Messiah University awarded a multi-year grant to help students explore and discover their vocational calling

Messiah University awarded a multi-year grant to help students explore and discover their vocational calling

Messiah University is among a select group of members in the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) chosen to receive a Program Development Grant from the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC). Messiah will use the $58,991 grant from May 1, 2024, through April 30, 2026, to deepen vocational exploration and discernment among undergraduate students. NetVUE Program Development Grants are made possible through generous financial support to the CIC by Lilly Endowment Inc.

“Funding from this NetVUE grant will have a significant and long-lasting impact on our efforts to help students discern and live out their Christian vocation. The activities supported by this grant will play a pivotal role supporting Messiah educators in their design and implementation of signature features of our new general education program,” said Cynthia Wells, Messiah University’s associate dean for faculty development/director, Ernest L. Boyer Center and professor of higher education.

Messiah University grant project summary

Messiah University will use the NetVUE grant to help equip undergraduate students to discern their vocational call, using their unique gifts to serve as agents of renewal and reconciliation for the common good. The grant project will expand and deepen vocational formation as part of Messiah’s new general education curriculum, which will launch in fall 2024. Specifically, this project will equip faculty to engage students in vocational reflection around the common content embedded in two new interdisciplinary courses, “First Year Seminar” and “Ethics and the Common Good.” Grant-supported initiatives include selecting a cohort of Faculty Fellows who will help design and implement a series of faculty development activities aligned with project goals, including faculty retreats, a resource toolkit and lunch dialogues. The grant also supports educator workshops and a chapel program for first-year students designed to advance an institutional culture of support for vocational discernment and reflection.

“Our world needs graduates who know how to discern and act upon their vocational callings to make a positive difference in their communities. We are grateful for the opportunity to prepare our faculty and launch our new general education curriculum well through the support of the NetVUE grant,” said Kate Oswald Wilkins, dean of general education and common learning/director of assessment/accreditation liaison officer and professor of communication at Messiah University.

Messiah formed the following project advisory council to collaborate on the grant proposal that will now also oversee the implementation of the project:

• Devin Manzullo-Thomas, assistant professor of American religious history and interdisciplinary studies/university archivist/director of the Sider Institute/director of first year courses;
• Kate Oswald Wilkins, dean of general education and common learning/director of assessment/accreditation liaison officer/professor of communication;
• David Weaver-Zercher, assistant provost/distinguished professor of American religious history;
• Cynthia A. Wells, associate dean for faculty development/director, Ernest L. Boyer Center, professor of higher education/NetVUE campus contact.

“We have outstanding educators who have long been committed to supporting and mentoring students as they discern their vocational callings. I am deeply grateful to NetVUE for their generous funding and to the Messiah project advisory council for guiding development opportunities for our faculty in two interdisciplinary themes of our general education program: Love of God and Neighbor and Ethics and the Common Good,” said Alison Noble, interim provost at Messiah University.

About NetVUE

The Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) is a nationwide network of 300 colleges and universities formed to support and enrich vocational exploration and discernment among undergraduate students. A program of the Council of Independent Colleges, NetVUE is supported by the generosity of Lilly Endowment Inc. and member dues. CIC administers NetVUE with guidance from an advisory council comprising representatives from participating institutions.

About Messiah University

Founded in 1909 and located near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Messiah University is a nationally ranked, private Christian university of the liberal and applied arts and sciences that enrolls 3,320 undergraduate and graduate students.