March 12-14, 2009 Indianapolis Marriott Downtown Hotel Indianapolis, IN Application Priority Deadline: November 14, 2008   Conference Brochure (Need Adobe Reader? Download it free from Adobe.)

Conference Links: Invitation to Participate Schedule-at-a-Glance Conference Sessions Additional Activities Call for Proposals, Posters, and Materials Hotel and Travel Info Application Instructions Planning Team CIC gratefully acknowledges the generous support for this program from the Lilly Endowment Inc.

Invitation to Participate

Teams of campus leaders are invited to participate in a conference on “Vocation in Undergraduate Education: Extending the Theological Exploration of Vocation,” which will be held March 12–14, 2009, at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown in Indianapolis, Indiana. This conference (VUE) is designed to foster vocational exploration in campus communities through the formation of a Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE). This new initiative is being administered by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) with generous support from the Lilly Endowment Inc.

Over the past ten years, the Lilly Endowment has funded important initiatives on 88 college and university campuses through its Programs for the Theological Exploration of Vocation (PTEV). Lilly’s direct support of the PTEV effort, including its coordinating role in hosting a series of national conferences for participating institutions, has come to an end. A number of college and university presidents, who are very pleased with the positive, continuing results of these programs on their campuses, asked the Council of Independent Colleges to help develop a national campus-supported network that would expand and extend the conversation about the theological exploration of vocation. With additional support from the Lilly Endowment, interested campus leaders will gather in Indianapolis to launch this new initiative through the inaugural Vocation in Undergraduate Education Conference. All CIC member institutions, as well as the small number of PTEV institutions that are not CIC members, are invited to apply to participate.

The Vocation in Undergraduate Education conference has five major purposes:

The long-range goal, over the course of several years, is that the VUE network will become institutionalized and that participating institutions will assume a larger share of annual conference expenses, eventually committing themselves to sustainable levels of support for this ongoing network for the theological exploration of vocation.

Institutions that would like to be involved in this important initiative are encouraged to submit an application using the form included in this brochure. Each institution is asked to send a three to five member team, led by the president and/or provost, and including several others who play key roles in helping undergraduates think about their vocation in relation to personal development and postgraduate career choices. These campus leaders may include the program director, dean of students, chaplain, and faculty members. The cost of accommodations, meals, and materials will be covered by CIC and the Lilly Endowment. Participating institutions will be expected to pay for the travel expenses of their team members.

Please note that space at the VUE Conference is limited. Applications will be considered based on evidence of institutional commitment to the theological exploration of vocation among undergraduate students and affirmation of conference goals. Applications received by November 14, 2008, will receive priority consideration.

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Schedule-at-a-Glance (Preliminary)

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Conference Sessions

THURSDAY, MARCH 12

3:00–4:30 p.m.

Keynote Address
HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE THIRST FOR MEANING IN LIFE AND WORK

Nathan O. Hatch is the 13th president of Wake Forest University. Prior to his appointment in 2005, he served for 30 years in a variety of academic and administrative roles at the University of Notre Dame, culminating in his appointment as provost in 1996. He is regularly cited as one of the most influential scholars in the study of the history of religion in America. He received national acclaim for his 1989 book The Democratization of American Christianity. He is also the author or editor of seven other books on religion. A graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois, he received his doctoral degree from Washington University in St. Louis. He joined the faculty at Notre Dame in 1975 and was named director of graduate programs in history in 1980. Over the next 25 years, he amassed a strong record of directing undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs, serving as associate dean of the College of Arts and Letters from 1983 until 1988 and as vice president for graduate studies and research from 1989 until his appointment as provost. He also held an appointment as the Andrew V. Tackes Professor of History. From 2000 to 2006, he served on the National Council on the Humanities. Hatch currently is on the board of directors of the American Council on Education and is chair of the NCAA Committee on Athletics Certification. He is also a member of the Business Higher Education Forum and a trustee of the Fuller Theological Seminary.

President Hatch’s address will focus on the challenges that colleges and universities face in providing a framework for students to answer the big questions about meaning in life and in work. As education has become more professional and applied, the academy has fewer resources to address these issues. Yet students and families have never been more interested in the college experience providing insight into a set of questions about the ends of education and about vocation. This disjunction calls for a set of new and creative approaches in the increasingly diverse context of American higher education. The address will explore the efforts of some institutions that effectively embody the best in theological and secular explorations of vocation and consider the role of campus leaders interested in building such programs.

