The language of vocation and calling can encourage faculty and students to venture out of their academic silos and to reflect on larger questions of meaning and purpose. With contributors from across different disciplines, this volume makes a compelling case for vocational reflection and discernment in undergraduate education today.

David S. Cunningham is Professor of Religion at Hope College, where he also serves as Director of the CrossRoads Project and of the Klooster Center for Excellence in Writing. He is the author of five books and editor of three collections on various topics in theology, ethics, and higher education. In 2009, he helped to launch the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE); he currently serves as the Director of the NetVUE Scholarly Resources Project.

• Foreword


• Richard H. Ekman, President, Council of Independent Colleges


• Preface


• Vocations of the Contributors


• Introduction


• Language that Works: Vocation and the Complexity of Higher Education


• David S. Cunningham


• Part One: Calling without Borders: Vocational Themes across the Academy


• Chapter 1


• Vocation is Responsibility": Broader Scope, Deeper Discernment


• Margaret E. Mohrmann


• Chapter 2


• The Conflicts in Our Callings: The Anguish (and Joy) of Willing Several Things


• Jason A. Mahn


• Chapter 3


• Called to Tell Our Stories: The Narrative Structure of Vocation


• Shirley Hershey Showalter


• Part Two: Calling in Context: Fields of Study as Resources for Vocational Reflection


• Chapter 4


• Calling over the Life Course: Sociological Insights


• Catherine Fobes


• Chapter 5


• To Whom Do I Sing, and Why? Vocation as an Alternative to Self-Expression


• David Fuentes


• Chapter 6


• Coordination, Community, Covenant: Insights from Organization Theory


• Michael E. Cafferky


• Chapter 7


• The Art and Science of Vocation: Wisdom and Conscience as Companions on a Way


• Celia Deane-Drummond


• Part Three: Called into the Future: Professional Fields and Preparation for Life


• Chapter 8


• Laboring in the Garden: Vocation and the Realities of Work


• Christine M. Fletcher


• Chapter 9


• Unplugging the GPS: Rethinking Undergraduate Professional Degree Programs


• Jeff R. Brown


• Chapter 10


• Of Doing and Being: Broadening Our Understanding of Vocation


• Jerome M. Organ


• Part Four: Vocation for Everyone: Overcoming Obstacles to the Language of Call


• Chapter 11


• Colleges Have Callings, Too: Vocational Reflection at the Institutional Level


• David S. Cunningham


• Chapter 12


• Religion, Reluctance, and Conversations about Vocation


• Mark U. Edwards, Jr.


• Chapter 13


• Good Teaching: Character Formation and Vocational Discernment


• Mark R. Schwehn


• Epilogue


• Vocabularies of Vocation: Language for a Complex Educational Landscape


• David S. Cunningham


• Index of Names


• Index of Subjects