The Latest Resources from NetVUE

Storytelling as Vocation | Kiran Singh Sirah

Published March 25, 2025

Kiran Singh Sirah, an award-winning storytelling artist and folklorist, explores the overlap between vocation and story. In this conversation, we discuss how storytelling deepens human connection as part of our callings. Kiran reminds us of the beauty of sharing our individual and communal stories, along with the power of an inspiring and complex narrative. Stories help foster curiosity about our “whole selves” so that we can build relationships that bridge divides and reveal an expansive, shared purpose in a “space of welcome.”

Change Maker | Abel Chávez

Published February 27, 2025

Abel Chávez sees our callings through this important question: what type of ancestor do we want to be? As the tenth president of Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas, Abel explores the contours of our vocations as change makers in our careers and in our communities. Drawing from his experience with Hispanic Serving Institutions, he encourages us to best serve first-generation students by inviting them to explore new pathways and experiences so that they can return to their home communities to provide leadership. Abel reminds us that education has an obligation to engage the challenges and structures in civic life and improve them for the benefit of all. He encourages us to “say yes” and to be committed to ganas—desire—throughout our lives.

Ask Good Questions | Caryn Riswold

Published January 30, 2025

Caryn Riswold believes that conversations about vocation should give greater attention to issues of social justice, identity, and culture. As a professor of religion at Wartburg College, she reminds us that our callings help us to “be human together, better.” In this conversation, Caryn describes how her own dual callings as teacher and public theologian help her pursue such goals. She also suggests that asking good questions is a key for discerning whether our words shed “heat or light” on important and difficult topics in ways that empower others.

Pathos and Vocation: Cultivating Empathy and Purpose Through Emotional Connection | Reginald Bell, Jr.

Published March 12, 2025

The third in Reginald Bell’s series on the relationship between vocation and rhetoric, this post explores the powerful role that pathos plays, not only in cultivating empathy within us, but also as a tool in exploring and discerning our vocations. Bell reflects on his own experiences teaching this rhetorical appeal and harnessing it in the classroom as he guides students to identify their own callings. He pays particular attention to assignments that he’s used in his public speaking and African American rhetoric courses.

Sexual Configurations Theory as a Tool for Vocational Reflection | Kiki Kosnick

Published February 27, 2025

In this post, Kiki Kosnick introduces readers to Sexual Configurations Theory (SCT), which strives to decenter sex and gender in one’s understanding of sexuality and center the diversity of lived experience. Linking to helpful resources, the post weaves theory and practice together in constructive and helpful ways. By the end, Kosnick shows how SCT invites reflection on what matters most to a person and how increasing self-knowledge related to the many dimensions of sexuality can become essential to exploring vocation and direction.

“Voxistential” Crises and Grappling with the Dark Side of Vocation | Jason Mahn

Published February 13, 2025

Jason Mahn opens his post by observing that two important words for our work—existential and vocation—have become ubiquitous in parts of our society and consequently have lost their depth of meaning. In response, he argues that we need to reclaim these terms and use them to grapple more fully with the darker elements of vocation. Reflecting on Bonnie Miller-McLemore’s recent book, Follow Your Bliss and Other Lies About Calling, Mahn offers—with a wonderful sense of humor—several reasons why challenges, obligations, sacrifice, and absurdity are important parts of the vocational journey, and thus serve as necessary vocabularies for working with our students.

Fictional Narratives and Vocational Discernment | David Cunningham

Published February 11, 2025

The use of narrative is essential for those exploring vocation for themselves or with others. Yet how often do we consider the value of fictional narratives for this purpose? In this post, David Cunningham makes a compelling case for the value of using fictional characters as resources for exploring vocational journeys. In particular, he highlights the writing by Steven Mintz, professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin, and his blog series on Inside Higher Ed called “Higher Ed Gamma.” Showcasing Mintz, Cunningham provides examples of how great works of fiction can point us towards important questions about the future.