6:45–8:30 p.m.

Dinner Address
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF VOCATIONAL EXPLORATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL MISSION

Beverly Daniel Tatum is the ninth president of Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. She was a faculty member at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Westfield State College, and Mount Holyoke College, where she also served as dean and acting president. Tatum is widely recognized as a scholar, teacher, race-relations expert, and leader in higher education. A clinical psychologist by training, her areas of research include racial identity development and the role of race in the classroom. She earned a BA degree in psychology from Wesleyan University and MA and PhD degrees in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan. She also holds an MA in religious studies from Hartford Seminary. The recipient of numerous honorary degrees, Tatum was awarded the prestigious Brock International Prize in Education in 2005 for her innovative leadership in the field. A member of the President’s Advisory Board for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tatum also serves on such national boards as the Institute for International Education and the Council of Independent Colleges. Her best-selling books include Can We Talk About Race? And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation (2007) and Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race (1997). She is also the author of Assimilation Blues: Black Families in a White Community (1987).

President Tatum will address the significance of undergraduate vocational exploration for furthering the mission of an institution of higher education. Members of a campus community are often eager for campus programs to be in alignment with their understanding of the college’s mission. How can leaders of institutions that value the theological exploration of vocation bring various stakeholders together to understand the importance of supporting this work?

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FRIDAY, MARCH 13

8:30–10:00 a.m.

Plenary with Panel Presentation
THE VARIETIES OF VOCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
What models of campus leadership best facilitate discussions of vocation among faculty members, staff, and students? How can vocational exploration programs provide integration across disciplinary boundaries in differing institutional contexts, and to what degree is this work explicitly or implicitly theological? A panel of outstanding leaders of vocation-related programs from a variety of institutions will explore these questions.

Panelists:

Lucy Forster-Smith, Associate Dean for Religious and Spiritual Life
and Director of the Lilly Project for Vocation and Ethical Leadership, Macalester College

Thomas Albert Howard, Associate Professor of History and Director of
the Jerusalem-Athens Forum, Gordon College

Bryant Marks, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Director of the Morehouse Man Project, Morehouse College

Paul Wadell, Professor of Religious Studies and Coordinator of Faculty-Staff Development for the Program of Faith, Learning, and Vocation, St. Norbert College

Moderator: Ann M. Svennungsen, President, Texas Lutheran University

10:30 a.m.–Noon

Concurrent Sessions
LESSONS LEARNED
What kinds of vocational discernment programs have provided the highest level of institutional impact and have been most cost-effective? Alternatively, when have vocation programs run into dead-ends, derailments, or disasters—and what did they do in response? What role does theology and theological conversation play in these programs? Representatives of campuses with active vocational exploration programs will tell their stories.

1:45–3:00 p.m.

Plenary Address
VOCATION, THE PROFESSIONS,
AND THE LIBERAL ARTS

William F. May is Cary M. Maguire Professor of Ethics Emeritus at Southern Methodist University and currently serves as a fellow of the Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life at the University of Virginia. His work focuses on the intersection of ethics and public policy, with a particular emphasis on bioethics. Because of this focus, he has given considerable attention to the ways in which professionals develop the knowledge and skills needed for ethical reasoning, drawing both on specific pre-professional preparation and on the liberal arts. May served on the Clinton Task Force on Health Care Reform (1993) and on the President’s Council on Bioethics (2002–2004). He founded and chaired the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University, founded and directed the Maguire Center of Ethics at SMU, and is a founding fellow of the Hastings Center for Bioethics. He has received distinguished teaching awards from Indiana University, Southern Methodist University, and the American Academy of Religion. He also received the Alumnal Award for Distinguished Scholarship and Research from Yale Divinity School. His numerous books include Beleaguered Rulers: The Public Obligation of the Professional (2001), The Patient’s Ordeal (1991), and The Physician’s Covenant: Images of the Healer in Medical Ethics (1983; 2nd Edition, 2001). In 2007, he held the chair in American history and ethics
at the Library of Congress.

