Description
The concept of vocation in higher education helps undergraduates explore what it means to live a meaningful life. This volume situates vocation within the context of the common good and emphasizes the interconnectedness of individual life and communal life. In this meeting place between self and others, we are called beyond our selves. The contributors--drawing from diverse academic disciplines and experiences-propose that when we prioritize the well-being of all, our notions of success and purpose are elevated. They argue that this necessary shift in vocational frameworks allows college educators to challenge dominant ways of thinking about vocation as well as thinking about what is "common" and what is "good." The contributors offer pedagogies, models, and practices that orient vocation towards the well-being of the community--highlighting the importance of justice, compassion, dialogue, and action in our responses to the traumas of personal, historical, and communal life. Given the increasing polarization of contemporary civic life and the challenges of the higher education landscape, educating for vocation brings skills and practices that can address such pressing issues. When we orient vocation towards collective well-being, we can better hear and respond to others, near and far. Building on the earlier three volumes in this series, this volume's contributors challenge our campuses and communities to reframe our notions of success to prioritize mutual flourishing for the common good.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Marjorie HassPrefaceVocations of the ContributorsIntroduction: Whose Good Life?: Vocation and Communal Flourishing-- Erin VanLaninghamPART ONE: Vocation in the Commons1. Our Call as Response: The Common Good as the Context of Vocation--David Matzko McCarthy2. Beyond Deep Gladness: Lamenting Trauma, Injustice, and Suffering in Service of the Flourishing of All--Deanna A. Thompson3. Overturning for the Common Good: Membership and Mutuality in a World of Markets and Meritocracy--Christine Jeske4. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice: Institutional Mission as the Call of the Common Good--Monica M. SmithPART TWO: Transformations of the Common Good5. The Vocation of Advocacy: Enacting a More Just World--Michelle Hayford6. Queer Vocation and the Uncommon Good--Geoffrey W. Bateman7. Expanding the Borders of a Common Good: Transformational Encounters--Jonathan GoldenPART THREE: Pedagogies and Practices for the Common Good8. A Too Uncommon, Common Good: The Role of Deliberation and Dialogue in Vocational Discernment--David Timmerman9. Reading with Strangers: Our Collective Vocation--Erin VanLaningham 10. A Case for Compassionate Pedagogy: Caring for the Public's Health, Cultivating Sustainable Vocations--Meghan M. SliningPART FOUR: Callings of Campus, Community, and Beyond11. The University as the (Common) Good Place--Robert J. Pampel 12. The Yarn in the Tapestry: Weaving Memory into History, Vocation, and Our Common Life--Martin Holt Dotterweich13. What We Are Up Against: Reforming the Vocation of Higher Education for Formation throughout Our Lives--Charles MathewesEpilogue Towards an Ecology of the Common Good: Vocation in the Gaps--Erin VanLaninghamIndex of NamesIndex of Subjects
