Learning and Networking | Join Us for Upcoming Regional Gatherings

Telling Honest Stories as a Calling in Higher Education 

An important part of our institutional work is telling accurate and compelling stories about who we are. From admissions to marketing to official histories, our institutions articulate the importance of understanding the places from which we have come; this understanding helps us lay a foundation for the places we inhabit, our collective identities, and our future directions. Inspired by St. Olaf College’s Land Acknowledgement (which calls the college to honest storytelling about its history), a group of staff and faculty members from the college spent a year and a half researching and telling untold and “undertold” stories from the college’s history.   

This regional gathering builds on the work of this group and examines how colleges tell honest stories about their places, their people, and their purposes. Participants will explore this kind of storytelling as a collaborative and institution-wide process. They will also consider the challenges that arise when uncovering these stories, as well as ways to imagine integrating them into larger vocational narratives about their institutions.  

The event begins at 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 11, and concludes at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, October 13 (note the atypical days of the week for this event). For more details about the event schedule and logistics, visit the St. Olaf NetVUE Regional Gathering website. Space is limited, and the deadline is almost immediate: Friday, September 11 is the last day to register, and those registering near or at the deadline must make a hotel reservation immediately (or risk not getting a room!).  

NetVUE’s gathering at the AAR/SBL Annual Meeting offers attendees an enriching opportunity to connect with each other prior to the conference and explore a facet of vocation that resonates with the meeting’s theme. This year, participants will deliberate on the worth and limits of our vocation as citizens. At least since the Reformation and the early modern creation of the nation-state, accounts of a person’s vocation almost always include a calling toward citizenship—and often, obedience to the rule of law and support for governmental officials. At the same time, many who have worked for justice and the common good (often within the context of religious belief) have understood their vocations as demanding protest against injustice and advocacy for the marginalized—think of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Dorothy Day, or Jesus of Nazareth. Today, in the face of partisan divides as the rule of law is hotly contested—sometimes violently—the conflicts among these callings are on full display.  

The event begins at 2 p.m. on Thursday, November 19, and concludes at noon on Friday, November 20. You can find more information about the event schedule, presenters, logistics, and registration information on the NetVUE website. Registration is now open; the deadline to register is Thursday, November 12.

In a time of rapid technological change, educators and other higher education professionals need a space to reflect on how to best prepare students, not just for careers, but for meaningful lives of service, purpose, and resilience. Offering such a space, AdventHealth University will host a NetVUE Regional Gathering that focuses on exploring the future of higher education at the intersection of vocational formation and Whole Person Education—an approach that centers the individual in all that it does. 

Guiding questions for this event are: 

• How can we prepare students to discern purpose and calling amid rapid social and technological change? 

• What practices promote whole-person development in AI-enhanced learning environments? 

• How can educators model and mentor vocation-centered discernment in the digital age? 

• What frameworks support integration of Whole Person Education and vocation in both traditional and tech-forward educational settings? 

• How do we retain our values, identities, and spiritual growth in increasingly virtual and automated learning contexts? 

The event begins on Thursday, December 3, and concludes at noon on Saturday, December 5. To learn more about the schedule, speakers, logistics, and cost, as well as how to register, visit the AdventHealth University NetVUE Regional Gathering website. Registration is open, with a deadline of Tuesday, November 10.