Past NetVUE Regional Events

Nonviolence and/as Vocation: An AAR/SBL Pre-Meeting

November 21–22, 2024 • Preceding the AAR/SBL Annual Meeting • San Diego, California

This NetVUE gathering provided an opportunity for teachers and scholars in the field of religious studies to explore the ways that their classroom teaching and their research agendas can become sites for thinking through critical issues relating to violence and nonviolence. As our students explore and discern their own vocations, what are our responsibilities for helping them do so in ways that step away from an easy reliance on violence (broadly defined)? As participants discussed last year in our gathering on “Vocation and/as the Work of Our Hands,” our work in theology, scripture, and religious studies is certainly focused on the life of the mind, and sometimes of the soul; but it also affects, and is affected by, our bodily presence in the world. Taking a cue from this year’s AAR theme “Violence, Nonviolence, and the Margins,” participants considered the degree to which scholars of religious studies and theology can help students pursue their efforts at vocational exploration and discernment in dialogue with commitments to nonviolence.

Equity-Based Initiatives to Support Vocational Discernment at Texas Lutheran University

November 14–16 • Texas Lutheran University • Seguin, Texas

Story-telling and Vocation at King University

October 23–25, 2024 • King University • Bristol, Tennessee

This NetVUE regional gathering offered a space for educators to engage a wide array of professional storytellers—writers, podcasters, journalists, playwrights, singers, filmmakers, actors, and others—as they considered together how storytelling can help students in their work of vocational reflection and discernment. Guiding questions for the event include: What stories can we tell to help students clarify their callings? How might our own storytelling call our students to reflection and action? Where are our stories grounded, and how does place affect our storytelling? This gathering, in Bristol, Tennessee, gave particular attention to Appalachia in the context of broader questions. In these mountains, storytelling and vocation share a long history; hence, the location offered rich soil in which educators can cultivate new approaches to guiding their students as they discern their many callings in life.

NetVUE “Big Read” Launch at Loras College: Vocation and the Common Good

September 12–14, 2024 • Loras College • Dubuque, Iowa

This gathering was designed with two purposes in mind. First, it gave faculty members and staff at NetVUE member institutions an opportunity to engage more deeply with the theme of vocation and the common good. Second, it served as the launch of this year’s NetVUE Big Read, during which many leaders on our campuses will read together the newest volume from the NetVUE Scholarly Resources Project, Called Beyond Our Selves: Vocation and the Common Good (Oxford, 2024). The event took place at Loras College, the home campus of the new volume’s editor, Erin VanLaningham. The gathering provided educators with strategies to respond to current events on their campuses and in public life. Through a focus on the transformations of the common good, the event explored ways colleges and universities can promote collective well-being. To learn more about this past Big Read selection, click here.

Vocation, Higher Education, and the City

May 16–18, 2024 • Calvin University and Aquinas College • Grand Rapids, Michigan

Vocation and/as the Work of Our Hands: An AAR/SBL Pre-Meeting

November 16–17, 2023 • Preceding the AAR/SBL Annual Meeting • San Antonio, TX

This NetVUE gathering provided an opportunity for teachers and scholars in the field of religious studies to explore the ways that their classroom teaching and their research agendas can become sites for developing and implementing practices to help undergraduate students explore and discern their many callings in life. Our work in theology, scripture, and religious studies is certainly focused on the life of the mind, and sometimes of the soul; but it also affects, and is affected by, our bodily presence in the world. Taking a cue from 2023’s AAR theme “La Labor de Nuestras Manos,” we considered the degree to which scholars of religious studies and theology can help students understand their efforts at vocational exploration and discernment in practical as well as theoretical ways: as the work of the hands, as much as the mind and soul and heart.

Teaching Vocational Exploration in the Classroom

September 28–29, 2023 • Waynesburg University • Waynesburg, PA

In the college or university classroom, instructors strive to share field-specific knowledge, build skills that will translate into modern careers, and assist students to develop their abilities through practice. Additionally, educators serve as academic advisors, career mentors, and life coaches. Among so many other responsibilities for those who teach, what role can vocational exploration play in our classrooms? This gathering will focus on providing faculty with concrete strategies for vocational exploration and reflection that can be integrated into their courses. Faculty will be encouraged to reflect on their definition of vocation, to share current practices, and to discuss innovative methods for addressing vocational exploration.

