St. Norbert College joins national Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education as founding member

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From St. Norbert College, December 14, 2009
by Mike Counter, mike.counter@snc.edu, (920) 403-3089

St. Norbert College announced today that it has joined as a founding member the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE), a nation-wide campus-supported network whose purpose is to expand and extend the intellectual and theological exploration of vocation on campuses. NetVUE is a new initiative of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), a national association of more than 600 independent liberal arts colleges and universities.
Through national and regional conferences, the development and exchange of resources and participation in online networking, NetVUE will help institutions deepen vocational exploration by their students. The goals of the network are to share knowledge, best practices and reflection on experiences among campuses while facilitating the incorporation of additional independent colleges and universities into this enterprise. In announcing the launch of NetVUE, CIC president Richard Ekman said, "Over the past several years, the Council of Independent Colleges has made a commitment to advancing vocational exploration as a guiding force in American independent higher education. The concept of vocation emerged as a significant factor from various sources and has been applied in different ways for different campus constituencies. CIC hopes that NetVUE will capitalize on what has been learned about the theological exploration of vocation and how it can be adapted and developed to strengthen colleges and universities, their leadership, and the education they provide for their students."
Julie Massey, director of the program Faith Learning and Vocation at St. Norbert College, says that the college is "thrilled to be a founding member of this network. We see theologically rich explorations of vocation as part of our college's vision for excellence. We are eager to draw on, and contribute to, an active cross-institutional dialogue about the importance of vocation in undergraduate education." NetVUE is generously supported by Lilly Endowment Inc., which has funded similar programs over the years. "We have discovered," said Craig Dykstra, Lilly Endowment's senior vice president for religion, "that structured programs that encourage and guide students in the theological exploration of vocation do indeed help them draw on the wisdom of their religious traditions as they make decisions about their futures and figure out how to lead lives that really matter. We have been approached by hundreds of colleges and universities seeking to enhance their educational programs by incorporating vocational reflection more intentionally into their curricular and co-curricular activities. We are delighted that CIC is committed to sustaining and extending this important conversation and helping colleges across the country to advance their educational missions in this way." For more information about the program Faith Learning and Vocation at St. Norbert College go to http://www.snc.edu/vocation/. You can also visit NetVUE at http://www.cic.edu/NetVUE.