Celebrations
Congratulations to the 2026 Teaching Vocational Exploration Seminar Participants
The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), through its Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE), selected 15 faculty members through a competitive nomination process to participate in the 2026 summer seminar on Teaching Vocational Exploration. CIC and NetVUE are grateful for the support of Lilly Endowment Inc., which makes this event possible. The seminar is designed for early- to mid-career faculty members, who gather to learn about strengthening the teaching of vocational exploration in their own classrooms and deepening conversations about vocation and pedagogy with colleagues on their home campuses. Participants in the 2026 Teaching Vocational Exploration seminar will gather June 1–5 at The Alexander Hotel in Indianapolis, IN.
Participants will examine different meanings of vocation and their importance for undergraduate education, consider content and teaching methods for courses that focus on vocational exploration, and reflect on the shape and experience of the academic vocation. They will be led in conversation and reflection by Darby Kathleen Ray, who serves as the Donald W. and Ann M. Harward Professor of Civic Engagement at Bates College, and Paul Wadell, professor emeritus of theology and religious studies at St. Norbert College. For more information about this and other seminars that NetVUE offers, visit the NetVUE website.
The following individuals were nominated by the chief academic officer at their institution and selected for the 2026 Teaching Vocational Exploration seminar:
Beck Banks, Warren Wilson College (NC)
Adam Booth, Stonehill College (MA)
Allison Burrus, Illinois College (IL)
Soon Cho, Pacific Lutheran University (WA)
Elissa Cutter, Georgian Court University (NJ)
Marwa Elkashif, Wartburg College (IA)
Sharon Feld, Loras College (IA)
Michael French, Mount Saint Mary’s University (CA)
Julie Gunderson, Hendrix College (AR)
Mark Hopper, Blackburn College (IL)
Reva Johnson, Valparaiso University (IN)
Steven Lippold, Geneva College (PA)
Andrew Marion, Millsaps College (MS)
Machessa Samz, Nazareth University (NY)
Ashley Zehner, Muskingum University (OH)
More about CIC and NetVUE
The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) is an association of over 600 nonprofit independent colleges and universities, state-based councils, and higher education affiliates that works to support college and university leadership, advance institutional excellence, and enhance public understanding of independent higher education’s contributions to society. CIC provides members with ideas, resources, and programs that help institutions improve their leadership expertise, educational programs, administrative and financial performance, and institutional visibility.
The Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) is a program of CIC with over 350 members. The purpose of NetVUE is to increase the capacity of independent colleges and universities to support their undergraduate students as they explore and discern their many callings in life. The process of vocational reflection is an interdisciplinary endeavor, bringing together theological, philosophical, ethical, historical, and affective approaches, and implementing the theoretical reflections of these fields in vocation related practices. Campuses are encouraged to support students in this work through a variety of academic departments, pre-professional programs, and campus offices. NetVUE is governed by a principle of subsidiarity: individual member institutions are encouraged to shape their work related to vocation and calling— including the vocabularies that they use to describe this work—in ways that are best suited to their own missions, teaching philosophies, student demographics, and other matters best known to those who lead and guide this work on campus.
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.