Center for Vocational Reflectioin - Gustavus Adolphus · PDF filethe Gustavus community will...

Strategic Plan Draft 15 May, 2009

SECTION 1: DESCRIPTION OF THE CENTER FOR VOCATIONAL REFLECTION Introduction: Background and Overview of the CVR

As one of only a few dozen programs like it in the nation and as a leader in a growing movement in higher education, the Center for Vocational Reflection (CVR) is at the heart of who we are and what we do at Gustavus Adolphus College. Our animating vision is that everyone in the Gustavus community will be invited and equipped to consider their lives as a vocation – a calling to live out their gifts, passions, and senses of faith and meaning in ways that benefit the community. Through a range of programs, services, and collaborations that weave exploration of vocation into the fabric of the College, the CVR helps everyone at Gustavus to explore their callings to make a difference in the world.

Vocation is everywhere at Gustavus, as it is in our daily lives: in the curriculum and classrooms; in the dining hall, post office, and library; in art studios, Christ Chapel, and labs; in residence halls, performance stages, playing fields, and the Arb; in committees, organizations, and strategic planning; in moments of quiet solitude and energized debate, hard work and electrifying discovery, caring for friends and a passion for justice. The CVR is a catalyst for innovative interdisciplinary learning, a gathering place for people and ideas, and a safe and welcoming space for people to reflect on the Big Questions in their lives – questions of truth, identity, meaning, faith, values, ethics, and the common good.

Launched in 2001 with the generous support of the Lilly Endowment, the vocation

initiative at Gustavus has been characterized by several key features since the beginning: (1) its reach is comprehensive and pervasive; (2) the administrative structure is both grounded in a Center and also strongly porous, permeable, and collaborative; (3) it grows out of and contributes to the rich heritage of the College; and (4) the College is committed to sustaining it as a permanent hallmark of the College beyond the end of the Lilly grant.

First, the overall aim of the vocation initiative has been to shape the culture of the College – to fertilize a verdant ecology of inquiry, exploration, and growth. We foster an integrative educational climate that engages the whole person, oriented toward passionate and meaningful lives of contribution to a fractured world. Institutionally, vocation is the elastic cord that binds together Gustavus’s core values and is the soil that roots such commitments as diversity and environmental stewardship. The CVR’s mission to serve every member of the community springs from our egalitarian understanding of vocation, which holds that each of us, regardless of our “station” in life and simply by virtue of being human, is connected with one another and with realities that are larger than ourselves, and that the “billions of particularities” of daily life1 call each of us to live in ways that contribute to the greater good. This approach 1 This was a phrase employed by Dr. Martin E. Marty in his keynote address, “The Vocation of an Intellectual,” celebrating the inauguration of Jim Peterson as president of the College in the spring of 2004.

Center for Vocational Reflection Strategic Plan, page 2

has enabled us to nourish in students and employees alike the possibility that virtually any profession or form of work in the world can take on rich new texture and meaning when lived through the framework of vocation. It has been our hope that those who encounter the programwill move from awareness and understanding of the concept of vocation, through more purposeful consideration of their lives as a calling to serve others, to an ongoing and lifelong commitment to lives of service an 2

d leadership.

Second, our “center” model ensures both that the College’s commitment to vocational reflection has a “home” and that ownership for the success of the initiative is widely shared. We have sought to infuse the language of vocation and practices of reflection into all corners of the college, rather than “silo” them in an isolated bureaucratic structure and set of stand-alone programs. Our high-traffic location at an important crossroads of campus life and our place within the College’s reporting structure (the CVR director reports to the president) enable us to work with all sides of the house. Most of the work of the CVR staff (student interns and two full-time administrators – and a third who was, until summer 2008 deployed as a “bridge” between the Chaplains’ Office and Community Service Center) takes place outside of the Center, in collaboration with others. The cross-fertilizing nature of the CVR’s work brings together people and perspectives from all across the campus. In doing so, we champion a liberal-arts ethos of intersections and connections: interdisciplinary teaching and learning, academics and the co-curriculum, faith and daily life, college and community, multicultural and interfaith perspectives, theory and practice, action and reflection.

Third, a theological dimension to our vocation initiative is rooted in the heritage, mission, and core values of the College. The CVR’s work is shaped by a long-standing conception of our church-relatedness that fosters inclusive discourse (Lutheran, ecumenical, inter-religious, and humanistic or secular). Our understanding of the concept of vocation grows, in part, from the rich soil of our Lutheran tradition, which sees the theological exploration of vocation as an enterprise that is accessible to everyone, whether or not they identify themselves with the Lutheran (or even Christian) heritage of the College. In practice, this means that in some contexts the language and activities take on an overtly spiritual or “religious” tone, and in others, a tone that is more embracing of diverse understandings, experiences, and practices of spirituality, deep meaning, and “ultimate concern.”

A fourth important feature of the Gustavus vocation initiative has been the College’s commitment (in both the original and sustainability grant proposals) to sustain the CVR as a core aspect of our life and work beyond the end of the Lilly grant. In establishing the CVR Gustavus has been a national leader, and it is a significant mark of distinction for the College. As one member of our Institutional Advancement staff observed, “Vocation is in the air we breathe and the water we drink at Gustavus; now we need to name it, claim it, and be sure it never goes away.”

To that end, Gustavus committed to funding the vocation program after the grant period with endowment earnings (60%) and general operating funds (40%), both of which were intended to reflect the fact that this initiative is and will continue to be an institutional priority. The College also voiced its intention to grow an endowment for the CVR to $4 million by the

2 These overarching outcomes represent the developmental goals of the program, which form the basis of the program assessment plan that we have developed with the assistance of Lilly assessment consultant Dr. Diane Millis. That plan, the implementation of which is occurring in phases, will also guide assessment of the goals and tactics outlined in this strategic plan.


end of the sustainability grant period. With turnover in the President’s Office and Institutional Advancement (Gustavus has had four presidents in the CVR’s eight years) and other fundraising priorities that have taken precedence, the College has been slow to make progress toward this goal. With time running short it is crucial, especially in the current global economic climate, that Institutional Advancement take advantage of the CVR’s ongoing readiness to work together to build donor interest and support. It is also important that the College promote greater visibility for the CVR, and lift up vocational reflection as central to the mission of Gustavus, in its marketing, communications, and recruitment efforts (e.g., via Admission, faculty and staff hiring, Alumni Affairs, publications, and as part of the College’s sesquicentennial celebration in 2011-12 – which will also mark the 10th anniversary of the CVR).

The College also needs to attend to several aspects of the CVR’s operational infrastructure (staff, space, presidential report, advisory board, assessment, and relationships with other key offices) to ensure an increasingly effective vocation program. In this regard,

• It is crucial that the College reinstate the third administrative position (which would now be shared with the Chaplains’ Office as a “coordinator for social justice, spirituality, and reflection”). The demands of the program in its current bare-bones condition are too great for the director, assistant director, and student interns to handle without compromising both their wellbeing and the integrity of the program. Reinstating this position will make it possible to:

o restore key aspects of the CVR’s work on behalf of the mission of the College, which have been compromised since the position was discontinued (e.g., reflection in experiential learning, faculty/staff development and engagement of new faculty, the Social Justice Initiative, and program assessment).

o continue and strengthen the Church Leadership program (a collaboration between the CVR, Chaplains’ Office, Church Relations, Religion Department, and Career Center).

o rebuild a more adequate repertoire of off-campus retreats for students, faculty, and staff (on “sabbath,” contemplative practices, the relationship of justice and faith, reflection on study-abroad, etc.).

o provide reflection resources and trainings for student leaders (especially in connection with community service/service-learning, career exploration, study abroad, and other forms of experiential learning).

o provide opportunities for individual and small-group discernment, such as “clearness committees,” an intergenerational mentoring program, individual consultations, small groups, workshops, and trainings.

o Continue and strengthen the Chapel Apprentice and Sacred Space programs. o restore the “Inside Out” summer leadership development institute for high school

youth (in partnership with Church Relations, Admission, the Chaplains’ Office, and others).

