Tag: internships

Networking and Vocation

Faculty and staff members can play an important role in facilitating networking opportunities that encourage our students to explore who they want to be in the world.

When I have thought of the word “networking,” I have imagined lawyers in New York City drinking martinis after work or corporate business men playing a round of golf on the weekend, closing business deals. Based on who I am and what I value, networking absolutely did not seem to be for me. Yet this perception has been narrow: it limited networking to transactional interactions that benefit the few who fit the mold and exclude others with less power and access. Recently, I have reconsidered my understanding of the value of networking and how it can relate to broader aspects of our students’ vocational journeys beyond careers. Faculty and staff members can play an important role in facilitating networking opportunities that encourage our students to explore who they want to be in the world.

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Called to Advocacy

Amanda Tyler’s advice to college students: “Think intentionally, deliberatively, and if its your practice spiritually, about your next move but worry less about the chessboard. I couldn’t have played out all these moves to get to this place, and yet it feels like the perfect place for me.”

Amanda Tyler is the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee, which is headquartered on Capitol Hill and advocates for religious freedom for all. “From a very early age, I felt a calling to law and politics – I wanted to be a public servant in some way,” she shared during a recent conversation captured in the latest episode on the NetVUE podcast series, Callings. The episode is called “The Next Move.”

In 2019, Amanda was named “Baptist of the Year” for her leadership in the Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign. We talked about this aspect of her work during our conversation, and she described how we are called to walk a line between fidelity to the past and stewardship for the future. (Amanda was recently interviewed on NPR’s “All Things Considered” on the topic of Christian Nationalism).

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