​CIC’s Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) has continued to expand over the year. Since January 2016, 34 colleges and universities have joined this initiative to help their students engage vocational thinking as both an intellectual and a theological exploration. As of February 2017, NetVUE has 225 members, surpassing its original membership goal of 200 institutions. This growth, generously supported by Lilly Endowment Inc., positions the network to be self-supporting far into the future.

CIC offers several programs and services for NetVUE members. Activities include a national conference held every other year (the fourth NetVUE Conference will take place March 23–25, 2017, in Charlotte, North Carolina) and regional gatherings and multi-campus collaborations held in alternate years. NetVUE also provides a mentoring and consulting service as well as online resources and networking. In addition, a number of grant opportunities are available to NetVUE member institutions to support the development of vocational exploration programming on their campuses. (For information on the NetVUE book, Vocation across the Academy: A New Vocabulary for Higher Education, just published by Oxford University press, see the related story.)

NetVUE Grants Strengthen Campus Vocational Programs

CIC awarded 18​ NetVUE member colleges and universities Program Development Grants in November 2016 (see awardee list below). The grants support campus efforts to deepen, expand, or otherwise enhance vocational exploration programs that are under way on each campus. The awardees in this fifth round of grants received between $25,000 and $50,000 for use over a two-year period (2017–2019) and will begin their work in May 2017.

NetVUE member institutions also may apply for Professional Development Awards to enhance the knowledge, skills, and expertise of faculty and staff members who engage undergraduates in vocational exploration initiatives. NetVUE member institutions can request $5,000 to $10,000 for use over the 2017–2018 academic year. The application deadline for this, the fourth of five anticipated annual award cycles, is April 14, 2017.

For more information about these programs and NetVUE member awardees, visit NetVUE Grant Programs or contact Michael Cartwright, assistant director of NetVUE, at mcartwright@cic.nche.edu.

2016 NetVUE Program Development Grant Awardees