• Other important steps to ensure the ongoing vitality of the vocation initiative in the coming years include:

o strengthening the CVR’s student-intern capacities (e.g., by providing better orientation and training, and being more systematic with our recruitment and assessment)

o adding a part-time administrative assistant to support the work of the full-time administrators who currently staff the CVR


o expanding the CVR office space to better accommodate the needs of current staff, student interns, programs, and constituents; the reinstated shared position (whose former office in the Community Service Center is no longer available); and a new administrative assistant

o expanding the CVR advisory board to include alumni and other friends of the college

o creating a “Friends of the CVR” organization (similar to the Friends of the Linnaeus Arboretum or the Gustavus Library Associates) to support new programming, outreach, life-long learning, and fundraising efforts associated with the CVR.

• The College should continue to explore possible new alignments and “adjacencies” that would bring together, for example, the CVR, Community Service Center, Church Relations, and Chaplains’ Office to strengthen our collective efforts around issues of community engagement, vocation, faith and learning, reflection, experiential education, service and citizenship, peace and justice. That said, as these explorations have been ongoing for a number of years, it is important that they come to closure soon in order to ensure the “fit” of whatever plan emerges (e.g., a “Collaborative for Faith, Vocation, and Community Engagement”) with other strategic priorities of the College and to maximize its impact on post-grant sustainability fundraising efforts.

• The CVR will seek to work more closely with the College’s Marketing and Public Relations division, Communication Studies Department, and/or external consultants as appropriate to develop ways to more effectively tell the CVR story and help people to know who we are and what we do. This will include consideration of a new, more accessible name and mission statement for the CVR, as well as development of other “branding,” visibility, and communication strategies.

The CVR is a relatively young program, maturing with experience and evolving in response to our larger institutional and societal contexts. This strategic plan, therefore, is a working document, with room for flexibility and growth. It is also solidly grounded in a clear sense of who we are, what we do, why we’re here, and where we believe we should go in continued service to the mission of the College.

What follows in Section 1 is an overview of our mission, vision, and goals and a summary of our current programs and working relationships. Section 2 discusses the CVR’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, challenges, and barriers in order to clarify larger strategic and contextual factors that may help or hinder our ability to fulfill our mission. In Section 3 we lay out a clear vision for where we will go in the future as we seek to remain a nimble and synergistic resource, responsive to the educational, developmental, and professional needs and assets of the entire Gustavus community. Finally, we include the assessment plan we have recently developed and begun to implement, to show how we intend to evaluate progress toward our goals.


1.1: Mission, Vision, and Goals The CVR Mission Statement:

The Center for Vocational Reflection challenges and equips students, faculty, and staff to more intentionally reflect on their vocations – their callings to live out their distinctive gifts, passions, and senses of faith and meaning in ways that benefit their communities and help to address the world’s deep needs. The Center helps to weave time, space, and opportunity for exploration of vocation into the fabric of the entire institution, fosters liberal-arts learning, and strives to be a catalyst for purposefully integrating the College’s core values of faith, community, justice, service, and excellence in the life and work of those it serves. In so doing, it embodies and enhances the mission of the College, which is in part to “foster the development of values as an integral part of intellectual growth, to encourage students to work toward a just and peaceful world, help students to attain their full potential, to develop in them a capacity and passion for lifelong learning, and to prepare them for fulfilling lives of leadership and service in society.”

The Center’s invitation to reflect on one’s life in terms of vocation reaches into every aspect of campus life – intellectual, physical, emotional, occupational, social, and spiritual. Through a wide range of programs and services (including retreats, workshops, courses, conferences, discussion groups, a resource center, special-project funding, and opportunities for individual and small-group conversation and discernment) the Center supports inclusively theological reflection on the meaning of vocation and helps to educate the whole person for a full life of servant-leadership in a global community.

The Center works with many other programs and offices across campus to support and coordinate existing programs and to develop new initiatives in three main areas: 1) One set of programs encourages students to think of their lives in terms of vocation,

challenges them to lead full lives of commitment and service, and helps them to consider life-paths in which they can develop and utilize skills and capacities of servant-leadership, including lay and ordained church leadership.

2) A second set of programs equips faculty and staff to explore their own sense of calling and nourishes their ability to challenge, guide, and support the faith, career, and life journeys of students.

3) A third set of programs builds on Gustavus’ commitments to lifelong learning, community engagement, and ties with the Church by offering a variety of opportunities and resources for alumni, congregations, and other friends of the College to reflect on and more intentionally live out their vocations in and for the world.

Vision

In addition to the original, overarching purposes of the vocation initiative at Gustavus (as described above), our long-range vision includes a number of big-picture aspirations for the future of the program and its contribution to the life and work of the College. Of course, our first and greatest hope is that the world will be changed by the people of Gustavus coming to know more deeply who they are, why they’re here, and how they’re called to live. Somewhat more


modestly, we envision a campus community that is alive with curiosity and passion, deliberate in its embrace of life-giving ways to dwell in time, and dedicated to mutually up-building ways to teach and learn, lead and work that can help to heal the world. As has been our practice, we will continue to invite the Gustavus community to dream with us the dreams that are worthy of our potential, and to help us to know what it might look like for us to succeed and flourish in our shared calling.

These are some ideas as to what someone might see when they observe the influence of the CVR in the Gustavus community over time. As the CVR becomes increasingly successful in its mission: • vocational exploration and reflection will pervade the College. Everyone at Gustavus will

see vocational reflection as integral to its identity, education of students, strategic priorities, professional development of faculty and staff, and everyday ways of doing business. The CVR will be regarded as an indispensable resource in the lives of those we serve, necessary for helping faculty and students alike to be the best they can be. The CVR will be heralded by the College, and recognized by others, as a signature feature of Gustavus.

• Gustavus’s collective vocation to serve our community and the larger world will grow stronger. The CVR will help Gustavus be nationally renowned for its formation of ethically exemplary servant-leaders and change-agents and for its preparation of prophetic, engaged citizens in church and society. Through the CVR, the College will extend programs and resources in vocational reflection to alumni, parents, congregations, civic organizations, and others outside the campus, and invite them to deeper engagement with Gustavus.

• Gustavus will be widely regarded for its commitment to cultivate a whole-person academic experience that:

o disturbs easily held cultural assumptions about a “successful life” and about the highest and best ends of a college education

o grows a deep and abiding sense of the self as (1) gifted and graced, (2) free from ignorance and prejudice and free for loving service to the neighbor, (3) connected to others and “nested” in realities and relationships that are greater than oneself, and (4) someone whose choices and actions matter3

o nourishes practices of reflection, contemplation, and “pause” as integral to academic excellence and to personal and professional growth and development

o fosters a lifetime of action, learning, and reflection in contribution to the greater good.

This vision for the vocation initiative at Gustavus is tied to the conviction that questions drive learning; good questions fuel deep learning; deep learning propels more and better questions. The stories of our students’ lives are being shaped in part by the questions and insights, experiences and relationships they encounter in their mentoring communities, especially this one. Opportunities to reflect on questions of meaning and vocation, woven throughout the life and work of the community, can equip them to actively invest in crafting, understanding, “owning,” and expressing those stories. And it is those stories by which their sense of self, motivating commitments, and dispositions to action are bound together in a unified whole.

Our students are ripe for exploring questions of identity, meaning, and purpose in their lives, and are often eager for their teachers and mentors to help them to wrestle these questions. But, as Sharon Daloz Parks argues, “many young adults, even those who are regarded as 3 Thanks to Dr. Darrell Jodock for this understanding of vocation.


privileged, are often being cheated in a primary way. They are not being asked big-enough questions. They are not being invited to entertain the greatest questions of their own lives or their times.”4

The questions that are emerging at Gustavus because of our vocation initiative are the Big Questions, with which we are helping one another to become citizens and leaders who do more than just go through consumerist, technical-managerial motions. We are also helping one another create a community of meaning whose members aspire to lives that are more than what columnist Ellen Goodman describes as “normal:” “Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job you need so you can pay for the clothes, car and house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it.”5

Reflection on the Big Questions within Gustavus as a mentoring community opens up the space to consider more humane and truthful ways of being in the world. Instead of being – and teaching our students to be – “normal,” we are being intentional to engage one another in processes and activities of reflection that:

• prod us to think of our work, our learning, and the rest of our daily lives as woven together into a larger tapestry of meaning, a way of being in the world that tilts toward justice, purpose, and community;

• help us have the courage to pursue the Big Questions of identity, purpose, and meaning – and to entertain the possibility that these are probably not to be found in ourselves alone, or in working until we drop, or in accumulating more “stuff”;

• renew a sense of calling to care for the “Other” and for the creation, as people who are engaged in the life of the community and who as a matter of disposition and character respond compassionately to suffering, who work with others to anticipate and creatively address real community needs, and who bring capacities for critical thinking to bear on the designs of the “Establishment”;

• help each other to move from awareness to service, from understanding symptoms to addressing causes, from taking thoughtful action to being reflective “activists”;

• nurture commitments to and practices of mindfulness, presence, whole-person health, and “sabbath.”6 This can mean a rediscovery of what it might mean, in part, to know that we are “nested” and graced, and that even our very best, most highly skilled, and well-intentioned efforts won’t “save” us or the planet, or make us most truly who we really are; and

• enlarge one’s sense of self and of one’s capacity to make a difference, and cultivate our students, departments, institutions, households, and communities to be agents of peace and justice in the world.