Finding Ourselves at the Center: Collaborative Spaces for Purpose, Work, Learning, and Engagement

May 31-June 2, 2023 • Bluffton University • Bluffton, OH

Many institutions have established “centers” as integrated spaces that combine areas once considered distinct: career development, academic advising, community engagement, vocational discernment, diversity initiatives, internships, and other campus offices that have an impact on our students’ work of vocational exploration and discernment. This gathering will examine both the impetus for and the outcomes of such creative realignments. What can be done together—at the “center”—that cannot be done from individually defined locations at the periphery? The gathering will explore models and best practices for involving various constituencies in this enterprise, including faculty members, administrators, program directors, and the local community.

Food and Vocation

April 13-15, 2023 • Wingate University • Wingate, NC

Food is the great connector and a means for exploring vocation in a world emerging from the shadow of COVID. Undergraduate students can form deep roots to feed their sense of purpose and value when they are given the opportunity to explore vocation as an “edible theology” that appreciates the past, present, and future. Keynote speakers for this interactive gathering include Norman Wirzba, professor of theology at Duke University and author of Food and Faith and Agrarian Spirit, and Laura Wright, professor of English at Western Carolina University and author of The Vegan Studies Project. The gathering also showcases learned practitioners from organizations such as RAFI, Waterkeeper Alliance, Stardust Cellars, Native Root, and the Piedmont Culinary Guild. Participants will investigate the implications of food on identity, explore the intersection of hospitality and justice, and engage the metaphor of the divine banquet in many interactive settings. Those who can stay through Saturday will be able to enjoy the Charlotte StrEATs festival, a two-day celebration of chefs and local food.

Creating Conditions, Dismantling Obstacles, Empowering Students: Vocational Exploration and Marginalized Communities

February 23-25, 2023 • University of La Verne • La Verne, California

As educators, we are called to challenge ourselves to think about the conditions that are present in our institutions, and about how these conditions impact our students’ sense of self, their relationships, and their lives. At this NetVUE gathering, participants explored the various conditions in our institutions which enable (or restrict) students’ capacities to thrive and discover their vocation. These conditions include experiencing community, understanding holistic dimensions of wellness, valuing personal narrative and inner voice, demonstrating resilience, employing cultural wealth, and many other conditions yet to be discovered. Keynote speaker Patrick Reyes, author of the NetVUE Big Read volume The Purpose Gap: Empowering Communities of Color to Find Meaning and Thrive, helped participants interrogate conditions and how they may—or may not—allow students to discern and live into lives of meaning, purpose, and empowerment.

Vocation and Catastrophe: An AAR/SBL Pre-Meeting

November 17–18, 2022 • Preceding the AAR/SBL Annual Meeting • Denver, CO

Over the last few years, the world has experienced a global health pandemic, extreme polarization along lines of race and class, an increase in armed violence, and a surge of climate-related disasters. How have these events and trends altered conversations with undergraduate students about vocation and calling? How are students, staff, and faculty members affected by a sense of impending catastrophe? This event aligns with the American Academy of Religion’s 2022 theme (“Religion and Catastrophe”) and builds on NetVUE gatherings at AAR/SBL meetings in 2019 and 2021 (focusing on interreligious conversations and issues of justice). As always, the event will include panel presentations, book discussions, and interactive conversations, as well as opportunities for socializing and networking. Attendees of the AAR/SBL Annual Meeting are invited to arrive in Denver a day or two early for this pre-conference gathering.

Institutional Saga: A Tool for Aligning Mission, Vocation, and Innovation

October 5–7, 2022 • Schreiner University • Kerrville, TX

All colleges and universities have their own historical narratives or “institutional sagas.” When a campus community commits to exploring, shaping, and sharing its saga, opportunities for vocational discovery emerge. This regional gathering will enable participants to examine the value of uncovering, recovering, and claiming an institution’s saga—including the complications and nuances of those narratives. The event is designed to create space for considering where an institution’s saga begins and ends, how it includes (or excludes) particular individuals and groups, and how the story is presented to others. The gathering will include a welcome dinner showcasing local foods and a “Star Party” at Schreiner’s Loftis Observatory, as well as a “Vocation Celebration” featuring music, conversation, and an interactive exploration of the undergraduate vocational journey.

Scientific Callings: Mentoring and Vocational Exploration in the Natural and Health Sciences

September 23–24, 2022 • Assumption University and College of the Holy Cross • Worcester, MA

This NetVUE regional gathering of colleagues in the natural sciences and in pre-professional health sciences and nursing programs will provide a space to discuss best practices for initiating and nurturing mentoring relationships that help diverse populations of students discern callings in STEM and pre-professional (nursing, health sciences) fields. Building meaningful mentoring relationships with students, especially with first-generation and other underrepresented, minoritized undergraduates, is essential for promoting academic success and encouraging vocational discernment. By engaging with keynote speakers, sharing vocational stories, and participating in breakout sessions, attendees will learn valuable lessons on mentoring in the natural sciences, pre-professional health sciences, and nursing that they can practice at their home campuses.

