Called Beyond Our Selves: Vocation and the Common Good

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.

Erin VanLaningham is Professor of English at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. Her research fields include the British novel, Irish literature and culture, and aesthetics and gender studies. She is a contributor to and co-editor of Cultivating Vocation in Literary Studies. She directs the Scholarly Resources Project for the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE), a program of the Council of Independent Colleges, and co-hosts the NetVUE podcast, Callings.