4 Sharon Daloz Parks, Big Questions, Worthy Dreams: Mentoring Young Adults in Their Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Faith (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000), p. 138. 5 Cited in John de Graf, et al, Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2001), p. 36. 6 See, e.g., Mary Rose O’Reilley, Radical Presence: Teaching as Contemplative Practice (Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1998; Wayne Muller, Sabbath; Dorothy Bass, Receiving the Day (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000); and Parks, Big Questions, Worth Dreams, pp. 113–15 and 145–46.


Goals 1) Students: The CVR will continue to strengthen its work in these core (primarily co-

curricular) program areas, chiefly serving students: the Servant-Leadership Program, “Lives of Commitment” programs, “Calling of the Professions” programs, and Community Conversations.

2) Faculty/Staff: The CVR will continue to enhance its faculty/staff development efforts, cultivate strong contributions to the academic program, and strengthen its academic partnerships.

3) Outreach: The CVR will expand its contributions to Gustavus’ efforts in lifelong learning and outreach among alumni, congregations, and other friends of the College.

4) National role: The CVR will build upon and strengthen its role as a leader in the emerging national movement around vocation in higher education.

Specific strategic initiatives and tactics for implementing these goals are outlined in Section 3, below. 1.2: Overview of past and current CVR programs and activities:

The CVR partners with organizations, individuals, and departments across campus to support and coordinate existing efforts and to develop new initiatives in three main areas (as follows, below). Of the more than 530 programs and events we have developed, coordinated, or co-sponsored in our first eight years, serving some 56,000 students, faculty, staff, administrators, and friends of the college, these have been among the most important: A. Curricular and co-curricular programs, primarily for students:

• attention to vocation and reflection in academic courses across the curriculum by faculty who have participated in CVR faculty-development programs, and through courses taught by the CVR staff

• the Servant-Leadership Program, including summer work in a wide range of organizations, off-campus retreats, a workshop series, and service projects

• “Lives of Commitment” programs, including workshops, dinner discussions, reading groups, and retreats on, e.g., leadership, service, social justice, spirituality, mindfulness, and reflection in experiential learning such as service-learning and study abroad

• “Calling of the Professions” programs, including retreats for students, faculty, and alumni of several academic majors, career exploration/internship reflection, and the Church Leadership Program

• “Community Conversations” and co-sponsorships of campus-wide programs, including workshops for student organizations, multicultural and inter-religious dialogue, an annual “Chill-Out and Wellness Fair,” guest speakers, and artists-in-residence

• “Deep M-Pact: Mentoring Gustavus Men for Masculinities of Meaning and Making a Difference,” growing out of our selection as one of 15 colleges to participate in a national initiative to develop pilot projects and disseminate best practices for increasing men’s involvement in vocational reflection, spirituality, service, and leadership.

B. Faculty/staff professional development: • “Gustavus as a Mentoring Community,” a multi-year faculty/staff development initiative

grounded in a series of residencies by, and other collaborations with, Sharon Daloz Parks.


The purpose of the initiative has been to infuse vocation into courses across the curriculum, enhance mentoring and advising for vocation, and cultivate campus-wide practices that foster lives of reflection and contribution to the common good.

• “Service-Learning for Social Justice” faculty-development collaboration, including international study/travel experiences (in Northern Ireland, Guatemala, Cuba, and Namibia). The CVR played a significant role in creating, funding, and facilitating this four-year program, in partnership with the Sponberg Chair in Ethics, the Dean’s Office, the Community Service Center, and a grant from the Bush Foundation. We continue to provide resources and support for faculty and student reflection in service-learning, community service, international education, and other forms of experiential learning.

• New Faculty Mentoring Partners program (responsibility for which was shifted to the Kendall Center when it was created a few years ago)

• New Employee Orientation program, for administrators and support staff, to introduce them to the heritage and mission of the College and to ways that they might incorporate the ideas, language, and practices of vocational reflection into their work with students

• Faculty/Staff book groups, dinner discussions, support for research and scholarship, and off-campus retreats (including annual Sabbath Retreats, Church-and-College Retreats, and New Faculty Retreats)

C. Outreach – Campus-wide, and beyond: • significant contributions to the College’s strategic plan, including components dealing

with leadership development, environmental stewardship, faith, wellness, learning-living communities, and community engagement

• annual Conference on Vocation and (co-)sponsorship of visits to campus by scholars-, artists-, entrepreneurs, and activists-in-residence, including Parker Palmer, Jim Wallis, Esther Sternberg, Michael Schut, Peter Gomes, Claudia Horwitz, Paul Woodruff, Bernice Johnson Regan, Carrie Newcomer, Neal Hagberg, Richard Hughes, Arthur Zajonc, Eric Utne, Larry Parks Daloz, and Shane Claiborne

• commission of a world-premier play (“Clockworks: Einstein Time”) in conjunction with the 2005 Nobel Conference on the legacy of Einstein (and in partnership with the Physics and Theatre & Dance Departments)

• our participation in the Lilly-funded “Holden Village as a Mentoring Community” research project and the Lilly/St. John’s University grant to increase men’s involvement in vocational reflection, service, spirituality, and leadership

• research, scholarship, and publication in journals and books, including The Spirit of Service: Exploring Faith, Service, and Social Justice in Higher Education

• presentations and workshops at regional and national conferences (e.g., American Academy of Religion, Campus Compact, National Society for Experiential Education, Educators for Community Engagement, Institute on College Student Values)

• invited consultations with other colleges and universities (including Washington University in St. Louis, University of Minnesota, Loras College, Wartburg College, Augustana College, Concordia College, Macalester College, Southwest State University, and Indiana Campus Ministry)

• invited participation in the inaugural “Vocation in Undergraduate Education” conference of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) in March 2009, and founding membership in the new CIC inter-institutional network on vocation


• Workshops, forums, retreats, consultations, and collaborations with alumni, congregations and synods, civic and community groups, and educational organizations

• our work with social entrepreneur and Gustavus alum Eric Utne to pilot the new “Community Earth Councils” global endeavor of the Utne Institute

• our partnership with St. John’s University, College of St. Benedict, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, and Hamline University to produce “Courage and Light: Exploring Passion, Renewal, and Creativity,” a new multimedia resource for professional and organizational development featuring National Geographic photographer Jim Brandenburg and writer/educator Parker Palmer.

• our founding participation in the “Purpose Project Guild,” a joint venture of Gustavus alumnus Richard Leider and the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota that focuses on lifelong learning, “vital aging,” and exploration of meaning, purpose, contribution, and calling in the “second half of life.”

1.3: Support Relationships

The CVR’s work serves and coordinates with many partners across the campus, especially including those listed here:

Academic Advising Academic Departments and Programs, especially: Art/Art History Biology Biochemistry/Molecular Biology Communication Studies Classics Economics & Management Education English Environmental Studies Heath & Exercise Science Library Music Nursing Peace Studies Philosophy Physics Political Science Psychology Religion Theatre/Dance

Curriculum II First Term Seminar International & Cultural Education Community Service / Service-Learning Johnson Center for Environmental Innovation


Kendall Center for Engaged Learning Nobel Conference

Sponberg Chair in Ethics, Hanson-Peterson Chair in Liberal Studies, Bernhardsson Chair in Luther Studies

Admission Office Alcohol & Drug Education / Peer Assistants

Alumni Relations Athletics

Book Mark Career Center

Chaplains’ Office Church Relations Office Corporate and Foundation Relations (Institutional Advancement) Counseling Center Dean of Students Office Dining Service Diversity Center & Office of Multicultural Programs Faculty (individually, across virtually every discipline) Finance Office Gustavus Technology Services Health Service

Human Resources Institutional Research Linnaeus Arboretum Marketing and Communication Media Services Physical Plant Postal Services President’s Office Printing Office Provost/VPAA/Academic Deans’ Office (including January Interim Experience)

Registrar Residential Life / CF’s Student Activities Office / Gustie Greeters Student Organizations & Publications Action Supporting All People (ASAP) Alpha Phi Omega (APO) Asian Cultures Club Building Bridges Campus Activities Board College Democrats College Republicans Democracy Matters Gustavian Weekly Greens GAC TV


Habitat for Humanity InterGreek Senate (IGS) Men’s Leadership Team (MLT) Pan African Student Organization (PASO) Proclaim

Queers & Allies (Q&A) Student Senate Students Helping Integrate Fair Trade (SHIFT) Womyn’s Awareness Center (WAC) SECTION 2: STRATEGIC REVIEW 2.1: Strategic Issues Strengths (internal) of the CVR: The CVR is central to the identity, heritage, core values, and mission of the College.

