Tag: collaboration

Called to Be Interrupted: Redefining Vocation through Academic Mentoring

Drawing inspiration from Tolkien’s “Leaf by Niggle,” this post reflects on the tension between personal achievement and mentoring in academia. Austin Young Shull argues that interactions with students, often seen as interruptions, are essential to his vocation as a scientist and professor. This re-framing reveals how contributions to others’ success expand one’s calling beyond individual work.

“Niggle was a painter. Not a very successful one, partly because he had many other things to do.”

—“Leaf by Niggle,” J.R.R. Tolkien

I have a confession to make: as a scientist, I rarely accomplish what I set out to do, and this inability to measure up to my own expectations disheartens me. This feeling often stems from the perpetual tension between an idealized vision of what my work should produce and the constant interruptions that prevent me from realizing this vision. This tension animates J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Leaf by Niggle,” a short story that not only comforts me, but has also challenged me to rethink the values at the heart of my understanding of my vocation.

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Liberty and Learning: Mustafa Akyol

Mustafa Akyol, a prominent Muslim modernist and senior fellow at the Cato Institute, is featured in the latest NetVUE podcast episode. He discusses his journey as a journalist and academic, emphasizing empathy and collaboration for peace. Akyol reflects on religious liberty, democracy, and his aspirations for peace in the Middle East.

Mustafa Akyol

The most recent episode of NetVUE’s podcast Callings features Mustafa Akyol, a public intellectual who is widely regarded as one of the most notable Muslim modernists and reformers in the world today. Named one of the world’s top 50 thinkers by the UK magazine Prospect, he is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity in Washington, D.C., as well as a senior lecturer at the Islamic Civilization and Societies program at Boston College and the director of the Islam and the Muslim World course at the Foreign Service Institute.

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Kathleen Fitzpatrick on Joy in the Classroom

In the most recent episode of NetVUE’s podcast Callings, hosts Erin VanLaningham and John Barton speak with Kathleen Fitzpatrick, director of digital humanities and professor of English at Michigan State University.

In the most recent episode of NetVUE’s podcast Callings, hosts Erin VanLaningham and John Barton speak with Kathleen Fitzpatrick, director of digital humanities and professor of English at Michigan State University. She also serves as the project director of Humanities Commons, an open-access, open-source network serving more than 16,000 scholars and practitioners in the humanities. In addition to her extensive blog, her publications include Generous Thinking: A Radical Approach to Saving the University (2019) and the forthcoming Leading Generously: Tools for Transformation (2024).

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