"A Sense of Vocation" Program
"A Sense of Vocation" is a multi-year program established at Luther College in 2002 through the generosity of the Lilly Endowment's "Programs for the Theological Exploration of Vocation." The gifts support wide-ranging campus initiatives that integrate the concept of vocation more fully into the intellectual and residential life of the college.
From the beginning, the primary goal of Luther’s Sense of Vocation program has been to equip students to respond to their callings and to live lives centered in their faith and values. The implementation grant of $2 million concluded successfully in August 2007. September 1, 2007 marked the beginning of the second phase. Responding to six years of experience, we have re-organized some of the program activities designed to provide these experiences in order to create a stronger framework for strengthening student, faculty, and staff understanding of vocation and call.
With matching support from Lilly Endowment, Luther College continues to strengthen and sustain key initiatives under each of the three major program components as outlined below.
The Program includes the following features:
General Program Initiatives are those activities that impact the college as a whole, where we focus efforts on educating faculty, staff, and students about the theological underpinnings of the concept of vocation and deepen campus conversations about the discernment of call and vocation. General Program include the following programs:
- Vocation Visitors program for ten visitors in 2008, eight visitors in 2009, and six visitors in 2010. Invitations to Luther alumni are a particular focus of the program.
- Workshop on the Dialogue of Faith and Learning for rising 2nd-year faculty and the Faculty Mentoring Program: It features mentoring trios of 2nd-year, 4th-year, and senior faculty members to sustain a campus-wide conversation about vocation.
- The Vocation Advising Workshop for faculty continues in a two-day format with an average of 15 participants per year Annual updates of the Advising Handbook.
- Paideia II Vocation Curriculum Development award.
A Church Ministry Vocation Program that strengthens programs for prospective, current, and alumni students discerning calls to church ministry and lay leadership. To continue efforts to engage students in exploring ministry opportunities, the following programs are being supported:
- Vocation Fellowships are awarded to selective students, with the mandatory pre-application and post-experience retreats.
- DIAKONOS/Discernment Conversations and Seminary Visits
- Lutherlag/Church Leaders Retreat to support a maximum of 10 participants per summer, Alumni Vocational Discernment Retreat for young church leader alumni supports a maximum of 10 participants per summer.
- The WIYLDE Initiative for prospective students. The three ELCA synods involved and their participants also contribute a share.
An All-Student Vocation Program that includes major initiatives in advising and curriculum to deepen the sense of vocation held by all students, regardless of their professional goals. It is a series of vocation events offered to all Luther students at major junctures of their college career.
- New Student Orientation is designed to introduce students to the concept of vocation in its fullest sense, through conversations with advisors, Paideia class meetings, and two all-college lectures held during the first week of the fall semester. The program also to provides a select number of copies of the Paideia Summer Reading book to Luther faculty and staff.
- Peer Mentor Program supports upper-level students who serve as mentors for first-year students in Paideia and other courses.
- The Advising Initiative supports first-year advisors to help students work successfully through transition to college, through small group and one-on-one meetings during both semesters.
"Sense of Vocation" Collection, Preus Library
Preus Library has been collecting vocation-related materials through funds made available by the "Sense of Vocation" Planning and Implementation Grants. For ease of access, all materials are cataloged as part of the "Sense of Vocation Collection." Selecting the link above uses a title search to bring up all materials purchased under these grants. Selecting the "Limit this Search" button at the top of the catalog page allows the user to reorganize the list by publication date, rather than alphabetical listing by title.