Sessions

How do our vision and practices of faith formation evolve with changes in student demographics, denominational structures, and cultural views toward religion? In this session, participants will explore faith formation on their campuses, give thought to who holds the work at their institutions, and consider whether a similar renewal process would be enlivening at their colleges and universities.

As Black college students traverse the current landscape, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) maintain their established purpose: to provide education to Black people when most colleges and universities are inaccessible. Akin to the work of bell hooks in Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope (2003), the purpose of this session is to offer hope through reflection and conversation.

With NetVUE grant support, Luther College and Augustana College have each produced an anthology of essays exploring how their Lutheran roots and ethnic identities have contributed to their institutional vocations.

How does an institution shift culture in order to embolden faculty members and staff to embrace a vocation mindset? This session will explore how Loras College and Point Loma Nazarene University have each worked to build a campus-wide culture of vocation.

Through a two-year NetVUE Program Development Grant, Abilene Christian University (TX) recently launched the Vocational Integration for Every Wildcat (VIEW) program to guide faculty members in creating and integrating student-centered formational initiatives into their academic programs. This work evolved out of a shared campus definition of vocation and enables faculty members to renew their own sense of vocation, imagine how they might enhance the vocational formation of students in their departments, and consider opportunities to be neighbors, co-learners, and co-laborers.

This presentation will highlight the process King’s College used to engage our entire campus community in telling previously untold stories, illuminating our commitment to mission and the values of our founding order, the Congregation of Holy Cross.

Participants will learn about the Carthage College Callings program’s methodology, which begins by emphasizing professional development for staff and faculty members, followed by conversation-based, vocational discernment pedagogy with students. Session participants will be introduced to the program’s curriculum, which consists of five “Big Ideas”; they will then workshop one of these, focusing on reflection skills that can be shared with students.

This session will continue creating spaces for leaders by focusing on the work we do with others. Discussions will focus on what worked, what helped us feel seen and heard, and what moved participants forward from Part 1 to work with various stakeholders.