NetVUE Webinar Opportunity
Improving Your On-Campus Vocation Efforts
Bottom, from left to right : Sheila Bauer-Gatsos; Rebecca Pruitt; Rachel Pickett.
Over the past few months, a significant number of NetVUE institutions hosted Focused Consultations on their campuses to strategize about vocation-related work. In this webinar, we will hear from Deirdre Egan-Ryan of St. Norbert College (WI), Cynthia Grobmeier of Saint Xavier University (IL), and Jonathan Redding of Nebraska Wesleyan University, each of whom brought NetVUE consultants to their campuses. They will discuss their student programming and professional development offerings, in addition to the benefits of working with an external expert. Two NetVUE consultants with whom they worked, Sheila Bauer-Gatsos of Dominican University (IL) and Rebecca Pruitt of Lewis University (IL), will be on hand to offer their thoughts as well. The webinar will be hosted by Rachel Pickett, NetVUE webinar coordinator. In addition to participating in a thoughtful discussion, you may discover ways to improve your own campus’s vocation-related offerings.
We will gather on Monday, November 18, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern (12:00 p.m. Central, 11:00 a.m. Mountain, 10:00 a.m. Pacific). The webinar is open to anyone at a NetVUE member institution at no cost, but registration is required.
NetVUE Opportunity
Writing Vocation—A Colloquy for Future Contributors: Call for Applications
NetVUE is pleased to announce a new opportunity for those who work at member institutions to develop their craft as writers. The “Writing Vocation” colloquy—which will take place February 28–March 2, 2025—will allow participants to deepen their understanding of and hone their skills in writing about vocation. This opportunity is open to writers from all disciplines, in any institutional role, and with any level of experience; most seminar costs, including materials, lodging, meals, and a generous travel stipend, are made possible through the support of Lilly Endowment Inc.
During this event, three NetVUE staff members (Geoffrey Bateman, Krista Hughes, and Erin VanLaningham) will facilitate a series of sessions in which participants will explore how to write about vocation in different genres and for different audiences, to develop possible projects, and to create a writing plan for their work. Throughout the weekend, participants will also have time to do some writing and consult individually with colloquy leaders. Up to fifteen participants will be selected through competitive application, which is due by December 16. For questions, please contact Erin VanLaningham, director of the NetVUE Scholarly Resources Project, at evanlaningham@cic.edu.
NetVUE Regional Gathering
Non-Violence and/as Vocation: An AAR/SBL Pre-Conference
NetVUE will host a regional gathering on the theme of “Nonviolence and/as Vocation,” which will take place immediately preceding the annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature (AAR/SBL). Aligning with the 2024 AAR theme (“Violence, Nonviolence, and the Margins”) and building on previous NetVUE pre-conference meetings, this event considers how we, as educators in the field of religious studies and theology, might confront the issues surrounding violence in our world, with particular attention to helping our students see nonviolence as a vocation. The gathering takes place in San Diego, CA and runs from Thursday, November 21, at 2:00 p.m. through Friday, November 22 at noon. The cost for those from member institutions is only $25. Please register by Monday, November 18.
NetVUE Regional Gathering
Vocation and the Common Good: The Call of Belonging and Community
Make plans now to attend the first NetVUE regional gathering of the spring semester! The trees will already be flowering in Greenville, South Carolina, when Furman University hosts Vocation and the Common Good: The Call of Belonging and Community. This event takes place February 20–22, 2025; as usual, the event is heavily subsidized, so participants from NetVUE member institutions pay only $100, which includes all meals and two nights’ lodging.
Celebrating the new NetVUE volume Called Beyond Our Selves: Vocation and the Common Good, this regional gathering will feature some of the contributing writers to the volume. We will consider how we might invite students to see their lives as connected with others’ well-being, which can shift the ways that we define meaning, purpose and success. Participants will have the opportunity to consider how we know and live into our place in the world—and how we encourage students to discern vocations for the common good. For complete information, visit the Furman University event site.
NetVUE Professional Development
The New Staff Seminar
NetVUE’s first summer seminar for full-time staff will take place June 16–20, 2025, in Memphis, Tennessee. This new offering—Vocation Across Campus: Supporting Students’ Search for Meaning—is designed for staff who direct campus programs or serve in other long-term administrative capacities, but who do not also hold faculty appointments. All participant expenses are paid for this five-day seminar, including a generous travel reimbursement.
Facilitated by experienced NetVUE leaders Julie Massey (St. Norbert College) and Richard Sévère (Valparaiso University), the seminar will strengthen campus leaders’ capacities to support students as they explore and discern their many callings in life. The deadline for nominations is November 18. For any questions, contact Rachael Baker, NetVUE director of professional development, at rbaker@cic.edu.
