Campus Spotlight
Remembering the “Net” in NetVUE: The Value of a Network
By Daniel Meyers, NetVUE Chaplaincy Planning Initiative and Online Community Coordinator
For those tracking all the resources and opportunities that NetVUE offers—blogs, podcasts, conversation cards, gatherings and conferences, grants, workshops, seminars, and the list goes on—it is easy to overlook one of its most valuable assets embedded in all these opportunities: the people. Every blog post is written by an author who is thinking deeply about vocation in higher education. All of the presenters at conferences and gatherings similarly bring insights from their contexts to life for the other participants. Every request for a conversation card deck and every grant proposal comes from someone exploring vocation at a member institution. In March, many of these people will gather in Kansas City. This spotlight shares what can happen when we connect not only with NetVUE’s resources, but also with the people who create and use them. This is a story about the creativity, innovation, and professional care that can emerge when folks in the network find each other and say “yes” to further conversation.
Two years ago, Angie Morenz, professor of physical education and sports management at Blackburn College (IL), found herself working to understand her recently added role as director of her institution’s center for teaching and learning. Patricia Fecher leads faculty development through teaching and learning initiatives as the associate provost for academic operations at Methodist University (NC). At the 2024 NetVUE Conference in Atlanta, Morenz attended a session with Fecher as a panelist and recognized her as a valuable conversation partner. “It was the first time I intentionally introduced myself to someone after a presentation,” Morenz said. They exchanged contact information—something many conference attendees do—but their follow-up conversations made the real difference. Morenz and Fecher met over Zoom a month later; then, by chance, they reconnected at another conference on pedagogy. They left that event with ideas for future collaboration and regular entries on their calendars that helped them keep the conversation going.
“We realized we don’t have a set of thought partners at our own institutions for the particular work we do, and we found strength in numbers by trying to do more together,” said Fecher. When NetVUE announced the Big Read in 2024, Morenz and Fecher saw an opportunity. Together they designed a joint 2024–2025 program where faculty members and staff from both institutions read sections of Called Beyond Our Selves and gathered twice on Zoom. Even though their two institutions faced different situations and challenges, their partnership deepened the conversations their faculty and staff members were having about vocation on each campus. Just as Morenz and Fecher found value in conversation with each other, the reading group’s participants enriched their own discussions of vocational exploration by finding counterparts within their disciplines and roles. Building on that success, Morenz and Fecher incorporated a chapter from the 2025 Big Read into programming for new faculty members this past fall; they also explored ways to connect to other faculty members using this material.
Cross-campus programming brings many benefits, but its greatest gift lies in building relationships and support. Fecher said, “This is the vision for NetVUE as a network—creating ways for us to support each other with similar needs and goals.” Morenz added, “If you give time for your encounters to marinate, what resources can you pull on from NetVUE to flourish together?” Their key insight was focused not just on how to build a project, but also on how to understand that NetVUE is full of colleagues asking similar questions and striving toward similar goals. “NetVUE has become my professional home outside my institution,” said Morenz. “They’re my people.”
Readers interested in connecting with Morenz and Fecher will have an opportunity to do so this spring at the upcoming national conference. On Friday and Saturday mornings, the pair will host a “Breakfast with a Campus” roundtable entitled “From Story to Strategy.” The discussion will focus on how to maximize NetVUE’s network and its resources for campus collaborations.
Whether you participate in the coming conference in Kansas City, join a webinar, travel to a regional gathering in the coming year, or follow a favorite author on Vocation Matters, the wisdom offered by Morenz and Fecher holds true: NetVUE’s greatest resource is its people. “These are high vibration people,” Morenz said, describing how NetVUE offers opportunities to tap into new creative energy with others eager to collaborate and enact ideas. “NetVUE creates space; the network brings together people with expertise, and those people make connections in real time,” Fecher added. According to these two, when you leave a NetVUE event, you walk away with both a to-do list and a roster of colleagues ready for action. For Fecher and Morenz, one simple conversation after a conference session grew into a partnership that strengthened their professional lives. As you engage with NetVUE in the months ahead, who might you ask to become your conversation partner? And if someone asks you to be theirs, say yes—and let it marinate!
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