College leaders from around the country, and one from England, gathered at Hope College for a conference on a topic central to the Hope way of preparing students for life and career: “Integrating Vocation in the Academic Disciplines.”
The conference, held on Thursday-Saturday, May 29-31, was planned by the college’s Boerigter Center for Calling and Career in partnership with the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE), which is a program of the Council of Independent Colleges. It was further sponsored by the college’s Center for Ministry Studies through a generous grant by the Lilly Endowment Inc. and by the Boerigter Center.
Multiple members of the Hope faculty and staff contributed their perspective and expertise as featured speakers and workshop facilitators, but they and the other 50 participants were learners as well as teachers during the event. In the best collegial tradition, the gathering presented an opportunity for everyone to share experiences, insights and ideas, and together enhance students’ education at not just one, but all.
“The conference was inspired by a NetVUE grant Hope held from 2019 to 2022, in which Hope further expanded vocational exploration across campus by funding and guiding 10 disciplinary course redesigns representing nine different academic departments,” said Dr. Ryan White, who is the associate dean for leadership development and applied learning at Hope, and was among the presenters. “Hope and NetVUE sought to share some of the learning from our work of integrating content into classes through an event that was both conference and workshop for faculty.”
In addition to White, who presented “Be. Here. Now: In-Class Contemplative Practices and the Vocation of the Present,” the members of the Hope faculty and staff participating as speakers and session facilitators included:
- Dr. Jeanne Petit, who is the Betty Roelofs ’53 Miller Professor of History and department chair, and Shannon Schans, who is assistant director of applied learning, who co-presented “Integrating Vocation and Career Readiness in the History Curriculum: A Vision for Partnership Between Academic Departments and Career Services”; and
- Dr. Lindsey Root Luna, who is dean of social sciences and professor of psychology and neuroscience, and Shonn Colbrunn, who is executive director of the Boerigter Center for Calling and Career, who facilitated disciplinary discussion groups.
Hope’s Boerigter Center for Calling and Career is a college-wide initiative that seeks to inspire students to engage in lifelong practices of career development by emphasizing discernment, preparation and pursuit. Programming for the Boerigter Center is designed to enable all Hope students, beginning in their first semester, to understand their strengths, engage in experiences that directly connect to career preparation, discern vocational and life goals, and ascertain clear next steps toward their future.
The center provides guidance and opportunities for career exploration throughout students’ years at Hope. In their first year, students take assessments to help them better understand their strengths and interests, and gain information about academic majors and careers related to those strengths and interests. As sophomores, they declare a major and can pursue internships in their fields of interest, a process that continues the next year. The junior year focuses on networking and interview preparation and practice, with the senior year emphasizing the job search or graduate-school planning.
The Boerigter Center for Career and Calling, which opened in the fall of 2018, was made possible by a major gift from SoundOff Signal in honor of founder and chairman George Boerigter, who is a 1961 Hope College graduate, and his wife, Sibilla. Based in Hudsonville, SoundOff Signal provides high-tech safety lighting solutions across the globe.
NetVUE is a nationwide network of more than 300 colleges and universities formed to support and enrich vocational exploration and discernment among undergraduate students. It is administered by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and supported by the generosity of Lilly Endowment Inc. and member dues.
Hope is a founding member of NetVUE, which was launched in 2009, and the college’s connection to the network includes having hosted the program’s national office for five years. NetVUE’s executive director since 2017 has been Dr. David Cunningham, professor of theology at Aquinas College, who was a member of the Hope religion faculty from 2003 to 2022. Cunningham came to Hope as director of the college’s CrossRoads Project, which was funded through Lilly Endowment’s Programs for the Theological Exploration of Vocation (PTEV). PTEV ultimately supported initiatives at 88 colleges and universities around the country, with the programs’ positive impact leading presidents to ask CIC to create what became NetVUE.