Engaging Faculty Members in the Work of Vocation

June 1–3, 2022 • St. Norbert College • De Pere, WI

As experience and research have shown, sustaining a commitment to vocation-related efforts on a college campus over time requires the engagement of faculty members, as well as ongoing investments on their part. This gathering will consider strategies for faculty engagement—including past successes, present-day obstacles and opportunities, and fresh ideas for the future. Campuses are encouraged to send teams that include at least one faculty member and at least one professional whose portfolio includes the recruitment of faculty members for these efforts. The keynote speakers will be Paul J. Wadell, professor emeritus of religious studies at St. Norbert College and Darby K. Ray, Donald W. and Ann M. Harward Professor of Civic Engagement and Director, Harward Center for Community Partnerships at Bates College.  They are co-directors of the NetVUE faculty seminar on Teaching Vocational Exploration.

Religion and Justice Issues in the Undergraduate Classroom: An AAR/SBL Pre-Meeting

November 18–19, 2021 • Preceding the AAR/SBL Annual Meeting • San Antonio, TX

Faculty members and scholars in theology and religious studies will gather to explore the ways that their undergraduate classrooms can become sites for deeper conversations about issues of justice. These conversations often involve matters of vocational reflection and discernment, focusing both on the students’ individual lives and on the various communities of which they are a part. Attention will be given to the relationships among religion, justice, and vocation—not only on a theoretical level, but also in terms of classroom resources, pedagogical approaches, and practical ways to address potential obstacles to conversation. The event will include discussion of immigration, incarceration, and environmental justice, as well as response to Jason Mahn’s Neighbor Love through Fearful Days (Fortress, 2021).

The Change a Difference Makes: Enriching Vocation Through Religious Diversity

October 28–29, 2021 • Dominican University • River Forest, IL

The changing demographics of the student body at NetVUE colleges and universities present both challenges and opportunities. In particular, the increasing diversity at these institutions is often noted, but religious diversity rarely receives the level of attention given to other elements of difference. And yet, religious diversity may be one of the most important topics to consider when thinking about vocational exploration and discernment. This NetVUE gathering addresses these questions through substantive workshops that emphasize interactive engagement. These workshops will be framed by plenary sessions, breakout sessions, and a wide range of opportunities for networking and discussion.

Where Campus Meets the World: Vocation and Post-College Transition

February 21–22, 2020 • Huntingdon College • Montgomery, AL

This gathering will explore strategies for faculty and staff members who seek to help students put into practice beyond the classroom and the campus what they learn about vocation in the undergraduate setting. It will include discussions of obstacles that can arise as students pursue their callings after college—including structural and socio-economic factors, disabilities, cross-cultural challenges, and the tendency of some forms of “service” to do more harm than good. The gathering will include a visit to the renowned Legacy Museum and the Memorial for Peace and Justice.

Voices from the Margins: Supporting Vocational Reflection with Undeserved Students

January 16–18, 2020 • Occidental College • Los Angeles, CA

The goal of this gathering is to explore how vocational exploration might be fostered among students whose identities and circumstances sometimes result in less attention and care from the institutions they attend. These underserved students come from a variety of social locations and identities, including first-generation students, students of color, LGBTQIA+ students, and others. Conversations will seek to identify best practices and innovative ways to foster culturally sensitive vocational exploration among students from marginalized communities.

Vocation, Teaching, and Religious Studies: An AAR/SBL Pre-Meeting

November 21–22, 2019 • Preceding the AAR/SBL Annual Meeting • San Diego, CA

Faculty members and scholars in religious studies will gather to discuss the role played by issues of vocation, meaning, and purpose in the field of religion. Attention will be given to the wide range of faith traditions and life stances that are addressed in the religious studies classroom. Speakers will include contributors to the 2019 books Interreligious/Interfaith Studies: Defining a New Field and Hearing Vocation Differently: Meaning, Purpose, and Identity in the Multi-Faith Academy.

Colleges Can Have Vocations Too

November 15–16, 2019 • Lipscomb University • Nashville, TN

Transforming the mission of a college or university into a saga—a powerful and compelling narrative informed by a unique history—requires a strong sense of institutional vocation in which the college or university has been called and summoned to fulfill a special role. This gathering will consider institutional vocational discernment as a means of identifying and developing a saga, with attention to issues of religious heritage, educational philosophy, faculty commitments, and student outcomes. Speakers include Florence Amamoto, Gustavus Adolphus College; David Cunningham, director of NetVUE; Jason Mahn, Augustana College (IL); and Julianne Wallace, Alvernia College.

