Tag: leadership

Change Maker: Abel Chávez

This podcast Callings features an interview with Abel Chávez, the tenth president of Our Lady of the Lake University. Chávez discusses his background as a first-generation college graduate and his commitment to supporting first-generation students. He emphasizes the importance of education in improving civic life and encourages listeners to engage as change makers in their communities.

Abel Chávez

NetVUE’s podcast Callings is pleased to release its recent interview with Abel Chávez, the tenth president of Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas. In this role, he has energized university efforts in fundraising and outreach, developing strong partnerships at the local, state, national, and international levels. An integrative leader and learner, he has served in multiple roles in higher education, including his work as a civil and environmental engineer. Abel is himself a first-generation, first-in-family college graduate, and a son of immigrants. As such, he brings his bilingual skills and bi-cultural heritage to all of his work, reflecting his commitment to enhancing the quality, access, and affordability for all students while serving the needs of families and communities—all with an eye for their economic prosperity.

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Sarah Bassin on Holy Envy

The latest episode of the Callings podcast features Erin VanLaningham and John Barton speaking with Rabbi Sarah Bassin.

The latest episode of the Callings podcast features Erin VanLaningham and John Barton speaking with Rabbi Sarah Bassin. She serves as the director of clergy and congregations for the nonprofit HIAS (originally the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), the world’s oldest refugee agency. Previously, she was the associate rabbi at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, focused on congregation-based justice work, as well as the founding executive director of NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change.

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Shirley Hoogstra on God’s Economy

The most recent episode of NetVUE’s podcast Callings features hosts Erin VanLaningham and John Barton speaking with Shirley Hoogstra.

The most recent episode of NetVUE’s podcast Callings features hosts Erin VanLaningham and John Barton speaking with Shirley Hoogstra. Shirley has been an elementary school teacher, a litigator, a vice president for student life at Calvin University and, since 2014, the president of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU).

With her belief that there is “nothing wasted in God’s economy,” she encourages us to look for vocational possibilities both by taking heed of our own feelings of “restlessness” and by listening to others. Within classrooms, we can prepare students for multiple vocations and for facing difficult problems and contentious spaces by cultivating in them a “deep moral courage.”

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I Hear People Caring Loudly

Caring does not mean we let others off the hook or fail to bring forth what is best. However, it does remind us to be patient and believe that others care as much as we do.

In the current world of streaming television and vast amounts of available media content, finding an inspiring show with entertainment value and meaning for the leadership work we do with students, especially around vocation and calling, can be highly satisfying. 

I was recently happy to find meaning, vocation, and care for others in an unexpected place on the streaming menu. All Creatures Great and Small is a PBS show in its third season. Based on books by novelist and veterinarian James Herriot, this series examines small-town life in Yorkshire, England, before World War II. As its main characters—Siegfried, James, and Tristan—take care of both farm animals and pets in their small veterinary practice, the show illustrates the relationships that form as community members depend on and care for one another in daily life.

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A Blessing and a Limp

The latest episode of NetVUE’s podcast series Callings features a conversation with Marjorie Hass who became the president of the Council of Independent Colleges last July. In her responses to our questions about calling, leadership, and times of personal as well as institutional crisis, she drew upon a set of images and metaphors from her own Jewish tradition. For her, calling is first and foremost about responsibility—that is, our ability to respond—as Abraham and others did.

The latest episode of NetVUE’s podcast series Callings features a conversation with Marjorie Hass who became the president of the Council of Independent Colleges last July. Dr. Hass previously served as president of Rhodes College and of Austin College. In her responses to our questions about calling, leadership, and times of personal as well as institutional crisis, she drew upon a set of images and metaphors from her own Jewish tradition. For her, calling is first and foremost about responsibility—that is, our ability to respond—as Abraham and others did.

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Mary Dana Hinton on the Vocation of a College President

Driven by a life-long calling to educational equity, Mary Dana Hinton became the 13th president of Hollins University in August 2020 after serving as president of the College of Saint Benedict for many years. In a new episode of the NetVUE podcast series, she shares that on some days her calling feels heavy. She goes on to describe how the inspiration of her hard-working mother, the encouragement from early mentors, and the uplifting teachings of the black church have kept her going over the years.

As a young girl in Kittrell, North Carolina, Mary Dana Hinton never imagined she might one day become the president of a college. Driven by a life-long calling to educational equity, she became the 13th president of Hollins University in August 2020 after serving as president of the College of Saint Benedict for many years. In a new episode of the NetVUE podcast series, Callings, she shares that on some days her calling feels heavy. She goes on to describe how the inspiration of her hard-working mother, the encouragement from early mentors, and the uplifting teachings of the black church have kept her going over the years.

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Re-thinking Leadership

Do you have a teetering stack of books on your bedside table? Mine looks like this: On the bottom, playing a support function, are usually classic texts that I know I should read but never really get around to (apologies to George Eliot). On top of that are books purchased in a temporary bout of self-improvement (currently: Fit at Mid-Life: a Feminist Fitness Journey, written by two philosophers and which I recommend even though I am only half-way through – ha ha!). Then, a friend’s brilliant yet difficult memoir about her mother’s suicide that I really should finish (The Art of Misdiagnosis) and a collection of poetry by a local poet (A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes). Closer to the top is Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality without Religion, the focus of a recently formed book-group of interesting people with whom I enjoy spending time; our conversations have thankfully been more reflective than the book itself. 

On top of the pile are books given to me in recent months by two different friends, who said some version of “you should read this” as they pressed the book into my hands. Both books are about leadership, and each one challenges our traditional understandings. 

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