The CVR has been hugely successful in fulfilling its mission and the original intentions of the Lilly grant. Assessment has shown that participation in CVR programs fosters student development in several areas, including sense of self and personal identity, sense of direction and purpose, faith, sense of connection with others, a desire to help others in one’s work and profession, and commitment to make a difference in the world.

The Center itself is a lively, warm space for safe and courageous conversations about things that matter, and for moments of quiet rest and reflection.

The CVR has a strong ethos and track record of effective collaboration across the campus and beyond. We have developed a vast network of open, creative, cooperative, respectful relationships infused with a spirit of mutual trust and gratitude.

The CVR’s faculty development efforts have infused vocation and reflection into the curriculum, strengthened research and scholarship, fostered service-learning and other experiential/reflective pedagogies, enhanced advising, and deepened faculty members’ own sense of vocation.

Our “Center” administrative structure (full-time staff, student interns, high-profile location, presidential report, coordinative and collaborative functions, Advisory Board) is organically well suited to our institutional context, and has served as a model for other colleges and universities.

The vocation initiative has campus-wide reach (and beyond), offering multiple entry points for students, administrators, faculty, staff, and others.

The language and practices of “Gustavus as a Mentoring Community” have taken root and begun to influence the spirit of the campus.


The CVR plays a significant role in supporting and affirming staff members’ and administrators’ understanding of vocation and their contributions to the mission of the College.

The work of the CVR has curricular and co-curricular significance, and has promoted “cross-fertilization” between academics and student life.

Our understanding of vocation, and the work of the CVR, are simultaneously rooted in the Lutheran theological heritage and inclusive of multiple theological, religious, and philosophical perspectives. We seek to embody the College’s commitments to diversity, multiculturalism, and inter-religious understanding, and offer programs and resources that encourage “constructive, enlarging engagement with otherness” – one of the key factors that foster what Sharon Daloz Parks and her colleagues call “lives of commitment in a complex world.”7

The CVR has a strong track record of effective programs, often regarded as life-changing by those who participate.

CVR staff provides extensive and effective one-on-one support for individual discernment and reflection.

The CVR is responsive to the ideas and needs of others, and provides support that is likely not available elsewhere for new and innovative endeavors.

The work of the CVR is strongly connective – of people and programs, theory and practice, campus and community, faith and action, liberal arts and pre-professional preparation.

The CVR has benefited from rigorous assessment to ascertain success in attaining our mission and to provide critical feedback for improvement. The award-winning 4-year research study of “Vocational Identity Development in Traditional College-Age Students” led by Dr. Marie Walker has received national attention. We are in the midst of implementing a new, more systematic assessment protocol (developed with the assistance of Lilly assessment consultant Dr. Diane Millis).

The CVR has made important contributions to the wider conversation on vocation and to the national movement around vocational reflection in undergraduate education.

Weaknesses (internal):

Our heavy reliance on student interns to keep us afloat makes our program and communication efforts overly dependent on their varying availability, interests, and skills. They’re incredible, but they can’t do it all.

We do not have a support-staff administrative assistant. Sharing of the tasks of such a position by the director, assistant director, and student interns is highly inefficient.

There have been persistent issues of work overload and burnout for the CVR staff. Assessment has been sporadic since the end of Dr. Walker’s study; our work load and

staff shortage have made it difficult to fully implement the new assessment plan. The focus of the shared Community Service Center / Chaplains’ Office position, vacated

in 2008 and not yet replaced, became “distracted” by other pressing program needs in those offices. Those needs, and lack of a direct reporting line to the

7 See Laurent A. Parks Daloz, Cheryl H. Keen, James P. Keen, and Sharon Daloz Parks, Common Fire: Leading Lives of Commitment in a Complex World. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996. .


CVR, allowed especially the CSC side of the work to drift away from the aims and purposes of the funding.

Our marketing/communication/visibility efforts have been mixed. The wide diffusion of our work and lack of internal expertise concerning marketing and

communication have contributed to a persistent lack of awareness of the CVR and its contributions, to staff being stretched too thin, and to some programs being less effective than they might otherwise be.

Connections with some academic departments and some “pieces” of the student experience have not been as consistently robust as we would like: e.g., athletes, fraternities and sororities, residential life.

Faculty development has suffered since the budget reductions that came with the shift to the sustainability grant, and since launch of the Kendall Center (especially in terms of lack of access to new faculty).

Opportunities (external) for the CVR:

There is great synergy with other key College priorities, many of which are strongly tied to the CVR and/or heavily vocation oriented. The proposals developed by several of the spring 2008 strategic planning working groups are good examples: Leadership Development, Environmental Stewardship, Community Engagement / Service-Learning, Wellness, Learning-Living Communities, Inter-religious Dialogue. As these initiatives continue to unfold, the CVR is well-positioned to continue to make significant contributions.

The College’s 150th, and the CVR’s 10th, anniversaries in 2011-12 provide outstanding opportunities to explore the College’s vocation and to celebrate vocational reflection at Gustavus.

The CVR is poised to make significant contributions to the College’s commitments to “lifelong learning” (alumni, congregations, parents, community outreach, etc.). This will be especially important as the swelling population of “boomers” seek meaning in the second half of their lives, and as younger generations seek to become increasingly “connected” to themselves, their communities, and to the planet. Vocation is a life-journey; discernment, service, meaning-making, and the quest for purpose never end.

Programs and services developed and provided by the CVR to external audiences could generate revenue for the College, and help to make the CVR at least partially self-supporting.

Increasing attention to multicultural diversity and inter-religious dialogue sets the stage for Gustavus’s understanding of vocation to be enriched by the wisdom and practices of multiple traditions. Diversity efforts at the College, similarly, would be enhanced by the CVR’s contribution to student experiences that foster “constructive, enlarging engagement with otherness” (see above).

The CVR is ideally positioned to help Gustavus make important and timely connections with significant realities in the larger culture, including:

• a profound and pervasive hunger in society for attention to issues of meaning, purpose, and the common good. There is a growing cultural sense of the need to develop more purposeful and sustainable ways of living, prompted by such challenges as the economic crisis, global climate change and environmental


destruction, declining “social capital,” and the proliferation of high-profile cases of ethical corruption and greed. Families, communities, society, and the planet are yearning for people of all ages and walks of life to see themselves and their lives in terms of vocation. The world needs Gustavus to be a “mentoring community,” whose shared language, stories, values, and practices collectively shape its members’ vocations to contribute to the common good. As Sharon Parks and others argue, we live in a “cusp time,” a “hinge time” in history, a time of unprecedented peril and promise, a time that cries out for leadership and service that is rooted in the spiritual ground of “deep purpose” and oriented toward the flourishing of the new global commons.

• the aging of the population and the swelling of the “baby boomers” entering retirement age while also seeking purpose, meaning, and vitality in the second half of life. Gustavus alumnus, author, and executive coach Richard Leider, with whose “Purpose Project” the CVR is connected, is a respected international leader in tracking and responding to a societal thirst for attention to questions of vocation across the lifespan. Contemporary research and experience confirms what philosophical and spiritual traditions across cultures have affirmed for thousands of years: that the life most worth living is the reflective life lived in connection with others and in contribution to realities and purposes beyond oneself.

• the emergence of a national movement around vocational reflection in higher education (manifest in such developments as the creation of a new network of “vocation colleges” via the Council of Independent Colleges, and the launch of a new Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education). As one of the first programs of its kind in the country, the CVR has already positioned the College at the forefront of a new commitment to what hundreds of institutions around the country regard as the distinctive aims and purposes of liberal-arts education. The CVR embodies the questions, values, and purposes that will keep institutions like ours alive and flourishing in an increasingly competitive “market” in higher education.

