$20,000 award will equip faculty, staff and coaches to help students connect their education with lives of meaning, service and vocation
Presbyterian College has received a $20,000 Professional Development Grant from the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) to launch a year-long initiative that will equip faculty, staff, coaches and institutional leaders to help students explore questions of purpose, meaning and calling throughout their college experience.
The grant, awarded through the Council of Independent Colleges, supports an initiative titled “Vocation as a Shared Responsibility: Developing a Campus-Wide Framework for Student Discernment.” Beginning July 1, the project will provide professional development opportunities designed to establish a shared understanding of vocation across campus and give employees practical tools for mentoring students as they discern their futures.
Rather than treating vocational exploration as the responsibility of a single office or academic program, the initiative seeks to weave those conversations throughout the student experience, reinforcing Presbyterian College’s mission to develop students’ mental, moral, and spiritual capacities while preparing them for lives of personal fulfillment and meaningful service.
“At Presbyterian College, we believe a college education should prepare students not only for successful careers but also for lives of purpose,” said PC president Dr. Anita Gustafson. “This grant allows us to build on our mission by giving faculty and staff across campus a common language and shared approach for helping students discover how their talents, values and education can serve the greater good.”
The initiative reflects a growing emphasis at Presbyterian College on integrating academic learning with reflection, mentorship and service. Existing programs, including EPIC Service, First-Year Exploration, Second-Year Exploration, the Office of Career and Professional Development, the college’s internship programs, and academic advising, already encourage students to think deeply about their goals and aspirations. The NetVUE grant will strengthen those efforts by helping employees connect them through a unified institutional framework.
“Students often have their most meaningful conversations about the future with professors, coaches and staff members they know and trust,” said Dr. Will Harris, dean of academic affairs and principal project leader for the initiative. “This project will help all of us better understand our role in those conversations so we can guide students as they consider not only what they want to do, but who they want to become.”
Throughout the 2026-27 academic year, participants will take part in leadership retreats, campus-wide seminars and collaborative working groups focused on vocational exploration. The initiative will also produce long-term training resources that can be incorporated into the onboarding of future faculty and staff, helping sustain the work beyond the grant period.
The project reinforces the college’s longstanding motto, “While We Live, We Serve,” by encouraging students to view vocation as more than a career choice. Instead, it emphasizes vocation as an ongoing process of discovering how personal strengths, intellectual curiosity, relationships and service can come together in a life of purpose.
At Presbyterian College, we believe a college education should prepare students not only for successful careers but also for lives of purpose.”
Dr. Anita Gustafson, President
In addition to this initiative, Presbyterian College will also host the 2026 NetVUE Regional Conference on Sept. 24-26, welcoming faculty, staff and administrators from colleges and universities across the region. The conference will explore how mentorship and experiential learning help students develop a deeper understanding of vocation and purpose.
The regional gathering reflects Presbyterian College’s growing leadership in conversations surrounding vocational exploration in higher education and will provide opportunities for educators to share ideas and best practices with colleagues from across the Southeast.
Ultimately, College leaders hope the initiative will shape the way students experience Presbyterian College long after the grant concludes.
“Our goal is for every student to encounter mentors who help them think deeply about their gifts, their values and their place in the world,” Harris said. “When vocational exploration becomes part of everyday conversations across campus, students graduate not only prepared for meaningful careers but equipped to live lives of purpose and service.”
Members of the project’s leadership committee include:
- Dr. Erin McAdams – Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs
- Dr. William Harris – Dean of Academic Affairs
- Rev. Dr. Buz Wilcoxon – Lassiter Chaplain and Dean of Spiritual Life
- Kim Lane – Associate Dean of Career and Professional Development
- Dr. Frances Cashman – Assistant Professor of Physics
- Dr. Stefan Wiecki – Professor of History
- Dr. Justin Brent – Professor of English and Director of the EPIC Service Learning Initiative
- Dr. Austin Shull – Associate Professor of Biology and Director of the Center for Inquiry, Research, and Scholarship
- Katie Chavez – Grant Manager
NetVUE is a nationwide network of colleges and universities administered by the Council of Independent Colleges and supported by Lilly Endowment Inc. The organization promotes vocational exploration by helping institutions integrate questions of purpose, meaning and calling into undergraduate education through grants, professional development and collaborative programming.
