What is vocation?

In her book Everyday Grace (Riverhead Books, 2002), Marianne Williamson challenges the reader by asking: "If life is to have deeper meaning, can our work be something we merely do to make money? Or can work itself become sacred, a channel through which we shine our light and extend our love?"

Williamson gets to the heart of vocation, and her words echo those of Martin Luther when she writes: "Ministry is not just for ministers: In the new spirituality, a minister is anyone who chooses to use our resources to tend to the wounded heart of the world. Anything we do can be a ministry, from menial labor to the highest professional endeavor. It is our ministry if it is an activity we use to spread peace and forgiveness and love."

Indeed, as defined by Exploring Our Gifts: "In its broadest sense, vocation is the thing that you were created to be and do, whether that means being a student, a parent, a doctor, a teacher, a businessperson—anything you can imagine. A vocation is both personal and communal; it serves to bring you true happiness, but it also serves the greater community."

A campus-wide endeavor

Augsburg's Lilly-funded program focuses primarily on students, but it also provides numerous opportunities for faculty, staff, and alumni. The programs are assembled under four themes: 1) vocation as a life approach; 2) vocation as a curricular focus; 3) vocation as education for service; and 4) developing vocational awareness.
While Exploring Our Gifts is grounded in a Lutheran perspective, its doors are open to people of all faiths and beliefs. Many points of view are needed to create a full, honest, fruitful discussion about vocation.

The opportunities for involvement are many: students can take vocation courses, participate in mentoring groups and vocation retreats, receive Lilly Scholar grants to explore seminary, receive stipends to intern at local non-profit agencies, apply for scholarships for international travel seminars, and much more.

Staff and faculty can develop vocation courses, participate in professional development activities, and become mentors. Alumni are also invited to get involved as mentors, attend vocation convocation activities, and help lead international travel seminars.

Since last fall, students, alumni, faculty, and staff have gathered for a series of vocation mentoring meetings. This mentoring program, overseen by Campus Ministry and the Center for Service, Work, and Learning, joins two students with two alumni and one member of the faculty or staff.

"I think the mentoring group crosses everybody," says Sonja Hagander, associate campus pastor. "It crosses the students who are wondering, 'What do I want to do when I grow up?' to us as faculty, staff, and alumni who are all in a work situation for various reasons. It crosses over all of that and brings us closer together, because vocation is all about life—what you love to do in life, what you want toshare with the world—these are the things that cross religious grains and bring us together."

Liz Pushing ’93, director of financial services at Providence Place in Minneapolis, has enjoyed her participation in the group. "I wanted to share my knowledge and experiences," says Pushing, "and I've also learned a lot about myself in talking with everyone."

Likewise, Augsburg communication senior, Melissa Baweka, credits the mentoring group with opening her eyes to different perspectives and possibilities. "I've been increasingly curious about vocation—I'm looking for more than just a job," says Baweka. "It's been so wonderful to hear how alumni experienced Augsburg and where their journeys have taken them after graduation."

In January, one of the first Exploring Our Gifts programs, a seminar for faculty and staff, completed a six-month study of faith and vocation. Last summer, Mark Tranvik and Philip Quanbeck II, associate professors of religion, led participants in a two-day workshop to study the concept of Christian vocation from a biblical and theological point of view. Participants then spent the ensuing months reflecting upon their vocation and considering ways of using the concept in both communal and personal projects, such as revising a course to include vocation, or re-conceiving how to incorporate vocation into work with students. In January, the group gathered for a final meeting, where they shared their experiences and project abstracts.

"This project was designed to force me, and ultimately my students, to examine how we visualize the fulfillment of our vocation," wrote Tim Pippert, assistant professor of sociology, in his project abstract. "While reflecting on my vocation ... I turned to photography.

"I chose a beach as the location to capture these images ... a young child symbolizes the experiences my students gain before they reach my classroom (see photo at top of story), a college-aged woman represents the brief timeframe I have to work with, and a middle-aged woman represents the experiences of my students after they leave college. ... It is my calling to ensure that what I select to teach them about their social environment is relevant to their lives in the hope that it will impact their life beyond Augsburg.