• recognition by scholars and practitioners of a new stage in personal growth and development: that of emerging adulthood, an extended time of exploration, seeking, and discernment around the “big questions” of identity, meaning, purpose, connection, spirituality, community, and vocation. The major Spirituality in Higher Education national research project of UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) documents important hungers among young adults (and among faculty) for the kinds of exploration the CVR provides.

Conversations are underway to explore possible collaborations with other ELCA colleges (e.g., Augsburg, Augustana-Rock Island, Luther, and Wagner) to develop joint programs and resources on vocation, faith and learning, civic engagement, and leadership development.

In late 2009, Gustavus will be able to adopt the assessment protocol developed by Wilder Research, in collaboration with three of our sister Lutheran colleges (Augsburg, Augustana-Rock Island, and Luther). Their pilot project, titled “Called for Life: How Colleges Help Students Discern Their Purpose in Life and Prepare To Live


It,” has already generated significant insights regarding assessment design and program features that most affect learning and development outcomes.

We are learning to harness the power of new and emerging communication technologies (e.g., Facebook) – and have room to do much more (e.g., with blogs, webinars, and other features of what is coming to be called “web 2.0”). At the same time, in a world of instant electronic communication, the need is greater than ever for the kind of deep, personal attention and connection that the CVR provides so well.

Threats (external):

Lack of understanding of the mission and work of the CVR: many members of the Gustavus community do not know who we are and what we do. (We recognize that it is more important for people to “know about vocation” than about the Center, per se, but the CVR’s work to foster that knowledge campus-wide will be hindered without widespread institutional support – and the sustainability fundraising – that depend on people knowing about the CVR.)

Lack of institutional commitment to vocational reflection (and CVR sustainability) as a priority for the College.

Lack of advocacy at cabinet, budgeting, and board levels Lack of fundraising to meet our commitments to the Lilly Endowment and to ensure post-

grant sustainability of the program, exacerbated by the current global economic crisis

Lack of widely-owned, official integration into academic life, and lack of an obviously discernable “place” for that to happen (e.g., in a required course, or as a required component of the FTS or a senior capstone)

Misperceptions of the CVR, which often seem to point in opposite directions: e.g., too much a silo/too diffuse, too churchy/too secular, too liberal/too conservative, a source of funding/a competitor for funding

Misperceptions in broader culture of the nature and benefits of liberal arts, church-related education

The CVR’s emphasis on intentional reflection/contemplation, lives of service, interconnectedness, and contribution to the common good is steeply counter-cultural. The dominant culture values technical skills (vs. “adaptive leadership”), frantic pace, individualism, multitasking, consumption, and materialism.

There seems to be an increasing tendency in the student culture here toward a “polarization” of student engagement: extremes of withdrawal/noninvolvement or of hyper-extended over-involvement

2.2: Barriers: lack of funding/fundraising for post-grant sustainability

staff shortage and burnout insufficient space institutional indifference and neglect insufficient marketing and publicity stalled faculty development and insufficient access to new faculty


SECTION 3: STRATEGIC INITIATIVES AND RECOMMENDATIONS As we look to the future of the vocation initiative at Gustavus, we will be especially attentive

to: • the heritage and mission of the College • the CVR mission statement • assessment and evaluation of CVR programs and services • the needs and assets of our constituents • scholarship and research on effective teaching and learning; on intellectual, moral,

spiritual, social, and civic development; and on theologies and philosophies of vocation • the distinctive qualities of the vocation initiative at Gustavus (see pp. 1-3, above) as well

as “best practices” and lessons learned that have emerged at other Lilly vocation schools • responsible stewardship of fiscal resources, human “capital,” and the environment • the many points of intersection between this strategic plan and the strategic plan and

priorities of the College. With these guiding parameters as our context, the future of the vocation initiative will be grounded in a repertoire of CVR-based programs and services that:

• embody “Common Fire” experiences8 such as retreats, mentoring, and reflection in experiential education

• are targeted toward significant developmental milestones across students’ four years in college and across the lifespan

• foster skills and attitudes of servant-leadership and other models of “leadership from within, for the sake of the common good”9

• encourage faculty and staff to reflect on their own lives in terms of vocation and equip them to teach, advise, and mentor students in their vocational exploration.

More specifically, these commitments for the future of the program will be lived out by

our pursuit of the key goals that follow, below. The “strategic initiatives” and “tactics” associated with each goal identify the means by which these commitments will be realized. In what follows (and throughout the document) we have tried to remain mindful of budgetary, 8 A number of CVR programs and activities seek to provide the kinds of experiences and opportunities that are identified in the book Common Fire (cited above) as crucial in forming people for a lifetime of commitment and engagement – that is, a life lived as a calling. Many of them, for example, provide time, space, and permission to reflect on life’s Big Questions; experiences that nurture a sense of one’s capacity to make a difference; opportunities for mentoring and being mentored; and constructive, enlarging engagement with otherness. 9 The strategic-planning proposal developed by the Leadership Development Working Group in the spring of 2008 is profoundly influenced by and reflective of the College’s commitments to vocation (which is true of many of the 2008 working groups, and of the 2009 Commission Gustavus 150 task forces). The leadership proposal reads, in part: “Leadership at Gustavus is based on an understanding that who one is directly impacts how one leads. Accordingly, acts of leadership cannot be separated from the identity and integrity of the person, and a mature understanding of self is vital for enhancing one’s effectiveness with the communities where one lives and works. This vocational approach to leadership—actively working toward an understanding of oneself for the purpose of contributing to the common good—is one of Gustavus’s great strengths. By rooting leadership development in substantive exploration of vocation as a central feature of the Gustavus experience, we will contribute to the crucial mission for higher education in global and complex times—to foster active, informed citizenship, to develop passions and skills for civic engagement, to create shared solutions to significant public problems, and to contribute to the common good.”


personnel, and infrastructure constraints, but have also tried to take seriously the charge to “Dream Big!” Given current staffing, space, and budget, it will be difficult to implement even a few of the initiatives and tactics we identify below. To build on our success so far, implement most of the proposed priorities, and grow the initiative in ways that bring our aspirations and vision within reach will require additional resources. (In this regard, it is important to note that programs and resources develop and provided by the CVR for external audiences – see Goal #4, below – could generate revenue for the College, and help to make the CVR at least partially self-supporting.)

Goal 1 – Students: The CVR will continue to strengthen its work in these core (primarily co-curricular) program areas, primarily serving students: Servant-Leadership Program, “Lives of Commitment” programs, “Calling of the Professions” programs, and Community Conversations.

Strategic Initiative 1.1: Strengthen the Servant-Leadership Program

Tactic 1.1.1: Strengthen recruitment efforts and broaden the diversity of summer experiences represented by those who are admitted to the program.

Tactic 1.1.2: Develop a “value-added” personal and professional development component for the peer mentors/pod leaders.

Tactice 1.1.3: Deepen the curriculum (incorporate additional readings, add a J-term component, add a public forum, explore making the program credit-bearing)

Tactic 1.1.4: Work with the Community Service Center to strengthen the civic engagement/service-learning component of the program, and to infuse aspects of the SLP curriculum into CSC program-coordinator training and reflection.

Tactic 1.1.5: Work with campus partners to extend key aspects of the program to other leadership development efforts elsewhere on campus (e.g., the proposed campus-wide Leadership Development initiative; leadership training for CF’s, PA’s, and Gustie Greeters; the GOLD Leadership Series; and student-organization leaders’ training).

Tactic 1.1.6: Deepen or develop collaborative and mutually beneficial relationships with leadership development programs at other colleges and universities (e.g., the University of Minnesota, the Master of Arts in Servant-Leadership program at Viterbo University) and with national leadership development organizations (e.g., the Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership, the Spears Center for Servant-Leadership, the International Leadership Association, the Center for Ethical Leadership, the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University, and the Whidbey Institute).

Strategic Initiative 1.2: Strengthen “Lives of Commitment” programs

Tactic 1.2.1: Work with campus partners to help vocation and reflection become more fully integrated into key developmental milestones across the four-year student experience, especially including new-student registration and


orientation and the first-year experience, sophomore engagement and leadership development (perhaps to include an expectation that every sophomore attend an off-campus retreat), experiential learning (study abroad, community service/service-learning, internships and career exploration), and post-graduation life-planning.

