CIC’s Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) now serves over 300 member institutions and organizations, sixteen of which have joined for the 2023 membership year. Since the beginning of 2023, CIC has awarded over $1.5 million in grants to NetVUE member institutions; in addition, sixteen institutions will send faculty members to this summer’s NetVUE seminar, Teaching Vocational Exploration.
The members of NetVUE range greatly—in size, geographic location, Carnegie classification, and religious affiliation (or lack thereof)—and this year’s new members are no exception. They include large research universities, HBCUs and HSIs, selective liberal arts colleges, and faith-based institutions.
NetVUE seeks to increase the capacity of independent colleges and universities to support their undergraduate students as they explore and discern their many callings in life. This process of vocational reflection is an interdisciplinary endeavor, bringing together theological, philosophical, ethical, historical, and affective approaches, implementing the theoretical reflections of these fields in vocation-related practices. Campuses are encouraged to support students through curricular and co-curricular programming; this takes place within a variety of academic departments, pre-professional programs, and campus offices (variously including career services, student success centers, advising programs, offices of religious or spiritual life, athletic programs, and many more).
Through the generosity of Lilly Endowment Inc., CIC is able to award substantial grants to NetVUE member institutions to help them achieve these goals. This allows individual institutions to shape their work related to vocation and calling 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. In February, leaders at 18 campuses received the first half of a two-year award of up to $40,000 through NetVUE’s Grants for Reframing the Institutional Saga; in May, another 18 institutions received the first half of funding for Program Development Grants, a two-year award of up to $50,000. In July, CIC will award grants through two additional NetVUE programs: Professional Development Awards and Vocation across the Academy Grants.
In June of this year, sixteen faculty members from across the country will gather in Indianapolis, Indiana, for the sixth annual NetVUE faculty seminar, Teaching Vocational Exploration. These teacher-scholars were selected this past fall through a competitive process, having been nominated by the chief academic officer at their institution. This week-long gathering provides an opportunity for faculty members to examine the concept of vocation, to develop new courses or course materials, and to become part of a broader network of educators who are committed to fostering vocational exploration among their students. CIC covers all costs for seminar participants, including food, lodging, and a travel stipend. As of this summer, 100 faculty members will have participated in the seminar; many of them describe it as a career highlight, and their institutions have profited from the knowledge and networks that they bring back to campus.
More information about NetVUE programs and services is available on the CIC website at https://www.cic.edu/programs/NetVUE. Questions may be directed to David S. Cunningham, director of NetVUE, at (616) 632-1060 or at dcunningham@cic.edu.