Professor May’s plenary address will examine issues that lie at the intersection of vocation, the professions, and the liberal arts. In the course of their undergraduate education, students are expected to cross the language barriers among different departments and disciplines. How can programs in the exploration of vocation offer students and faculty members useful approaches to transcend the borders? How can programs in the exploration of vocation help to reaffirm the multiple aims of academic institutions?

4:45–5:45 p.m.

Organizational Meeting
NetVUE: A Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education
The purpose of the organizational meeting is to develop an initial vision and strategy for an ongoing Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education. Possible network activities include subsequent national conferences, regional gatherings, campus exchanges, resource sharing, and other forms of collaboration. The long-range goal, over the course of several years, is that the VUE network will become institutionalized and participating institutions will assume a larger share of annual conference expenses and may eventually commit to supporting the network on an ongoing basis.

Convener: Russell K. Osgood, President, Grinnell College

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SATURDAY, MARCH 14

8:30–10:00 a.m.

Concurrent Sessions
SUSTAINING AND INTEGRATING THE THEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF VOCATION
How can vocational discernment programs be woven into the fabric of the overall campus culture? What steps need to be taken in order to provide the leadership, financial resources, and “cultural capital” necessary to sustain these programs into the future? To what degree do the theological aspects of this conversation help to facilitate a viable ongoing program? Campus representatives will offer insights into the challenges that they have faced—and the conversations that they have fostered—in sustaining and integrating vocational discernment programs within the particular contexts of their own institutions.

10:30–11:45 a.m.

Closing Plenary with Panel Presentation
THE INSTITUTIONAL IMPACT OF VOCATIONAL EXPLORATION PROGRAMS
What has been learned and what is envisioned for the future about the role of vocational exploration as an element of institutional mission? Why should our institutions be making “vocation in undergraduate education” a high priority? How do we navigate differing views about the theology of these programs within our diverse contexts? A distinguished panel of academic leaders will address these questions from within their own institutional contexts, as well as offer a vision for the future.

Panelists:

Bradley Bateman, Provost, Denison University

Joel L. Cunningham, Vice Chancellor and President,
Sewanee: The University of the South

Carol Ann Mooney, President, Saint Mary’s College

Kim S. Phipps, President, Messiah College

Moderator: David S. Guthrie, Academic Dean, Geneva College

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Additional Activities

AN ONGOING CONVERSATION

The VUE conference planning team is persuaded that a successful national network for vocational exploration will build on vibrant programs on each campus to provide opportunities for an ongoing, national, multi-campus conversation. For this reason, the conference’s plenary sessions are intended to be springboards for robust discussion among the participants about the importance of vocation in undergraduate education on their campuses. Participants will be assigned to small groups that will meet at various times throughout the conference. In order to provide ample opportunity for the exchange and development of ideas, each participant will be a member of three different groups.

Campus Role Groups
Twice during the conference, participants will meet with those who are in similar roles at other campuses. Separate groups will be organized for presidents, chief academic officers, directors of vocational exploration programs, campus chaplains, teaching faculty, and other groups as suggested by the roles of team members who register for the conference.

Discussion Groups
On three occasions during the conference, participants will meet in mixed groupings of presidents, provosts, program directors, faculty members, and chaplains from institutions that may differ from one another in size, geographical location, and religious affiliation. The primary purpose of these groups will be to discuss short readings, distributed in advance, and to react and respond to the three plenary addresses at the conference.

Campus Teams
On several occasions during the conference, the three to five members of each campus team will have an opportunity to meet together—sometimes along with a team from another institution. These sessions will give institutions an opportunity to discuss how what is being learned at the conference can be applied to their own campus when they return home.

A FORUM FOR EXCHANGE OF IDEAS AND RESOURCES

One of the goals of the conference is to provide participants with a wide range of resources for the support and development of vocational exploration programs on their own campuses. To this end, the conference will include a number of opportunities for sharing resources and ideas throughout the event.

Resource Tables
Institutions with active programs in vocational exploration will be invited to share brochures and other print materials, as well as information about web-based offerings, DVDs, and similar resources. A number of tables will be available to accommodate the display and distribution of these materials.

Poster Sessions
Space for poster-style presentations will be available to showcase successful campus programs in vocational exploration. Some posters will describe initiatives that will be examined in greater detail during the concurrent sessions.