Tactic 1.2.2: Develop tools and resources (print and on-line) on vocation, discernment, and reflection for students, faculty, parents, and others to access and utilize at their convenience.

Tactic 1.2.3: Explore new program possibilities, such as regular book-discussion groups, a regular on-campus “Vocation Voices” speaker/dinner series, a film series, an annual photography or film-making contest, and the like.

Tactic 1.2.4: Work closely with a new student organization, “Explore,” whose mission will be to invite and equip students to reflect on the “Big Questions.”

Tactic 1.2.5: Building on the initial success of the Lilly / St. John’s “Deep M-Pact” men’s initiative launched by the CVR in 2008 and a follow-up grant from the C. Charles Jackson Foundation, we will continue to work with the Men’s Leadership Team, the Dean of Students Office, the Community Service Center, the Womyn’s Awareness Center, the Gender and Women’s Studies Program, and other campus partners (as well as men’s vocation initiatives at Luther College, Augustana College-Rock Island, and Wagner College) to increase men’s involvement with vocational reflection, leadership, spirituality, and service.

Tactic 1.2.6: Disseminate our “Deep Listening” and “Clearness Committee” activities and resources more widely throughout the campus (via student organizations, residence halls, etc.)

Tactic 1.2.7: Develop a new intergenerational “spiritual companioning” program in partnership with the Chaplains’ Office, which will bring together small groups of students with a pair of faculty/staff mentors for monthly dinner conversations across all four years of the students’ time at Gustavus.

Tactic 1.2.8: Invite coaches and captains of athletic teams to help us develop stronger connections with student athletes, and to better infuse reflection on vocation into students’ athletic experiences.

Strategic Initiative 1.3: “Calling of the Professions” programs

Tactic 1.3.1: Strengthen our relationship with academic departments and pre-professional programs (and their advisors), and explore such collaborative ventures with them as off-campus retreats, guest speakers, and reading groups (such as the current “Bookworts” group for biology and environmental studies majors, led by Cindy Johnson-Groh).

Tactic 1.3.2: Strengthen the already solid relationship with the Career Center, enhance the Nancy Pautz Memorial Career Exploration Award program, and explore new venues for collaboration.

Tactic 1.3.3: Work with the Chaplains’ Office, Career Center, Religion Department, and Church Relations to continue and strengthen the Church Leadership Program.


Tactic 1.3.4: Establish a “mini-grants” program to encourage faculty mentoring of students in their fields (including support to present together at professional conferences, books to read and discuss together, and regular meal conversations to explore such questions as the place of one’s profession within one’s larger life-calling).

Tactic 1.3.5: Work with Alumni Affairs, the Career Center, and other campus partners to establish a calling-and-career alumni mentoring program. Students participants would be matched with Gustavus alumni for a 3- to 4-day “whole-life immersion” experience that would include shadowing them at their workplace, living with them in their home, and volunteering in their community.

Strategic Initiative 1.4: Community Conversations

Tactic 1.4.1: Establish a “New Ventures” program to encourage the commission of original creative works of artistic expression (music, theatre, visual arts) that explore themes of vocation (such as the world-premier play commissioned in conjunction with the Nobel Conference in 2005).

Tactic 1.4.2: Host regular opportunities for the community to gather in the CVR and engage others in conversation around issues of vocation, such as monthly Open Houses and regular book-discussion groups.

Tactic 1.4.2: Stimulate campus-wide consideration of the causes, effects, and possible solutions to the proliferation of events (speakers, conferences, etc.), which often compete for attention and attendance and contribute to a campus climate of over-work and exhaustion.

Tactic 1.4.3: Work with campus partners to encourage the College to consider ways of cultivating a stronger sense of community and a more life-giving relationship with Time – one that allows for richer conversation, deeper learning, stronger relationships, and a healthier lifestyle. Possibilities could include, e.g., lengthening of 10:00 daily chapel break by an additional half-hour, inserting a half-hour “coffee break” into the mid-afternoon, recreating the 2003 “Heart of Gustavus” event on an annual basis, or creating a regular “convocation” series, to allow regular opportunities for the campus community to explore an important issue together, facilitated by a guest presenter and/or a common reading.

Goal 2 – Faculty/Staff: The CVR will continue to enhance its faculty/staff development efforts, cultivate strong contributions to the academic program, and strengthen its academic partnerships.

Strategic Initiative 2.1: Strengthen our faculty/staff development efforts.

Tactic 2.1.1: Launch a new wave of opportunities for faculty to create new courses and revise existing courses, to incorporate attention to vocation and reflection in the curriculum.

Tactic 2.1.2: Strengthen our New Employee Orientation program.


Tactic 2.1.3: Extend the “Gustavus as a Mentoring Community” initiative to engage more staff, faculty, and administrators in professional development on teaching, mentoring, and advising for vocation, and in reflection on their own sense of vocation. We will also continue to provide follow-up opportunities for those who have participated in the 2005 and 2007 summer workshops led by Sharon Daloz Parks.

Tactic 2.1.4: Seek better access to and engagement with new faculty, and urge the Provost’s/Dean’s Office and Kendall Center to encourage every incoming faculty member to take part in an off-campus retreat (provided by the CVR) on the intersections of vocation, the College’s heritage and mission, engaged learning, and the liberal arts.

Tactic 2.1.5: Enhance the development and contribution of non-tenure track faculty (workshops, reading groups, dinner discussions, retreats).

Tactic 2.1.6: Work with the new Leadership Development initiative to help the College more clearly and deeply root its understanding of “employee leadership” in vocation, and to develop programs and resources that will: • foster a climate at Gustavus that encourages the development and

practice of such vocation-infused leadership capacities as risk-taking, creativity, and reflection.

• provide support for all employees to make use of professional leadership development opportunities – including especially time and funding (e.g., encouraging staff to take part in workshops and retreats as integral to their work rather than requiring them to use vacation time; and providing adequate resources to attend professional leadership development conferences and seminars off-campus).

• equip the College to revise or craft expectations, guidelines, policies, and procedures for professional evaluation, so that they align with and support the College’s emphasis on vocation-infused leadership for the common good.

Strategic Initiative 2.2: Work with the appropriate departments, offices, and programs

to develop more systematic contributions to existing academic venues, such as CII, FTS, Nobel Conference, Linnaeus Symposium, MayDay, Building Bridges, and regular lecture series (Moe, Rydell, Lefler, MLK, etc.).

Strategic Initiative 2.3: Be a key partner with areas of academic focus that are significantly vocation related, such as Leadership, Environmental Stewardship, Wellness, Social Justice, Civic Engagement, Inter-religious Dialogue, and Diversity/Global Perspectives.

Strategic Initiative 2.4: Invite stronger collaboration with the Kendall Center and the Provost’s/Deans’ Office.

Strategic Initiative 2.5: Work with Academic Advising and other partners to develop a “mentoring and advising for vocation” toolkit.

Strategic Initiative 2.6: Create a consultative and “mini-grants” program to encourage the creation of pilot projects; the exploration of new pedagogies; and student-faculty scholarship, creativity, and research.


Strategic Initiative 2.7: Expand our offering of retreats and workshops for departments, majors, and programs.

Strategic Initiative 2.8: The CVR director and assistant director should teach or co-teach courses more regularly, and teaching should be integrated into their position descriptions and compensation (rather than treated as an “add-on.”)

Strategic Initiative 2.9: Work with the Office of International and Cultural Education, faculty, academic departments, Church Relations, and other colleges and universities, as appropriate, to develop a “Global Issues and World Faiths” study-abroad program.

Goal 3 – Outreach: The CVR will expand its contributions to Gustavus’ efforts in lifelong learning and outreach among alumni, congregations, and other friends of the College.

Strategic Initiative 3.1: Develop programs and resources that address issues of vocation and reflection across the lifespan, such as “vital aging,” transformational leadership in church and community, and “living on purpose” in times of economic turmoil and transition.

Strategic Initiative 3.2: Provide resources and programs for parents of current and prospective students, to help them to understand the language and ideas of vocation and equip them to ask what Sharon Parks calls “big enough questions” of themselves and their children.

Strategic Initiative 3.3: Work with campus partners to encourage the College to develop policies and processes that would allow sabbaticals for staff and administrators’ personal and professional development.

