themes of callings that encompass joys and challenges. The session included discussion, audience engagement, and resource sharing, with a recording available online.
Webinar presenters and host: (top row, left to right) C. Douglas Johnson and Esteban Loustaunau; (bottom row, left to right): Tara Brooke Watkins and Rachel Pickett.
On January 28, NetVUE hosted its first webinar of the calendar year, which explored this year’s Big Read—Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore’s Follow Your Bliss and Other Lies about Calling—from diverse perspectives and lived experiences. Three faculty members from NetVUE institutions reflected on the book’s major themes, including the reality that responding to our callings often requires us to wrestle with both the joys and the hardships that we face in our many roles in life. The presenters shared some of their vocational experiences that resonated with Miller-McLemore’s framework, hoping to help webinar participants find their way into it even if their lived experiences differ from the author’s.
In “Follow Your Bliss and Other Lies About Calling,” Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore discusses the complexity of vocations, highlighting their potential for both meaning and pain. A recent webinar featuring faculty from NetVUE institutions explored themes of the book, emphasizing engagement in undergraduates’ understanding of callings amid modern challenges.
In Follow Your Bliss and Other Lies About Calling, Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore explores the “double-edged” quality of our callings, grappling honestly with how we live out our vocations in all their complexities. As affirming and generative as they can be, “deeply meaningful callings,” she writes, “are also often painful!” On November 13, four faculty members from NetVUE institutions explored this issue (and many more) as they discussed Miller-McLemore’s recent contribution to vocation studies, which also serves as NetVUE’s Big Read this year. In their discussion, they reflected on ways to engage this book with undergraduate students in the classroom and how its major themes can help them understand and contextualize the challenges that come with callings to work and live in a fast-paced, modern society.
Webinar presenters included (left to right) Brian Bowman, Deirdre Egan-Ryan, Jason Mahn, and Brad Pardue.
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.
NetVUE’s first webinar of the academic year, held on September 16, featured Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore discussing her book, “Follow Your Bliss and Other Lies About Calling.” Participants explored the challenges of vocational discernment in higher education. Additional resources were shared for implementing vocational support on campuses through NetVUE’s Big Read program.
Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore
When we explore and discern our vocations, we often wrestle with both the joys and hardships that we face in the many roles we play in life. NetVUE’s first webinar of this academic year explored this topic on September 16, and featured Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, the author of this year’s Big Read, Follow Your Bliss and Other Lies About Calling. As she discussed her book, she used insights from it to help participants contextualize and understand the challenges that we all face as we live out our callings to work in higher education. The discussion also provided context for colleagues as they being to engage their campuses in the Big Read.
The NetVUE webinar on March 25 focused on the vocation of citizenship, urging community engagement for the common good. Speakers Michelle Hayford, Christine Jeske, and Meghan Slining discussed advocacy, mutuality, and compassionate pedagogy, respectively. The session included participant questions and shared additional resources for further exploration of these themes.
The vocation of citizenship encourages individuals to engage actively in their communities, prioritizing the well-being of the collective. By addressing shared challenges, citizens contribute to the common good and help shape a more sustainable future. On March 25, NetVUE hosted a webinar that focused on various ways to explore this topic with students, as well as staff and faculty. In it, the featured speakers discussed their experiences and their recent contributions to Called Beyond Ourselves: Vocation and the Common Good.
Michelle Hayford (left), Christine Jeske (center), and Meghan Slining (right).
NetVUE’s conversation cards aid vocational exploration with three inquiry-focused decks: explore, engage, and envision. NetVUE’s February webinar showcased various applications of these cards for students and faculty by speakers from different institutions, emphasizing community building, faculty development, and cultural context in vocation exploration.
NetVUE’s conversation cards are one of the latest tools aimed at supporting our students’ vocational exploration and discernment. There will be three decks focused on distinct kinds of inquiry—Explore, Engage, and Envision—with the first two decks already available, and the third set to be released in March. In addition, a Spanish language deck that focuses on more culturally situated aspects of vocation is being developed. Each of the decks features questions for students at all levels of vocational inquiry, from first-year icebreakers to senior-year capstones.
NetVUE’s most recent webinar focused on various ways to use this resource with students, as well as with staff and faculty. On February 3, the webinar’s featured speakers discussed their experiences with and strategies for making the most out of the first deck (Explore) to enhance vocation programming on their campuses.
Webinar speakers MT Dávila (top left), Jennifer Ferguson (top right), Monique Jiménez-Herrera (bottom left), and Peter Carlson Schattauer (bottom right).
NetVUE’s November webinar featured experts sharing experiences and strategies for maximizing campus consultation at NetVUE institutions focused on enhancing vocation-related programming. Contributors included Deirdre Egan-Ryan, Sheila Bauer-Gatsos, Cyndi Grobmeier, and Jonathan Redding, who discussed curriculum, faculty development, and streamlining vocational efforts across programs, concluding with participant questions.
Over the past few months, a significant number of NetVUE institutions have hosted focused consultations on their campuses to strategize about vocation-related work. NetVUE’s November webinar explored the benefits of working with peer experts and the creative ideas, objective perspectives, and professional validation they offer. On November 18, the featured speakers discussed their experiences and strategies on how to make the most out of focused consultations to enhance vocation programming.
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.
NetVUE’s February 2024 Webinar focused on vocational elements of education and personal development outside of typical educational settings.
Engaging students in the classroom continues to be an essential part of undergraduate education. But what if we took our work outside the typical classroom? To reach a those students who may not have easy access to education, we must become creative and meet them where they are. Opportunities to explore meaning and purpose should be accessible to all.
NetVUE’s February 2024 Webinar focused on vocational elements of education and personal development outside of typical educational settings. On February 7, three invited speakers discussed experiences of and strategies for taking vocation beyond the traditional campus in our work with students from diverse backgrounds.
Heather Brady (top left), Jason Mahn (top right) Jason Stevens (bottom left), Rachel Pickett (bottom right)