Publishers’ Exhibit
On matters related to vocation in undergraduate education, one of the most exciting developments over the past decade has been a tremendous increase in the number of high-quality books and reference materials on the subject. A number of publishing houses have responded to the need for a deeper and broader investigation of vocation in a variety of contexts. Representatives from several publishers will exhibit some of their offerings for conference attendees.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS, POSTERS, AND MATERIALS

Participating institutions are invited to develop presentations that showcase their own experience with programs in the theological exploration of vocation and/or other approaches to vocational discernment. Proposals are invited in two general categories:

Review of proposals will begin on November 14, 2008.

Institutions are also invited to display posters that describe some aspect of their vocational discernment program. Space will be made available at the conference for displaying these posters. In addition, institutions are encouraged to bring brochures, newsletters, and other materials that can be displayed or distributed free of charge.

Further information concerning these opportunities will be sent to each team’s contact person upon confirmation of the institution’s participation in the conference.

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Hotel and Travel Information

Indianapolis Marriott Downtown Hotel
350 West Maryland Street
Indianapolis, IN 46225
(317) 822-3500 Phone
(317) 822-1002 Fax

Hotel Reservation Information
Room Rate: $164 single/double

Deadline for CIC Rate: February 13, 2009

CIC will reimburse the expense of each team member’s guest room for the conference dates at the Indianapolis Marriott. However, you must make your own reservation. Once your team has been accepted to participate in the conference, please call (317) 822-3500 and indicate that you are with the “Council of Independent Colleges NetVUE Conference” to reserve your guest room at the conference rate. Please note that reservations made after the deadline cannot be guaranteed and will be accommodated on a room-availability basis.

The newly renovated Indianapolis Marriott Downtown Hotel is connected via skywalk to the Indiana Convention Center and Circle Centre Mall, just steps from Lucas Oil Stadium, White River State Park, NCAA Hall of Champions, Conseco Fieldhouse, and Victory Field and just minutes from the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This four-star hotel has a new look that delivers a functional and stylish sanctuary for travelers. The new classical modern design flows seamlessly from guestrooms to the concierge lounge, and the redesigned public space provides a warm ambiance.

Valet parking is $28 per night. Self-parking is also available at $25 per night.

Driving Directions to the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown Hotel
Take the Airport Expressway to I-70 East to West Street (exit 79A). Turn left onto West Street. Turn right onto Maryland Street. The hotel will be on your left.

View the Indianapolis Marriott on a Map

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Shuttle and Taxi Information
Airport taxicabs are approximately $45 one way to the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown. They run frequently and are available upon exiting the airport.
Carey Limousines is approximately $13 one way from the airport. Advanced reservations can be made by calling (317) 241-7100 or by visiting their website at www.careyindiana.com. A booth is also located near the baggage claim area of the airport for your convenience.

Cancellation Policy
Please send cancellation requests, in writing, to Leslie A. Rogers, CIC Conference Manager, by fax (202) 466-7238 or email lrogers@cic.nche.edu
by February 13, 2009.

Travel Grants
Institutions with limited resources are invited to request grants to subsidize the travel expenses of participating team members. Please submit a letter of request with an explanation of need with the application to participate. Travel grant funds are limited.

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Application Instructions

To apply, please use the application form. Applications received by November 14, 2008, will receive priority consideration.

2009 NetVUE Conference Application Form ()

Completed applications, including institutional program descriptions, should be mailed or faxed to:

Vocation in Undergraduate Education
Council of Independent Colleges
One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 320
Washington, DC 20036-1142
Phone: (202) 466-7230
Fax: (202) 466-7238

Confirmation of your registration will be sent by email. If you do not receive an email confirmation within a few days, please contact Leslie A. Rogers, CIC conference manager, at (202) 466-7230 or by email at lrogers@cic.nche.edu, to verify that your application has been received. Questions regarding program content should be directed to David Cunningham, CIC senior advisor, at dcunningham@cic.nche.edu.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Members of the Planning Team will evaluate applications with attention to (a) evidence of an ongoing robust set of activities fostering the theological exploration of vocation; (b) indication of institutional commitment to continue to develop vocational programs for undergraduate students; (c) willingness to participate in a multi-campus, collaborative effort in the coming years; and (d) composition of institutional teams.

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Planning Team

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Additional questions may be directed to CIC Senior Vice President Harold Hartley at (202) 466-7230 or hhartley@cic.nche.edu.