"The second component involved how first-year students envisioned vocation," continued Pippert. "Students in my Introduction to Human Society course were given the extra-credit opportunity to represent their concept of vocation through ... a single photographic image" (click on the "What am I called to do?" link in the column at right).

Exploring vocation in the international community

Since 1982, Augsburg's Center for Global Education has been a national leader in providing cross-cultural travel programs, serving nearly 10,000 people. As part of Exploring Our Gifts, CGE will oversee nine different student travel seminars led by Augsburg faculty and staff in collaboration with CGE's adjunct faculty in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Namibia. Each seminar will offer $1,000 grants for up to 15 students.

"We've made it an open competition for faculty and staff to propose seminars that could be done either as part of an existing course taught internationally, or as part of a new course that they could develop," says Regina McGoff, associate director of CGE. "In the case of staff, they might propose something that could be developed as a non-credit 'Augsburg Experience.'

"The goal of these seminars is to look at themes of vocation in a global context—which is already part of many of our programs—but this grant gives us an opportunity to really fine-tune and develop a stronger model for incorporating faith and vocation aspects," says McGoff.
Last year, CGE recruited Jeni Falkman as an intern for their Lilly program. Falkman, who graduated from Augsburg last year with a major in religion, participated in two of CGE's programs as a student, and had a transforming experience as a result of her travels.

"Jeni is helping us develop a faculty guide, because the goal is to use these nine seminars to develop a model that Augsburg can use for faculty-led, study-abroad programs that help students reflect on faith and vocation," says McGoff.

"She'll also help us pull together an independent study journal that can be used by Augsburg students on non-Augsburg programs, providing an imprint for all study-abroad programs, so that students will more intentionally think about their faith experiences and their vocation."
In addition to faculty and staff, CGE hopes to include alumni in the seminars. "Ideally, we'd be interested in individuals involved in a vocation related to the discipline," says McGoff. "For instance, it would be great to have an educator go along on an education seminar, and really be a part of that learning experience alongside the faculty, staff, and students." While there are no scholarships available for alumni, the experience would certainly serve as a unique and possibly transforming learning and teaching opportunity.

"It's really exciting to work on developing something that can create more of a framework for Augsburg students," says McGoff. "Most study-abroad programs don't incorporate faith elements, and we're trying to build a stroner model for doing so."

Teaching: A natural vocation

On May 21, Augsburg education professor Gretchen Kranz Irvine and Betsey Norgard, director of publications and editor of Augsburg Now, will lead the Center for Global Education's first Exploring Our Gifts travel seminar. The seminar, entitled "Namibia: International Education," will spend three weeks in this African country. Students will visit schools in the capital city of Windhoek as well as several other areas to explore differences in the educational experiences of students and teachers in Namibia.

Students will be encouraged to foster enduring relationships with Namibian teachers and students. They will learn how to develop culturally appropriate educational materials and methods, and how to become a better educator about Namibia and Africa. Furthermore, students will explore the vocation of teaching as a call that integrates faith and profession.

"Teaching is such a natural vocation and connection to the Lilly Endowment," says Irvine, who in 2000 led a five-week Fulbright-Hayes educators' travel seminar to Namibia. "At that time, we did similar things to what we'll do now, and I can see our students as really understanding the Namibian educational system."

Students will have a chance to meet with school directors and Namibia's minister of education and culture. They'll also gather with members of the Namibia National Teachers' Union, and with leaders of the Sexuality Education Research Project. In addition, their stay will include visits to a teachers' college, an early childhood development center, and opportunities to appreciate Nambia's culturally rich heritage, majestic scenery, as well as the largest game park, Etosha.

"For me personally, when you go on a trip such as this the first time, there's that first meeting of that culture, and that first thinking about all of it," says Irvine. "So now, on this trip, I'm in a different place in my thinking about Namibia; I hope to take myself to a new level in my understanding of Namibia."

To find out more about Exploring Our Gifts, visit www.augsburg.edu/lilly and see the various ways that vocation is being integrated into the life of Augsburg.