Callings
Conversations on college, career, and a life well-lived. “Callings” explores what it means to live a life defined by a sense of meaning and purpose. It focuses on the process of exploring and discerning one’s vocation, with particular emphasis on mentoring and supporting undergraduate students as they navigate college, career, and a life-well lived. Hosted by the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE).
Episodes
45 episodes
Stories and Ideologies: Jason Blakely
Jason Blakely is a political philosopher at Pepperdine University and author of Lost in Ideology: Interpreting Modern Political Life. In this episode, he reflects on his own vocational journey while helping us think about this tumultuo...
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Season 5
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Episode 2
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44:07
Learning to Disagree: John Inazu
John Inazu, author of Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect, is Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis. He is also a sought-after speaker who speaks ab...
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Season 5
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Episode 1
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40:22
Vocational Advice for Undergrads: Season 4 Highlights
This bonus episode features highlights from conversations that aired during the fourth season of Callings. In these clips, our guests offer advice for today's students and for anyone who teaches or mentors young adults. Listen to this compilati...
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Season 4
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Episode 11
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30:43
Art Saved the Mountain: Christi Belcourt
Christi Belcourt, a Métis artist whose painting “Reverence for Life” appears on the newest volume from the NetVUE Scholarly Resources Project, reflects on the vocation of the artist. In our conversation, she explains how walking gently on the e...
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Season 4
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Episode 10
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51:47
The Uncommon Good: Geoffrey Bateman
Geoffrey Bateman, a NetVUE faculty fellow and NetVUE scholar, has written extensively on the topic of supporting our LGBTQIA+ students in their vocational journeys. In our conversation, we explore strategies for mentoring queer students and dis...
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Season 4
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Episode 9
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46:14
Transformation and Generosity: Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Kathleen Fitzpatrick, author of Generous Thinking: A Radical Approach to Saving the University, imagines that higher education can innovate for change in ways that allow campuses and communities to flourish. Throughout our conversation...
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Season 4
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Episode 8
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45:50
Sacred Invitations: Anantanand Rambachan
Anantanand Rambachan’s career as a teacher, scholar, and activist has been grounded in a “thirst for the sacred.” Anant is a scholar of Hinduism and interreligious studies and is professor emeritus of religion, philosophy, and Asian studies at ...
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Season 4
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Episode 7
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56:13
The North Star of Justice: Sarah Bassin
Rabbi Sarah Bassin works for the world’s oldest refugee agency, the nonprofit organization HIAS (originally the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society). In the episode, Sarah reflects on the paradoxes of leadership as part of the call to live for t...
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Season 4
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Episode 6
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47:41
On a Life Worth Living: Miroslav Volf
As Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School, and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, Miroslav Volf is one of the most influential Christian theologians of this generation. He is also someone who cares deeply about issues of ...
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Season 4
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Episode 5
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51:57
Risks, Pivots, and Deep Courage: Shirley Hoogstra
Shirley Hoogstra has been an elementary school teacher, a litigator, a vice president for student life at Calvin University and, since 2014, the president of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). In this conversation, sh...
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Season 4
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Episode 4
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42:04
Crisis, Hope, and Action: Katharine Hayhoe
Katharine Hayhoe’s influence on conversations about climate change is known to many through her vibrant and engaging social media presence. As a distinguished professor at Texas Tech University and the author of the recently published Savin...
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Season 4
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Episode 3
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51:34
Shadow and Light: Parker Palmer
Well before vocation and calling developed their current popularity, Parker Palmer was recognized as one of the foremost scholars, authors, and speakers on the topic. In this conversation, he shares profound and honest answers about paying atte...
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Season 4
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Episode 2
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59:59
Agents of Repair: Norman Wirzba
Norman Wirzba’s research, writing, and teaching explore the overlap between theology and ecology, working to address major environmental issues such as climate crisis and food insecurity. In this conversation, we discuss aspects of agrarian liv...
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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49:34
Vocational Advice for Undergrads: Season 3 Highlights
This bonus episode features highlights from conversations that aired during the third season of Callings. In these clips, our guests offer advice for today's students and for anyone who teaches or mentors young adults. Listen to this c...
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Season 3
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Episode 11
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29:52
The Office and the Soul: Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson—best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the sitcom The Office—is an actor, comedian, and the author of the recently published Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution. While sharing funny and wise insigh...
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Season 3
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Episode 10
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46:19
An Investment of Time: Richard Sévère
Richard Sévère shares his approach to mentoring, friendship, and vocation in this episode, drawing in part from his work with first-generation students and students from the Black diaspora. As a professor of English and interim associate dean a...
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Season 3
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Episode 9
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51:27
On Wicked Teaching: Paul Hanstedt
Part of our call as educators is to prepare students for a dynamic and complicated world. Paul Hanstedt helps us understand how vocation and pedagogy intersect. He is author of Creating Wicked Students: Designing Courses for a Complex World...
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Season 3
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Episode 8
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45:25
Historical Evidence and Public Debate: Kristin Kobes Du Mez
Ever since the publication of her New York Times bestselling book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation (2020), Kristin Kobes Du Mez has been in the middle of intense public deb...
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Season 3
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Episode 7
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55:42
Callings We Don't Choose: Deanna Thompson
How does experience with trauma inform, and transform, our vocations? Our guest, Deanna Thompson, helps us understand how suffering shapes us and how our vocational frameworks might integrate sadness. Deanna’s journey with incurable cancer info...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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1:01:54
Pursuing Wisdom and the Good Life: Meghan Sullivan
Meghan Sullivan teaches philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, where she also directs a program on God and the Good Life. Meghan’s newest book, co-authored with Paul Blaschko, is titled The Good Life Method: Reasoning through the Big Q...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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55:02
Education, Contemplation, and Joy: Rowan Williams
Rowan Williams is a professor, public theologian, author, poet, and one of the most recognized Christian leaders of our era. Most notably, from 2002 to 2012, he served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury which is the senior leadership positio...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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51:33
Chasing Hope: Shaun Casey
Shaun Casey’s work explores the overlapping concerns among religion, diplomacy, and public life. Trained as a theologian with an interest in public policy, Shaun held many academic positions before he was called to set up the Office of Religion...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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52:03
Healing and Homecoming: Thema Bryant
Thema Bryant is the president-elect of the American Psychological Association, as well as a clinical psychologist, professor, and an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She describes a deep sense of calling in her life in ...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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41:23
Heart Wide Open: Meghan Slining
Meghan Slining, an epidemiologist and public health professor, shares how we might model compassion and love as we address burnout and support vocations that serve the public good. After five semesters marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges ...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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43:17
Vocational Advice for Undergrads: Season 2 Highlights
This bonus episode features highlights from conversations that aired during the second season of Callings. Our guests offer advice for students today, but the advice is also helpful for anyone who teaches or mentors young adults. Listen to this...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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25:42