Strategic Initiative 3.4: Provide more opportunities and resources (retreats, travel-study seminars, workshops, book groups, dinner discussions, and the like) for staff and faculty at key stages of their professional lives: pre-tenure, promotion, mid-career, late career, post-retirement.

Strategic Initiative 3.5: Expand our “Partners in Education” programs through the Office of Church Relations.

Strategic Initiative 3.6: Work with campus partners to develop summer programs on vocation, leadership, spirituality, and social justice. Possibilities could include leadership development camps for high school students, weekend “Living on Purpose” retreats for parents, and “vital aging” travel-study seminars for retired alumni.

Strategic Initiative 3.7: Work with campus partners to explore an “alumni-in-residence” program, which would bring alumni to campus for up to a full semester to live on-campus, be involved in courses, speak in Chapel, and otherwise contribute to and benefit from the daily life of the College.

Strategic Initiative 3.8: Work with campus partners to develop marketing strategies and a business plan to appropriately leverage programs and services developed and provided by the CVR for external audiences, as sources of revenue for the College.


Goal 4 – National Role: The CVR will build upon and strengthen its role as a leader in the emerging national movement around vocation in higher education.

Strategic Initiative 4.1: Seek opportunities to develop and disseminate workshops,

retreats, and resources for regional and national audiences (through, for example, our participation in the Council of Independent Colleges’ new Vocation in Undergraduate Education network; annual conferences of organizations such as Educators for Community Engagement, and our relationship with the Whidbey Institute, the Purpose Project, and Community Earth Councils).

Strategic Initiative 4.2: Build collaborations with vocation programs at other ELCA colleges and universities, with colleges and universities in the region, and with others nationally (via the Council of Independent Colleges vocation network) to develop joint programs, events, and resources.

Strategic Initiative 4.3: Work with on- and off-campus partners to launch a research, scholarship, and publishing initiative to develop new resources (scholarly and general-audience) on, e.g., vocation, faith in daily life, and engaged learning in the liberal arts. Possible projects could include a regular compilation of essays, poetry, and art by Gustavus faculty; publication of the proceedings of vocation conferences hosted by the College; support for faculty and staff to present at professional conferences; journal articles; and books on, e.g., faith, vocation, and the professions.

Strategic Initiative 4.4: Work with campus partners to develop a regionally and nationally significant annual conference on liberal learning and vocation, possibly modeled on the Nobel Conference, featuring speakers such as Wendell Berry, Jane Goodall, Jimmy Carter, Martha Nussbaum, Desmond Tutu, and Wangari Maathai.

Strategic Initiative 4.5: Encourage the College to continue to explore the possibility of having its own off-campus retreat center to support an institutional ethos of intentionality, reflection, and engaged learning. Such a facility could: • provide space for a growing number of retreats for students, faculty, staff,

alumni, congregations, parents, and friends of the College. • serve as a field “laboratory” or experiential learning site for academic

departments and programs (e.g., natural sciences, environmental studies, arts, English, writing, communication studies, econ/management).

• serve as an extension of our Church Relations, Alumni, Diversity, and other outreach-oriented offices (e.g., GACAC “ministry in daily life” programming, alumni retreats and workshops, urban-rural connections, multi-college experiential learning, etc.).

• generate revenue for the College by serving other constituents (other colleges, churches, civic organizations, businesses, and individuals).


SECTION 4: ASSESSMENT The CVR’s “Program Assessment Plan” (attached), developed in 2007-08 with the

assistance of the CVR Advisory Board, the Institutional Research office, and Lilly assessment “coach” Dr. Diane Millis, will serve as the template and starting point for assessment efforts related to this Strategic Plan. We will continue to refine this plan and pilot key aspects of it throughout 2009-10.

Please note that while the four “Goals” listed in the left-most column of the Assessment Plan do not correspond exactly to the four major goals outlined in this Strategic Plan, the “Desired Impact” (described in the first column), “Desired Outcomes / Indicators” (third column) and “Data Sources & Methods of gathering evidence” (fourth column) will be used to assess progress toward the Goals, Initiatives, and Tactics identified in the Strategic Plan.

Program Assessment Plan Center for Vocational Reflection

(draft Spring 2008)

Introduction This document provides an overview of the work of the CVR, with particular attention to the program’s primary goals (the leftmost column), listings of the programs, resources, and services provided by the CVR (on its own or in collaboration with others; the second column), desired outcomes and indicators of success in reaching those goals (the third column), and data sources and methods we will employ for gathering evidence of those outcomes and indicators (the fourth column).

The goals named in the first column reflect those that have shaped the vocation initiative and the CVR’s work since the writing of the original Lilly grant (in 2000), the launch of the program (in 2001), and the writing of the “sustainability grant” proposal for Lilly (in 2005). The first three goals listed here are rooted in a “theory of change” that sees vocational exploration, reflection, and living as a developmental process, moving from introductory awareness of the concept and basic questions of vocation and the work of the CVR, through more purposeful consideration of one’s life in terms of a calling to serve others, to an ongoing and integrated commitment to a full life of service and leadership in contribution to the wellbeing of others. The fourth goal here speaks to the overarching institutional impact of the program on the College as a whole.

In the “Programs and Resources” (second) column, we have tried to prioritize the work of the CVR as it

pertains to each of our primary constituencies (students, faculty/staff/administrators, and external audiences). An asterisk (*) connotes those programs & resources that we currently provide with which we believe we can do more, or ideas for programs & resources we have yet to develop. Similarly, we have tried to prioritize items in the “Indicators/Outcomes” (third) column, while also distinguishing somewhat between “qualitative” and “quantitative” approaches. Finally, we have tried to identify clear correspondence between Indicators & Outcomes (in the third column) and the specific “Data Sources & Methods” in the fourth column, some of which are formal and others of which are more informal or anecdotal. As a whole, this grid will form the basis for a more detailed work plan, yet to be developed, which will lay out a timeline for implementing those methods and suggest strategies for disseminating results.

We are grateful for the boundless encouragement, wisdom, grace, good humor, and support, throughout

the process of developing this plan, from the Lilly Endowment’s assessment “coach” Dr. Diane Millis.


Goal / Desired impact Program & Resources related to this goal

Desired Outcomes / Indicators of success with

this goal

Data Sources & Methods of gathering evidence

For Students: 1) Core CVR programs:

FTS presentations Workshops & retreats Guest speakers Chill-Out & Wellness

Fair

2) Resources Posters, ad campaigns CVR newsletter /website CVR library Pathways booklet

3) Collaborations Courses/curriculum Student organizations Chapel homilies Peer Assistants Res. Hall programs* Reading in Common /

Orientation* New Student

Registration* Weekly articles, ads* Admission tour guides* GAC TV*

1. Awareness & understanding of vocation (introductory, often short-term) What is vocation? Why does it matter? What is the CVR & what does it do? Why does the CVR exist @ GAC? How can someone get involved in what the CVR does?

For Faculty/Staff/Admin: 1) Core CVR programs

Faculty/Staff workshops New Employee

Orientation 2) Resources

Adoption of “Deep Listening” by Level II Mentor program

Faculty Meeting packets Faculty-l, student-

affairs-l, Yellow Sheet CVR library

3) Collaborations

New Faculty Mentoring* Teachers Talking*

Qualitative: • Awareness of and familiarity with language of vocation (including, e.g., increase in faculty/staff who report familiarity with and ability to include language & ideas of vocation in teaching, advising & mentoring; and increase in students’ familiarity with and ability to use language and ideas of vocation) • “Assumptions are disturbed” (i.e., openness to new ways of thinking about, e.g., the purpose of college, the nature of work, choosing a major, wise use of time, the importance of life-balance, core beliefs and values, awareness of gifts and strengths) • Awareness of and familiarity with the existence and work of the CVR Quantitative: • Increased attendance at CVR-sponsored events • Increased number and quality of applications for Servant-Leadership Program & Nancy Pautz Career Exploration Award • Increased invitations from student organizations, Res. Life, etc., for presentations & workshops • Increased 1:1 traffic in the CVR • Increased use of CVR resources (e.g., Deep Listening exercise) by other programs & organizations

Qualitative / formal • Program evaluations • Focus groups • Marie Walker’s surveys / research study • Survey of FTS students & faculty • CIRP survey & others (to allow comparisons from 1st thru 4th year) • Communications audit • Partners in Education evaluations • Alumni & parent surveys Qualitative /informal: • Correspondence & conversations (notes, emails, phone calls, etc.) from students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, etc. Quantitative / formal: tracking of quantitative indicators, as listed in the third column

