Celebrating Our Shared Work | 2025 Vocation Across the Academy Grants

Belmont University (TN) will launch cohort-based learning experiences for staff and faculty members to strengthen connections between curricular and co-curricular learning, with a focus on vocational integration and career planning across the institution. Through Belmont University’s general education curriculum, vocation-related inquiry will be intentionally woven into multiple stages of the student experience. Key deliverables include a dedicated learning module, faculty development events, and a mini-grant program to incentivize course redesigns that more explicitly integrate virtue-centered vocational discernment with career development. These initiatives will be assessed for impact and, drawing on the findings, expanded over several years from the general education core into required, discipline-specific courses across the majors.

Drury University (MO) will create a robust ecosystem that integrates ethical, community-engaged learning into first- and second-year experiences for all students. Expanding on existing programs for juniors and seniors, the initiative will engage students earlier to explore purpose and calling while strengthening professional preparation. Partnering with local nonprofit organizations and community leaders, Drury will deepen its historic community ties through site visits, student panels, conferences, classroom collaborations, and active involvement of graduates committed to vocational discernment and reflection. The project seeks to remove financial barriers so all students can participate in meaningful vocation-related formation and community-engaged learning throughout their four years.

Eastern Mennonite University (VA) seeks to support first-generation students in their vocational exploration through mentoring and new programs for self-assessment and reflection. Graduates and upper-level students will serve as mentors, meeting in small groups with first-generation, first-year students to discuss topics drawn from recent literature on vocational reflection among first-generation learners. Grant funding will provide resources to celebrate National First-Generation College Day, establish on-campus internship and work opportunities for undergraduates, and develop a leadership course to prepare student mentors. By beginning strategically with first-generation students, this project aims to extend outward over time, encouraging all students to intentionally examine vocation-related questions as part of their educational journey.

King University (TN) will strengthen its commitment to vocational exploration through summer seminars, discernment sessions, and faculty orientation designed to foster vocational understanding across the institution. Building on its current vocation program, the university will implement an initiative that promotes reflection, writing, and action on individual vocation, deepening vocational discernment among staff and faculty members. The project will also expand career services, integrating vocational themes into student engagement and developing new approaches to help students reflect on life and work after graduation. Together, these efforts aim to create a sustainable vocational culture that supports the professional and personal growth of students, staff, and faculty members.

The University of Findlay (OH) will launch a transdisciplinary undergraduate initiative developed in collaboration with key community stakeholders. The program’s goals include advancing vocational exploration, character development, ethical leadership formation, community and civic engagement, advocacy, and personal reflection. Students will engage in immersive community and civic experiences, follow integrated general education pathways, and complete culminating research projects addressing complex, persistent challenges facing the local region. Through this project, vocational exploration, character development, and ethical leadership formation will be intentionally embedded throughout all four years of the undergraduate experience.