From May 2020–December 2022, the Lutheran Center administered the “Connecting with Purpose: Expanding Vocational Reflection and Deepening Community in the Undergraduate Experience” grant, awarded by the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Experience (NetVUE).
Full list of grant activities:
Communities of Practice – Summer 2020–Fall 2020
Engaged over 60 faculty and staff in these communities focused on:
- Academic Civic Engagement and International and Off-Campus Study Programs
- Advising and Mentorship for First-Generation and Low-Income Students
- Classroom Instruction
- Co-curricular Programs
- First-Year Seminar Program
- Integrating Academic and Vocational Reflection on Internships
- Ministry/Faith-Based Pathways
- Center for Undergraduate Research and Inquiry (CURI) Program
We recorded three sharing sessions, featuring the work of each Community of Practice (sharing session #1, #2, and #3)
Engaged Faculty Institute Vocation Workshop – January 2021
Following up on the Engaged Faculty Institute, around 10 faculty attended this follow-up workshop on vocation.
Pedagogical Pilot Projects – Spring 2021–December 2022
The First Year Experience: The Vocation of Being a Student – Bridget Draxler and Anne Berry
Community-Based Research in Early Childhood Development – Dana Gross
IOS/Piper Center Workshops – Paul Edwards and Theresa Heath
Religion, Politics, and Society in Jerusalem and Athens – Jason Ripley
Empowering Middle/High School Students to Affect Social Change through the Rhetoric of Greta Thunberg – Jenna Coughlin
DISCO Pedagogical Pilot – Ezra Plemons
Performing Ethnography: Creating for Social Justice and Social Change – Elaigwu Ameh
Eboo Patel’s Interfaith Leadership for the 21st Century Workplace Seminar – Spring and Fall 2021
This seminar featured Eboo presenting on interfaith competencies and alumni/Piper Center staff offering their experiences with navigating religious diversity in the workplace.
Interfaith Understandings of Vocation – Spring 2021
Featured 5 alumni, Branden Grimmett, Laura Crosskey, Maren Aspaas, Emery Utevsky, and Satveer Chaudhary, sharing the role their faith/religious traditions/core commitments have played in their vocational discernment and how those aspects of their identity impacted their course of study at St. Olaf as well as their career paths since graduation. Here is a recording of the panel.
Recasting Vocation in a New Planetary Era – Spring 2021
Building upon Assistant Professor of Religion and Environmental Studies Kiara Jorgenson’s Ecology of Vocation: Recasting Calling in a New Planetary Era, a panel of scholars and practitioners reflected on the intersections of Lutheran identity and institutional ecological vocation amid the losses and pressures of climate change. Here is a recording of the panel.
Defining Vocation Anew Summer Workshop – Summer 2021
A seminar for faculty and staff to explore together how we at St. Olaf will define vocation in ways that are accessible and engaging not just for our students but for all members of the community.
CURI Activities – Summer 2021 and Summer 2022
In summer 2021, offered a lunch and dinner panel for CURI students around vocation and engaged 16 research teams in faculty-led conversations about research and vocation. In summer 2022, offered a staff panel on research and vocation for CURI students.
Engaged Departments – Summer 2021–Summer 2022
The Physics and Music departments went through the Engaged Department process with a focus on vocation. Alyssa Melby and Rehanna Kheshgi presented about the Engaged Department model at a Spring 2022 CILA lunch and at the NetVUE National Gathering in March 2022.
CILA Lunch – Fall 2021
Dana Gross, Anne Berry, Bryan Shealer, and Sian Christie presented about their pedagogical pilot projects.
Vocation Video, Definition, and Website – Summer 2021–December 2022
The vocation video and definition can be found on our vocation website.
CILA Lunch – Spring 2022
Alyssa Melby and Rehanna Kheshgi presented about the Engaged Department model.
First-Year Experience Workshop on Vocation – Spring 2022
Engaged 15 faculty and staff in thinking about ways to integrate vocation into the First-Year Experience.
Faculty Advising Workshop – Fall 2022
Engaged 14 faculty advisors in discussing prompts, resources, and strategies that can be useful for encouraging vocational reflection with students.
CILA Lunch – Fall 2022
Jenna Coughlin, Ezra Plemons, and Elaigwu Ameh presented about their pedagogical pilot projects.