NetVUE offers a wide range of professional development opportunities for faculty members, staff, and administrators at member institutions. These programs are funded through member dues and generous support from Lilly Endowment Inc., which means that they are available at little or no additional cost to members. Most of these programs are designed to take place on campus; NetVUE sends resources (such as books) and/or people (consultants and workshop leaders) to the institution to carry out a project that fits its needs and interests. A few programs provide funding to gather faculty members or staff in a central location for a seminar or workshop. Current opportunities are described in detail below; suggestions for additional offerings are always welcome. Questions or comments may be directed to Rachael Baker, NetVUE associate director, at rbaker@cic.edu or (616) 632-2910.
NetVUE Summer Seminars and Colloquies
These offerings bring together small groups of participants, selected through competitive application, for intensive professional development in a setting marked by learning, conversation, and hospitality. Specific offerings, which vary from year to year, typically include 5-day summer seminars designed for faculty members (focusing on research, teaching, or both), for staff, or for institutional leaders. Shorter colloquies—typically over a long weekend during the academic year—are offered for faculty members and staff who wish to focus on specific vocation-related topics, which may vary from year to year.
NetVUE Consultations
A NetVUE consultation brings experienced NetVUE leaders to member campuses to help institutions launch or make progress on vocation initiatives, with the cost of the consultant’s time and travel covered by NetVUE. In partnership with a consultant, institutions and/or smaller teams of leaders can develop concrete plans to deepen and strengthen the work of vocation on their campus.
Vocation Workshops
This program provides for on-site learning opportunities by arranging for an experienced NetVUE leader to come to campus, with the costs of that person’s time and travel fully covered by NetVUE. The workshop leader will work with on-campus teams to provide content and support for thinking about vocation-related projects and questions. The planned workshop could support the launch of a new on-campus project or help reshape or redirect the institution’s approach to an existing project.
Campus Visit Program
This program provides funding for a team of up to four persons from one NetVUE institution to visit one or more other NetVUE institutions. These visits are designed to help institutions learn about particularly successful programming for students, professional development opportunities for faculty members and staff, fundraising endeavors, diversity initiatives, or other projects that might be adapted and developed as part of the visiting institution’s engagement with vocational exploration and discernment.
The NetVUE Big Read
The Big Read program offers faculty members, staff, and administrators at an institution the opportunity to read and learn together. 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 Collaborative Read
The Collaborative Read program is designed to encourage faculty members, staff, and administrators to collaborate with their counterparts at one or more other NetVUE institutions and to learn by reading together. Any individual or group at a NetVUE member institution can assemble a reading group and choose a book of interest by people who have been involved in recent work with NetVUE, whether through a conference presentation, podcast, blog, or book review. Participants may choose from a list of NetVUE recommendations or propose a book of their own; in either case, books are supplied free of charge to the reading group.
Scriptural Reasoning for Vocational Reflection
Evidence suggests that the practice of Scriptural Reasoning (SR) can be particularly useful in undergraduate settings as a tool for exploring questions of vocation; this complements its established use as a form of inter-religious engagement and cross-disciplinary study. NetVUE is developing a new nationwide program of Scriptural Reasoning for Vocation Reflection. Its core elements are Scriptural Reasoning Training Hubs, where small teams from NetVUE member institutions gather, at no cost to the participants or the institution, to experience Scriptural Reasoning, to learn how best to facilitate it, and to consider how the team might make use of it on their home campus. In May 2026, four sites were be available as Scriptural Reasoning Training Hubs.
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