Called to Understand and Advocate for the Common Good
This generation of students will live their lives in times of unprecedented environmental, economic, and social change. They sometimes naively assume that solutions to these problems will be individualistic and technological, driven by iconoclasts like Elon Musk. They may not have considered the degree to which they themselves might have a vocation to shape the changes they hope to see in the world. This keynote presentation will urge us, as leaders in independent higher education, to encourage our students to consider their potential callings to become confident, strategic diplomats: future leaders and citizens who are able to thoughtfully plot out a course of action with others, who can bring skeptics along, and who understand in a deep way the power of relationships to move the needle on wicked problems. NetVUE member institutions can work together to develop just such a strategy, but doing so will require a deeper commitment to engaging with hard philosophical and theological questions.