Houghton recently received a $50,000 grant for networking for vocation in undergraduate education. This grant was given to Houghton by the Council of Independent Colleges, a group of which Houghton has been a part for many years. This grant is intended to help colleges who wish to expand on their vocational programs and services. “The overall goal of this grant is to help transform our authentic but often informal mentoring for vocation,” said associate dean for academic affairs Mark Hijleh.
Along with Mark Hijleh, the grant team which will be providing leadership to this initiative includes Robert Pool, vice president for student life; Professor Rich Eckley; Dan Noyes, executive director of alumni relations; Brian Reitnour, career services coordinator; Michael Jordan, dean of the chapel; and Mark Hunter, CASA director.
“Consistency” was one of Robert Pool’s choice words when describing the hopes he had for the vocational program. “I hope there is more consistency in the questions professors ask students as well as the answers they give them.” Pool hopes that when students meet with their advisors, discussions will be more along the lines of what the student’s strengths and weaknesses are as well as what they plan to do in the future. Through that the professor could connect them with alumni, as well as set up interviews and internships for that student. “We already have these things available to the students but we hope to make it more intentional.”
Currently, Houghton’s vocational programs include Transitions, sophomore retreat, HELP Day, guest executive dinners, Imitators of Christ, academic capstone projects, and alumni connections. “Houghton has supported students in vocational aspiration all along, but this project will help us bring together many elements of this exploration into a more coherent and effective whole,” said Hijleh.
“What we want students to be able to ask themselves is, ‘Who am I?’, ‘Who am I in Christ?’, ‘What’s my purpose?’ and ‘How can I use my services?’ We are trying to prepare students for lives of significance,” said Pool.
Current students as well as future students will benefit from this program. “We will be able to communicate the program’s coherence and benefits to prospective students and their families, which we believe will make the value of a Houghton education much clearer,” said Hijleh. Hannah Zgrablich, junior, said, “I’m interested to see how this program will develop. It would be extremely useful to focus more on our future careers while we’re in school so as not to be in complete shock when it’s time to face the real world.”
Hijleh, along with the rest of the grant team have high hopes for this program. “All of this will come together over the next two years in the form of ‘VOCA’ a new center for exploration of vocation. Students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members will have access to and be encouraged to make use of materials and programs that assist them with making connections between spiritual formation, Christian calling, academic advising, coursework and co-curricular activities, career development and professional networking in the context of Houghton’s mission to ‘to lead and labor as scholar-servants in a changing world.’”