Program Elements

The VOICES Project aims to create and sustain supportive University communities with an understanding of and appreciation for the role of vocation and leadership, especially in terms of faith commitment, through a set of integrated programs and activities developing interior life, life in community and life in engaged service.

Interior Life

1. Pathways
   A variety of programs to build community and foster self-reflection by and for first-year students.

2. Retreats and Programs for Faculty and Staff
   Mission and Ministry will sponsor two weekend retreats each year to provide faculty and staff an opportunity for prayer, reflection, and camaraderie with colleagues.
3. Collaboration with Career Services and Academic Advising

 

Life in Community

4. Reflection Circles
   Graduate students (and their spouses) in an academic department or school are invited to partake in monthly or weekly evenings of a shared meal, song and prayer, and discussion of matters of profession and faith. [more]
5. Wisdom Figures in the Professions
   Students have an opportunity to hear respected faculty members in a variety of disciplines give short presentations on their own vocations, sharing their life-journeys in faith with students within those disciplines.
   
   
6. Three Lecture Series
   Nationally known leaders from a variety of disciplines articulate their own sense of vocation in the context of their professional and academic lives. These three lecture series will be organized around three different themes:

   The Faith of a Professional (e.g., attorney or social worker) The Moral Vision of an Academic (e.g., of a biologist or poet) Conversations & Cases in Justice

   Life of Solidarity in Service

7. Congregation Internships
   Ten to fifteen congregational internships each year through the life of the grant will support students working in local congregations and other ministry settings in various faith traditions. [ more ]

8. Faculty Sustainability Grants
   The VOICES Project will encourage research, curricular, and programmatic initiatives in the area of personal call or reflection, community-building, and service through a competitive grant program.
   
   
9. Men and Women for Others Scholarship
   First-year students may be eligible for scholarship offered jointly by the VOICES project and the Office of Admissions. Contact Leah Sweetman for more information.