Center for Vocational Reflection Strategic Plan, page 27 Goal / desired impact Program & Resources

related to this goal Desired Outcomes /

Indicators of success with this goal


Awareness & understanding of vocation (continued)

For Alumni/others: Partners in Education

presentations* “Working on Purpose”

workshops* GAC website* Quarterly articles* Alumni e-newsletters* Parent e-newsletters* Parent sessions @

registration*

(see above)

(see above)




this goal


2. Consideration, reflection, and appropriation of vocation (intermediate) Asking “Big Questions” of identity, purpose, values, commitments, worldview, faith & meaning Exploring “practices” (e.g., of retreat, contemplation, mindfulness, discernment, reflection) How is vocation more than my job? Considering vocation in decision-making (e.g., choosing a major, career path, co-curricular involvement, lifestyle, grad school, “year of service,” etc.) Recognizing vocation in self and others Reflection & meaning-making in experiential learning

For Students: 1) Core CVR Programs

Servant-Leadership Program

Big Questions retreats STOP retreats Reading groups “Changing the World” J-

term class I Can’t Believe It Went

So Fast dinners “StoryCorps” project*

2) Resources

Deep Listening questions & materials for student org.s

“Discerning Your Calling” Toolkit*

Clearness Committee resources & training*

Support for students to attend & present @ conferences

CVR library

3) Collaborations Academic courses Sabbath retreats Reflection in

Experiential Learning (Study Abroad, Career Exploration, Service-Learning, etc.)

Social Justice Initiative Civic Engagement

Month “Calling of the

Professions” programs “Lives of Commitment”

programs Nancy Pautz Career

Exploration Award “Deep M-Pact” men’s

initiative Church Leadership

Program Guest speakers & artists

Qualitative: • Greater depth and sophistication in use of vocational language, concepts, and questions in the curriculum and co-curriculum (including, e.g., student organizations, coursework, experiential learning, and advising & mentoring of students) • increase in students’ capacity for: o relational/connected

sense of identity o sense of efficacy &

“self-authorship in community”

o sense of giftedness o interest in work that will

deepen their understanding of themselves & their relationship to the commons, benefit others, and contribute to the greater good

o exploration and appropriation of practices

2) Quantitative: • increased number of program participants who return to subsequent programs & events, to “go deeper” with their exploration and learning • increased number of courses, departments, organizations, and experiential learning opportunities that include attention to vocation

Qualitative / formal: • Marie Walker’s surveys / research study • Program evaluations (SLP, retreats, reading groups, workshops, etc.) • 1:1 interviews • Focus groups • Surveys of faculty & staff • Surveys of student organization leaders Qualitative / informal: • Correspondence with SLP & internship site supervisors • Course-based writing (journals, etc.) • Internship & study abroad reflection sessions • Participant profiles & stories for Nancy Pautz Award and SLP) 2) Quantitative / formal:

tracking of quantitative indicators, as listed

Center for Vocational Reflection Strategic Plan, page 29 Goal / Desired impact Program & Resources

related to this goal Desired Outcomes /

Indicators of success with this goal


For Faculty/Staff/Admin: 1) Core CVR Programs

Summer workshops Reading groups Gustavus as a Mentoring

Community activities New Employee

Orientation

2) Resources Support for faculty to

present @ professional conferences

CVR library Mentoring & advising

toolkit* “Discerning Your

Calling” toolkit* 3) Collaborations

Sabbath Retreats Church-and-College

Retreats* New Faculty Mentoring*

Consideration, reflection, & appropriation of vocation (continued)

For Alumni / others: Partners in Education

sessions “Working On Purpose”

workshops & retreats* Parent opportunities &

resources*

(see above) (see above)




this goal


3. Life-long commitments, practices, & behaviors (sustained, in-depth, long-term) Composing a full life of vocation Habits of mind & heart Moral complexity Qualities of character Spiritual depth Integrating practices into daily life & work



CVR internship “Changing the World” J-

term class “StoryCorps” project*

2) Resources Clearness Committee

resources & training* Support for students to

attend & present at conferences

CVR resource library 3) Collaborations

Sacred Space Calling of the

Professions programs Reflection in

Experiential Learning Capstone courses /

Senior Seminars in various majors across the curriculum*

ILS housing / Learning-Living Communities*

_______________________ For Faculty/Staff/Admin: 1) Core CVR Programs

Summer workshops Reading groups Gustavus as a Mentoring

Community “StoryCorps” project*

2) Resources Deep Listening materials

& training Clearness Committee

materials & training* Support for faculty to

present @ professional conferences

CVR resource library 3) Collaborations

Sabbath retreats Church-and-College

Retreats* New Faculty Mentoring

Partners*

Qualitative: • students, alumni, & faculty/staff demonstrate capacities that “move across the gap” from:

o individualistic to interdependent sense of self

o simplicity to complexity

o interpersonal to systemic morality

o instinctive to nuanced & informed decision-making

o the “good self” to the “complicit self”

o “tribe” to commitment to the common good

• strengthened applications by students seeking admission to “pre-professional” programs at Gustavus, and to grad school, year-of-service programs, and employment after graduation • faculty & staff report that the nature of their work with students & colleagues – and other key aspects of their lives – is more consistently and intentionally shaped by reflection on vocation

Qualitative / formal: • Program evaluations • Senior survey • Alumni survey • Surveys of faculty & staff • Focus groups • 1:1 interviews Qualitative / informal: • Stories for the Gustavus Quarterly • “StoryCorps” interviews • Writing from senior/capstone courses

Center for Vocational Reflection Strategic Plan, page 31 Life-long commitments, practices, & behaviors (continued)

For Alumni/others “Living on Purpose”

workshops and retreats*

mentoring workshops and relationships*

leadership formation for the common good*

• alumni report more consistent and intentional reflection on vocation and lives of engagement & contribution • lifelong learning includes intentional cultivation of qualities, capacities, and practices that will strengthen vocation Quantitative: • increase in Church Leadership students who attend seminary or divinity school • increased number of graduates who engage in “year of service” programs

Quantitative / formal:

Tracking of quantitative indicators, as listed


Goal / desired impact Program & Resources related to this goal


this goal




Gustavus as a Mentoring Community

“StoryCorps” project* 2) Resources

Deep Listening & Clearness Committee materials*

Pathways booklet Discerning Your Calling

toolkit* 3) Collaborations

“Deep M-Pact” men’s initiative

Application/selection processes for leadership positions, Admission, etc.*

For Faculty/Staff/Admin: 1) Core CVR Programs

Gustavus as a Mentoring Community

“StoryCorps” project 2) Resources

Regular CVR section in college publications*

Deep Listening & Clearness Committee materials*

Mentoring & Advising toolkit*

3) Collaborations Vocation infused into

strategic planning documents/processes

New faculty/staff retreat*

“Heart of Gustavus” conversations

Board development to include vocation*

4. Influence the ethos of the institution (campus-wide, sustained, long-term) Vocation & vocational reflection widely seen as marks of distinction Invitation to reflect on vocation is “inescapable” (multiple entry points) Vocational reflection is key component in academic & co-curriculum Vocation as important factor in hiring, retention, & professional development Vocation as important factor in institutional decision-making (e.g., curriculum, investments, facilities, etc.)

For Alumni/others: Reunions & other alumni

gatherings* Annual GACAC

convention *

Qualitative: • Widespread infusion of vocational language and ideas into the curriculum and co-curriculum, student organizations, advising & mentoring of students • Vocational language & ideas featured prominently in college publications & website • Hiring, retention, & professional development processes attend to vocation • Faculty tenure & promotion materials include language & ideas of vocation • Staff & administrators gain opportunities for sabbaticals & professional development, to explore & deepen vocation • “Practices of a mentoring community” & vocation-related factors (e.g., environmental impact) are incorporated into design of new facilities Quantitative: (as far as possible, numerical measures that correspond to the qualitative indicators above will need to be developed. For example): • increase in number and frequency of language and ideas of vocation in college publications • increase in number of staff and administrator sabbatical opportunities • increase in events & programs for alumni and others that include a vocational component

Qualitative / formal: • Document analysis • Survey of faculty, staff, & trustees • Alumni survey • Focus groups • 1:1 interviews Qualitative / informal: • “StoryCorps” interviews • Stories for the Gustavus Quarterly, website, and other publications Quantitative / formal: to be developed

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