Vocational exploration and discernment can involve—and emerge out of—conflict and our encounters with injustice. Given its explicit focus on these issues, the field of peace studies—and related fields like conflict transformation and social justice education—is well positioned to support educators in vocation studies helping students wrestle with questions of purpose, meaning, and calling. This webinar brings three faculty members working in these fields into conversation with NetVUE members. Drawing on their experiences and expertise, they explore these timely and important questions: What kind of world ought we to build? What responsibilities do we have to each other? How and why are we called to work toward the common good, and how can our talents, values, and commitments contribute to it?
This interactive conversation will feature Katy Gray Brown, professor of philosophy and peace at Manchester University (IN); Niki Johnson, professor of religious studies at the University of Mount Union (OH); and Regina Shands Stotlzfus, professor of peace, justice, and conflict studies at Goshen College (IN). These faculty members will share resources from their work in peacebuilding that open and expand approaches to vocational exploration and discernment. Panelists will begin with short reflections on how the study of peace encourages students to connect intellectual inquiry with ethical responsibility, civic engagement, and lives of purpose. Participants will be invited to discuss pedagogical approaches, classroom experiences, and challenges as we consider how peace and justice education is integral to the vocational formation of students and to helping them to discern meaningful paths forward in a complex and divided world.
We will gather on Thursday, October 22nd, at 4:00 p.m. Eastern (3:00 Central, 2:00 Mountain, 1:00 Pacific). The webinar is open to anyone at a NetVUE member institution at no cost, but registration is required. Register for the webinar and encourage your colleagues to do so as well. We hope that you will consider using the webinar as a springboard for further campus conversations that are tailored to your own context.
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