Sessions

This closing plenary session addresses the current crisis of ethical leadership in local, national, and global communities, as well as the complex issues and challenges of leading ethically at the intersections of life worlds and systems. Those who are called to stand at these intersections—where worlds collide—must take on work that is, at best, hazardous duty. When leaders ask people to change, they must expect resistance.

Every institution has stories to tell about its origin and its history—and some of those stories are painful, potentially shameful when viewed through a contemporary lens, or at least out of touch with the institution’s current reality. During the past few years, NetVUE Grants for Reframing the Institutional Saga have been employed by member institutions […]

This session will share a concise summary of the research findings of two qualitative dissertation projects on the development of vocation and calling among college students. One study examined the essence of calling development through the framework of social cognitive career theory at a regional public university. Another study considered how calling developed among undergraduate […]

This session will explore how the Belmont University (TN) Purpose Mentorship Program empowers undergraduate juniors and seniors to walk alongside alumni mentors as they embark on a transformative journey of self-discovery and purposeful living. Reflecting the NetVUE conference theme (“Vocation for the Life of the World”), speakers will highlight the role of mentorship and vocational exploration […]

This session shares initial lessons from Marquette University (WI)’s current NetVUE Program Development Grant, “Curricular Foundations for Vocational Exploration in an Interdisciplinary Context.” The project supports an early introduction of vocational exploration through the Marquette Core Curriculum’s required interdisciplinary course, counteracting a tendency to delay vocational exploration until shortly before graduation. The session outlines the […]

In 2023, Library and IT instructional staff at St. Olaf College (MN) began crafting a “literacies framework” to undergird their work. Definitions and learning outcomes were developed around areas such as information, data, media, and maker literacies. Shortly after this work began, the importance of connecting this framework to vocation became clear. This session will […]

The University of Dallas (TX) transformed its career development office and overcame budget cuts and staff reductions by means of a NetVUE Vocation across the Academy Grant. They established the UD Odyssey program, which emphasizes that vocation is where a person’s deep happiness and the world’s deep needs meet. UD Odyssey’s three main components include […]

Northwestern College (IA) is currently on the Open Pathway for accreditation through the Higher Learning Commission. In response to the Open Pathway’s Quality Initiative (QI) requirement, the college is implementing a two-year project focused on vocation: Pursuing the Common Good Through Vocational Thriving. Guided by an eight-person task force of faculty members and staff, Northwestern […]

Facilitators will discuss the design and assessment of vocational exploration projects based on equity-based teaching practices. They will demonstrate that vocational exploration and discernment can become a wider discursive framework that naturally connects equity-based teaching strategies to assessment. On the one hand, reflection and discernment require providing opportunities for meaning-making and success to all students, […]