Category: Conference Reflection

Connecting to the Common Good: A Reflection on NetVUE’s 2025 Regional Gathering at Furman University

Stephan T. Moore reflects on the enriching experience at NetVUE’s regional gathering focused on vocation and the common good at Furman University. The event fostered camaraderie among attendees, encouraging discussions on personal journeys and their impact in higher education. The gathering emphasized the importance of collective commitment to the common good for students.

Stephan T. Moore

Reflecting on my experience in February at Furman University’s regional NetVUE gathering—Vocation and the Common Good: The Call of Belonging and Community—I am filled with gratitude for the opportunity to connect with so many remarkable colleagues and scholars from across the country. The environment fostered a deep sense of camaraderie, where five representatives from my own institution, Catawba College, came together with a shared purpose without being influenced by our titles or organizational structures.

As we gathered around stories of laughter, childhood memories, and our vocational work, I was reminded that our individual journeys—both professional and personal—have brought us to this point, where we strive for a common goal: impacting the lives of all of the students we serve, whether they are traditional or non-traditional. Our work is about creating a stable foundation for our institutions to thrive and continue to serve these students for years to come.

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Called to the Common Good in Teacher Education: Reflections on the 2024 NetVUE Keynote Address

In her keynote address at the 2024 NetVUE Conference, Meghan Sullivan, professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, offered insight into how and why we can and should help our students deeply consider their callings.

In professions known for producing heroes, teaching ranks among the top. As Christine Jeske observes in her chapter in Called Beyond Our Selves: Vocation and the Common Good, teaching is found among the short list of “‘good’ vocations” whose work is assumed by our society to flow out of an abundant generosity. Teachers are famously overworked and underpaid, and as a teacher educator I’m constantly mindful of this backdrop for much of my work, including the facilitation of vocational exploration and discernment among undergraduate students.

Meghan Sullivan

In her keynote address at the 2024 NetVUE Conference, Meghan Sullivan, professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, offered insight into how and why we can and should help our students deeply consider their callings. She reminded us that when students experience a lack of training, a lack of a sense of vocation, and a lack of being formed and habituated in a great community when they’re young, they can more easily come to believe that everything truly is about them. The result of this lack of formation can lead to a pursuit of money and power as if nothing else is worth aiming for in life. Sometimes, these students can eventually acquire enough power to destroy the common good.

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