The Big Read program offers faculty members, staff, and administrators the opportunity to join a network-wide conversation about vocation. Each year, NetVUE chooses a recent book on vocation for participating institutions to explore; the books are provided at no cost to the institution. The Big Read is designed to complement other NetVUE programming and can support a member institution’s participation in NetVUE events and grant initiatives. Guiding questions and supporting resources are provided to help integrate a discussion of the text into an institution’s ongoing vocational reflection and planning.
2026-2027 Big Read
Love’s Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis
Love’s Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis by Norman Wirzba is the NetVUE Big Read selection for 2026-27 academic year. The book explores the concept of hope as an action that all can foster as we care for each other and our communities. Educators across campus—including staff, faculty members, and senior leaders—can use the book to explore belonging, environmental stewardship, forgiveness, economic struggle, beauty, and love. The book includes a variety of historical examples and personal narratives, alongside literary, theological, and ecological examples. Individuals across the diversity of NetVUE member institutions will find opportunities for rich vocational conversations through engagement with the book. Additional recommendations and resources for planning, running, and expanding the conversation are provided below.
During the fall or spring semester or over the summer, institutions are invited to read Love’s Braided Dance together. If your institutions would like to participate in the Big Read, but believe that this book is not the right fit for your current circumstances, you can also engage with one of the previous Big Read texts. In particular, if there is limited shared language or understanding of vocation on campus, institutions may want to consider starting with Living Vocationally: The Journey of a Called Life.
How to Participate
NetVUE will directly support member institutions that develop local campus projects related to this year’s Big Read. Toward that end, up to 20 free copies of the book will be supplied to a limited number of institutions that design a compelling program for faculty members, administrators, and staff to read the book in group settings (which may be hybrid ones). Member institutions are invited to apply by completing the application included here.
Each member institution may offer one proposal, which should be submitted by that institution’s NetVUE Campus Contact. To apply, the Campus Contact should send the application as an email attachment to Rachael Baker, NetVUE associate director, at rbaker@cic.edu. Questions regarding your NetVUE campus contact can be directed to Ashley Woodbeck, NetVUE office manager, at awoodbeck@cic.edu.
Proposals will be accepted throughout the year on a rolling basis. Proposals should be submitted at least four weeks before the campus project is expected to begin, in order to allow adequate time for project approval and shipping. Books will be awarded (and shipped directly in bulk to the Campus Contact) based on the proposal.
Planning Your Big Read Event or Program
The Big Read can be a standalone event for an institution, or it can be completed in support of other current vocational projects on the campus. The following questions may help as you plan your Big Read and consider how it aligns with your other goals and activities related to vocation.
Purpose and Framing
- Institutional Alignment: How does this book study connect with your institution’s specific needs, strategic plan, and overarching mission, particularly as it relates to vocation?
- Professional Development: How can this study contribute to the professional growth and development of your faculty, staff, administration, or board of trustees?
- Engagement with other Network Opportunities: How does this text connect to other NetVUE events in which you might participate this year? How could this text support applying for or implementing a NetVUE grant?
Planning and Implementation
- Who will help to plan or lead this event? Who on campus should be involved?
- What is the best structure to host a Big Read book study at your institution? How will participants be divided into appropriately sized and composed groups?
- What is the size and depth of your book study? Will it include institution-wide events, or will it be at a division or department level?
- When, where, and how will you launch the book study?
- What NetVUE resources will you incorporate into the book study plan?
Big Read Webinar
Please join us for a 60-minute conversation with Norman Wirzba to launch the 2026-2027 Big Read. In this webinar, we will hear from Wirzba as he reflects on Love’s Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis. During the webinar, he will explore major themes from the book and the implications for creative and hopeful approaches to vocational discernment and development. Consider having your reading groups watch the webinars together, whether they do it as a live event or watch a recording of the webinar. Each webinar will be recorded and available to access shortly after the live event.
An Itinerary of Hope for Higher Education
with Norman Wirzba
September 16, 2026 | 4 pm ET
Supporting and Continuing the Conversation
Discussion guides and supporting resources for Love’s Braided Dance are coming soon.
Big Read book groups may want to supplement or extend their conversations with further reading. Additional resources that engage the content or themes from Love’s Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis include:
Vocatio: Called to Transformative Encounter
with Norman Wirzba
The day-to-day routines of educating rarely prompt or foster sustained and rigorous questioning of what an education is for. In the opening keynote of the 2026 NetVUE Conference, Wirzba asked particpants to reconsider what a human being is and why educating is central to human development and fulfillment. Through an examination of connection, meaning, and purpose, Wirzba offered a hopeful vision for education that affirms the sacred character of this life—an affirmation that rests on developing what he calls a “sensuous intelligence” committed to creative and skilled engagement within our shared world.
Review of Norman Wirzba, Love’s Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis
by Jason Mahn
A review of Love’s Braided Dance by Jason Mahn, featured in the inaugural issue of Studiess in Vocation and Calling, the NetVUE journal.
Agents of Repair
with Norman Wirzba
Wirzba’s research, writing, and teaching explore the overlap between theology and ecology, working to address major environmental issues such as climate crisis and food insecurity. In this conversation, we discuss aspects of agrarian living, freedom and fidelity, and the importance of kinesthetic learning. His emphasis on our relationship to the land as a relationship with others—as an expression of love—reminds us of the communal callings in every aspect of our lives. Vocation is a reflection of our rootedness in place and commitment to others, calling us to be agents of repair in the world.
If you are interested in support for next steps on your campus, consider requesting a NetVUE Big Read workshop. This workshop offers further opportunities for participants to explore their own vocations together and to think about the ways their understanding of vocation shapes their work in higher education. For more information about this free member benefit visit the Vocation Workshop Page. When applying, request the NetVUE Big Read Workshop.
Contact Information
Questions about the NetVUE Big Read may be directed to Rachael Baker, NetVUE associate director, at or (616) 632-1060.
To report a technical problem with the website, or to offer suggestions for navigation and content issues, please contact Alex Stephenson, NetVUE communications coordinator, at astephenson@cic.edu.