AU has received a $25,000 NetVUE expansion renewal grant that will allow three courses focused on life calling to be offered this year.

NetVUE, which stands for Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education, is an organization committed to supporting vocational exploration at the undergraduate level. 

According to Karen Hagans, the executive director of the career services center, this grant is the third in a series of grants received by AU from the organization.

The first grant allowed the university to put together a video library of AU graduates in the workforce along with the SOAR mentoring program, which allows current students to connect with alumni for career advice and help, Hagans explained. The second, a chaplaincy grant, gave students an opportunity to attend a retreat where they were able to learn more about themselves and about the workforce.

This third grant will be put to use in the creation of three different courses that are being called life-calling courses. According to Hagans, the first class,

Life Calling 1, will begin Oct. 25 as a half-semester course. She explained that the course was populated with students who came to college with an undecided major and with students who dropped a course at the beginning of the semester. Hagans said the class will focus on helping students find clarity related to their major and to discover more about themselves.

Life Calling 2 and 3 will both be offered during spring semester.

Life Calling 2 or as Hagans calls it, experiential education, will focus on “testing the waters” and allow students to look at different ways they can get experience before graduation in the career field they intend to pursue. 

This class will be aimed at sophomore and junior students. Hagans noted that for many this may be finding an internship, but that the class will also look at other opportunities such as volunteering and mission trips and will focus on tips and tricks to help students connect to those opportunities.

Life Calling 3 will be a class geared mostly toward seniors and some juniors. It will focus on life after graduation, Hagans explained. It will give students an opportunity to prepare themselves for the workforce before actually entering it and will focus on creating a 5-year plan for life after graduation.

According to Hagans, the classes will start off with a wide general topic that will then become very individualized to each student in the course of the semester. She believes these classes represent an opportunity for students, who are often too busy for the extra things that will help their career, to get course credit while taking the time to plan for their future and to reflect on the experiences they have in the course of the semester.

Though the grant is covering these classes for the time being, Hagans explained that the courses are only being offered on a temporary status. Hagans noted that those teaching the courses will be donating their time because it is a cause they strongly believe in.

“We have great grant writers on this campus who partner with those of us who have content knowledge,” said Hagans. “These grants have given us funds to go beyond what we do on a day-to-day basis to give more opportunities to our students. The people behind these courses are faculty and staff who believe we need a structured approach for students in vocational exploration to help them move closer to understanding their life calling.”

The grant will also cover two interns, one who will help with assessments in the courses, and one who will help with programming in the courses.