Educating for Citizenship: Vocational Reflection for the Public Good

October 4–5, 2019 • Geneva College • Beaver Falls, PA

This event is designed to generate conversations around the reclamation of one of the original purposes of American higher education: the making of citizens. Issues of social justice, civility, plurality and unity, and the common good are important for the cultivation of engaged citizens. This gathering will explore how vocational reflection can provide a framework for educating undergraduate students about citizenship. Speakers will be drawn from area nonprofits and community organizations.

Hearing Vocation Differently: Meaning, Purpose, and Identity in the Multi-Faith Academy

September 20-21, 2019 • Pepperdine University • Malibu, CA

This gathering will provide a venue in which NetVUE campus leaders can discuss the third book in the NetVUE Scholarly Resources series, Hearing Vocation Differently: Meaning, Purpose, and Identity in the Multi-Faith Academy (2019). Discussions will focus on the book’s implications for leaders of vocational exploration programs in multi-faith environments. Speakers will include David Cunningham, director of NetVUE and the book’s editor, and two contributors to the volume.

The Changing Nature of Work: Career Development and Vocation

June 12–13, 2018 • Augustana College • Rock Island, IL

This NetVUE gathering provides an opportunity to explore the connections among career development, academic advising, and vocational reflection – and to do so in highly practical ways. Specifically, it aims to foster collaboration across various campus offices and academic divisions. Career services personnel, academic advisors, faculty members, and others may all be promoting vocational reflection and discernment, but they may sometimes find themselves nudging students in very different directions. How might vocational exploration be integrated into a more holistic model of career development, while still validating the liberal-arts orientation of NetVUE institutions? Through keynote presentations, networking, and conversation, participants will learn about best practices, hear from experts doing this work, and think collaboratively as campus teams.

Mentoring Undergraduate Students of Color: The Shape of Deep Purpose

March 23–24, 2018 • Elizabethtown College • Washington, DC

This occasion will explore in community both the general and particular callings, strengths, and possibilities of CIC NetVUE schools related to mentoring undergraduate students of color in both predominantly/historical White institutions and in minority-serving institutions. Leaders will explore cultural interpretations of vocation, spirituality, religion, deep meaning, and purpose in the lives of students of color as well as high-impact practices that support their explorations.

Vocation Across the Academy: Calling, Conflict and the Necessity of Action

March 9–10, 2018 • California Lutheran University • Thousand Oaks, CA

This NetVUE gathering is a book retreat to discuss content and use of the second NetVUE Scholars book, Vocation across the Academy: A New Vocabulary for Higher Education. NetVUE Scholars and experienced leaders will focus on the importance of guiding students through competing claims to core commitments. Thoughtful exchanges about the book will be interwoven with practices and experiences that illustrate California Lutheran University strategies for vocational exploration.

Vocation Across the Academy: Storytelling, Mapmaking, and a Sense of Direction

February 23–24, 2018 • Berry College • Rome, GA

This NetVUE gathering is a book retreat to discuss content and use of the second NetVUE Scholars book, Vocation across the Academy: A New Vocabulary for Higher Education. NetVUE scholars will focus on the importance of narrative as students set directions through both liberal arts nad profession-related studies. Thoughtful exchanges about the book will be interwoven with a campus tour and reception as well as other activities on these exceptional campus grounds.

New Scholarly Resources on Vocation

November 17, 2017 • American Academy of Religion • Boston, MA

Even though the language of vocation and calling has deeply theological (and even specifically Christian) roots, it is being increasingly employed by a variety of academic institutions, including secular ones and those with multi-faith constituencies. The NetVUE Scholarly Resources Project represents one attempt to think through the impact of this language, drawing on the work of scholars in theology, religious studies, philosophy, and related fields. This one-day gathering is designed to provide an academic setting in which to examine and discuss the Project’s three books, all of which are published or forthcoming from Oxford University Press.

Vocation and Gen Z: Meaning-Making with Digital Narratives

October 13–14, 2017 • Benedictine University • Lisle, IL

Gen Z is the first group of first true digital natives. This NetVUE gathering will focus on how to understand them and ways to engage them in reflection on vocation in a way that is authentic and gives them critical distance from the world of the glass screen. Critical reflection can help these students integrate their scattered interests, deepen their connections to God and social justice, and commit to sustained personal development of a life of meaning and purpose.