Learning and Networking | The NetVUE Big Read

NetVUE invites member institutions to join this year’s Big Read, which features Bonnie Miller-McLemore’s book, Follow Your Bliss and Other Lies About Calling. A nationally and internationally recognized leader in Christian theology and in women and childhood studies, Miller-McLemore is the author, co-author, or editor of eighteen books, as well as over a hundred chapters and journal articles. Follow Your Bliss and Other Lies About Calling offers a unique opportunity to foster meaningful dialogue among faculty members, staff members, and administrators about the realities of calling—especially in times of uncertainty, burnout, or transition. By participating in the Big Read, faculty members and staff at NetVUE member institutions can discover language, ideas, and prompts from Miller-McLemore’s new book that may be helpful as they explore challenging and worthwhile questions with colleagues and students.

This year, NetVUE is pleased to offer additional resources and events throughout the year to support the planning and implementation of the Big Read program for our member institutions. If you are still deciding whether you can host Big Read programming on your campus—or are just getting started with it—consider these suggestions for ways to launch conversations with your colleagues.

1. Invite your reading group to gather and watch the recording of the recent webinar with Miller-McLemore. In this webinar, Bonnie explores how her book can help individuals and institutions consider together their ongoing callings to the work of higher education. Watching and discussing the webinar together is a great way to introduce your colleagues to the book and to invite them into a conversation about vocation. The recording of the recent NetVUE Big Read Webinar: Exploring Our Callings to Education is available through the NetVUE online community. Log in with your institutional email address and CIC password (you’ll see a “Forgot Password” link if you need it). If you have trouble getting into the site, contact Alex Stephenson, NetVUE communications coordinator, at astephenson@cic.edu, who can give you access.
2. Alternatively, if you’re not ready to begin reading the book, consider inviting your colleagues to lunch or coffee and use NetVUE’s Conversation Cards to explore your vocations together. This initial gathering could serve as an invitation to continue discussions together through participation in the Big Read.
3. Use this reflection exercise to open a conversation together about the book in a way that allows people to center themselves, make space for gratitude, and articulate what reflections and postures they might like to carry forward into their discussion.

You can find additional readings and resources to support your Big Read, as well as more ideas for discussion questions, on the NetVUE Big Read website. This newsletter also provides a short book review of the text and details about more upcoming Big Read webinars, so you can continue to join colleagues from other NetVUE institutions as we explore the book and its themes together.

Institutions that would like to participate in this network-wide conversation can request up to 20 copies of the book (through the institution’s NetVUE campus contact) for a planned reading group. Visit the NetVUE Big Read website to apply to the program and view the range of supporting resources that are on offer.