WILSON, N.C. — June 2, 2015 — NetVUE (Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education), a program administered by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), has awarded Barton College a $36,700 two-year grant to develop a program intended to provide Barton students with an opportunity to reflect upon vocation.
The program, titled Life Matters, is housed within the Center for Religious Studies at Barton College, and is a joint enterprise with the Office of Student Success and the Office of the Chaplain. The program is not simply a career choice program. Rather, the program will lead students in reflecting holistically on the shape of their lives and ask each student to consider how vocation fits within that vision. Further, the program will encourage students to consider how their vocations can contribute to the greater good.
The Life Matters program will serve Barton College’s mission of “providing programs and opportunities to encourage the intellectual, spiritual, social, and cultural development of its students and to challenge them for future leadership and service to their local and global communities.”
The program will develop student cohorts that will meet for dialog with each other and faculty advisors and for meals with guest speakers who will share their own narratives. At the end of each of year during the grant, students will participate in a retreat that will help them synthesize and incorporate their developing understanding of vocation. In addition to guiding the cohorts, faculty and staff leaders will develop one-hour classes offered in a series of topics such as “Success,” “Fear of Failure,” “Happiness,” “Friendship,” “Voices of Authority,” “Community,” and “My Story,” and “Resiliency [or Grit].” These classes will be available to cohort members and any interested Barton students, and will provide a point of engagement with students outside the program.
The program’s leadership includes Dr. Rodney Werline (chair), Angie Walston, the Reverend Jamie Eubanks, Zac Bailes, Dr. Susan Bane, and Kaitlyn Kosuda.
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