Check out the NetVUE blog Vocation Matters for a new cohort of bloggers this spring semester.
That cohort includes a team of faculty members at Nebraska Wesleyan University (Lincoln, NE) who will contribute a series on “Major Decisions, Major Discoveries: Exploring Vocation in the Undergraduate Years,” which focuses on how to help students develop meaning and purpose as part of their major coursework. The first posting in the series is featured below and contributors to this series include:
- Gina Chambers, professor of health and human performance
- Karla Jensen, professor of communication studies
- Rita Lester, professor of religion and gender and sexuality studies
- Meghan Winchell, professor of history and associate provost of integrative and experiential learning
Other bloggers in the spring cohort include faculty members from three other NetVUE member institutions:
- Prince Agbedanu, associate professor of biology, Friends University (Wichita, KS)
- Samantha Brown, assistant professor of psychology, Coe College (Cedar Rapids, IA)
- Kiki Kosnick, associate professor of French, Augustana College (Rock Island, IL)
In addition to these new voices on the blog, you will find continuing series from other contributors as well. Here are opening excerpts from two of the most recent posts:
The Meaning of Dinosaurs: Embedding Vocation in the Major
By Meghan Winchell (January 19, 2024)
For Joel, it started with dinosaurs. Reading about them, collecting them as toys, and drawing them stand out among his childhood memories. He filled his wandering map with meaningful moments, including the time a teacher gave him a fossil… As he took stock of 20 years of memories, colorfully scattered across a poster board, he saw a pervasive lifetime love of history that inadvertently led him to his undergraduate major.
Read Blog PostThe Language of Vocation in the Age of AI
By Michael Pasquale (December 29, 2023)
In the rapidly changing landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), our understanding of vocation and career is undergoing significant transformation. In my role as a linguistics professor, I’ve been closely observing how the discussion on AI is reshaping the very language we use to navigate work and calling.
Read Blog PostRecovering Deep Gladness
By Justin D. Klassen (December 19, 2023)
When I introduce students to Frederick Buechner’s adage about being called to “the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet,” I ask them which side of that Venn diagram they think has been underemphasized in their prior learning about vocation. Most often they mention that “the world’s deep hunger” needs more attention. This might be true, or maybe they think it’s what I want to hear. Perhaps they have been told so often that they are part of a self-centered generation that it has made them reluctant to seek their own gladness or name it as valuable. Recently, however, an insightful minority report stood out. A student responded that they might have been told to focus on themselves, but they sure haven’t been encouraged to seek deep gladness. If anything, they’ve been told to focus on themselves by building their resumes.
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