Beyond What Students Learn, Who Will They Become?

The liberal arts are often heralded for imparting “soft skills,” but equally important are the opportunities they provide for reflection on one’s life, work, and purpose. This semester, the College received two year-long capacity grants—one focused on exploring students’ calling and vocation, the other to encourage conversations about character.

Vassarʼs proposal “Going to the Source: An Exploration of Institutional and Individual Character” yielded a grant of $45,134 from The Educating Character Initiative (ECI), a project of The Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University. The grant provides institutions “with the time, resources, and support to discern how character education works best in their context.” As part of this exploration, participants from across student affairs and academic departments will consider whether the motto “going to the source” could help define, develop, and nurture individual and institutional character.

Vassar received a $20,156 NetVUE Professional Development Award “to facilitate the professional development of staff and faculty members in developing campus conversations about vocation and to deepen the capacity of those who lead vocational exploration efforts at NetVUE member institutions.” That initiative is administered by The Council of Independent Colleges, with support from Lilly Endowment Inc.

Vassar held a kick-off dinner to celebrate the awards on September 28. Wendy Maragh Taylor, Associate Dean of the College for Student Growth and Engagement and a co-lead on both grant projects, said the decision to apply for the support was inspired by ongoing work with students inside and outside of the classroom, “often in small and big groups and often behind closed doors in our one-to-one conversations. Students have shared various struggles, challenges, interests, and excitement, and while not usually naming it, they are often talking about ‘character,’ ‘calling,’ or ‘vocation.’ ”

Maragh Taylor said it had also been rewarding to engage with campus colleagues about these topics. She added that while the NetVUE Calling/Vocation and the ECI Character project teams are separate, there is significant crossover and synergy between them and an opportunity to work together.

Discussions will continue in a series of workshops for administrators and faculty members throughout the year. They will include Leora Gansworth, Assistant Professor of Native American Studies and the faculty co-lead for the character grant, who will offer a two-part conversation for faculty on “What does character mean at Vassar?” Similarly, Tamyka Jordon-Conlin, Assistant Professor of Music and the faculty co-lead for the calling/vocation grant, will facilitate a conversation on how faculty might build the community’s definition of calling and vocation as they relate to higher education for students. Several of the project leads for the character grant will be participating in “Going to the Source: Opportunities to Co-create Institutional and Individual Character,” a Vassar Institute for the Liberal Arts Signature program to be held November 9.

At the kick-off event, the keynote address, titled “The Craft of Character and a Call to Vocation in the Life of Ralph Ellison,” was delivered by Nicholas Lewis, Bard College’s Associate Vice President for Academic Initiatives/Associate Dean of the College, as well as the Director of Bard’s newly launched Ralph Ellison Center. He shared pivotal moments from the life of the National Book Award–winning African American author of Invisible Man, a polymath who also pursued classical and jazz musical performance and composition, and taught at institutions of higher learning such as New York University and Bard.

Lewis argued that Ellison’s exploration of his calling—at every stage of his life—was facilitated by others who recognized his talent and drive. And his character was shaped by the experiences he had throughout his lifetime: his upbringing in Oklahoma City, OK; his father's early death when Ellison was only three years old; the odd jobs he worked to support his family. A first-generation college student, he studied classical music and jazz at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama until a fateful trip to New York City interrupted his college years and changed the trajectory of his life. His arrival in the Big Apple led to relationships with a series of important mentors, including the author Richard Wright, that helped propel him to success as a culturally significant, best-selling author and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1965.

At the close of the event, the Center for Career Education (CCE) recognized its first-ever cohort of Career Champions, who have similarly supported Vassar’s students in exploring their vocations. Associate Dean of the College for Career Education Stacy Bingham noted that those who work in the CCE “spend a great deal of time thinking about how students figure out their place in the world, but they don’t do it alone.

“[Students’] discernment of what they are called to do does not happen in a vacuum,” she said. “Instead, it happens everywhere. It happens in your classrooms and offices. It happens during office hours when a student confides an idea about their future. It happens in labs, at the Deece, in student org meetings, and in all the small, quiet moments in between. Helping students connect what they are learning today to who they want to be tomorrow is a campus-wide endeavor.”

Last spring the CCE surveyed graduating seniors, asking who had supported them in their career journeys and who had made a meaningful difference in their professional development and personal growth. The result, Bingham said, was “the very special group of faculty and staff we invited to be in the room tonight.” All in all, there were 99 unique awardees. About 60 of them attended the event and received framed certificates of recognition, along with a note indicating who had nominated them.