• School of Business - ACC 200: Introduction to Accounting (Sharon Strickland)
• School of Education and Health Sciences - EDT 417/THR 417: Theatre in Education (Treavor Bogard)
• School of Engineering - EGR 308/THR 308: Engineering for the Performing Arts (Ryan Wantland)
• College of Arts & Sciences - ENG 392: Writing for Grants and Non-Profits (Nicole Adams)
• College of Arts & Sciences - SEE 250: Introduction to Sustainability, Energy and the Environment (Felix Fernando and Danielle Rhubart)

Outcome 1

As a result of participating in the First-Year Experience program, students will be able to articulate a comprehensive definition of vocation and vocational discernment.

Through their involvement in the First-Year Experience program, students will demonstrate that they understand vocation as a life-long process of discerning their callings, people have multiple vocations at any one point in their lives, vocation involves both what they want to do and who they want to be, and vocation will play a key role in their academic planning, career choice, and faith development.

Students will also demonstrate that they understand how vocational discernment requires openness, curiosity, and active participation on their part.

Outcome 2

As a result of participating in the First-Year Experience program, students will be able to engage with a range of methods to reflect on key aspects of their personal sense of vocation.

In the First-Year Experience program, students will be introduced to and employ a range of methods to reflect on key aspects of their vocation including their faith, values, life goals, priorities, sources of joy, responsibilities, and obligations.

Students will also be able to identify campus resources, organizations, offices, and activities that can support and enhance their vocational discernment.

Outcome 3 

As a result of participating in the First-Year Experience program students will be able to practice skills in self-care and resiliency that help them meet the challenges of pursuing their vocations

As a part of the First-Year Experience program, students will articulate the kinds of challenges they may encounter as they pursue their vocations, identify resources that can help them meet these challenges, and demonstrate practices of self-care and resiliency that will help them successfully achieve their life goals.

• School of Engineering - EGR 101 & 102: Discover Engineering Seminar, Introduction to the University Experience for Engineers (Joan Barker)
• Office of Learning Resources - UDI 175: The Art & Science of Learning (Brenda Lecklider)
• School of Business - BIZ 101: Business Education Planning (Jamie Riley)
• College of Arts and Sciences - ASI 150: Introduction to the University Experience (Heather Parsons)

Vocation is a central goal and theme of community-engaged learning initiatives, internship and student employment opportunities, research projects, and other hands-on learning experiences available to students.

Centers / Areas / Programs Integrating Vocation

• Honors Program: Chaminade Scholars: The Chaminade Scholars Program is an opportunity for Honors students to deeply explore faith, reason and vocation in an interdisciplinary community. All Chaminade Scholars engage in a common set of seminar-style courses, retreats and leadership experiences.
• IACT: The Institute of Applied Creativity for Transformation (IACT) is an academic institute training students in non-linear problem solving, cross-disciplinary collaboration and vocationally-centered creative design. Students continue to study in their disciplinary field while developing their own person Drive: a vocational map that actionizes a student’s own Passion, Purpose and Possibility. IACT’s course offerings also include UDI 373: Design Your Life, where students explore the methodologies of design thinking and applied creativity within the context of vocational discernment and career development.
• Housing and Residence Life - AVIATE: The AVIATE program of Housing and Residence Life (HRL) offers the opportunity for students to explore Vocation through our four-year residential curriculum. During the October Community Building Meeting, students will participate in an activity that allows them to engage in the process of vocational discernment. HRL seeks to contribute to on-going learning in relation to vocational discernment by offering students the opportunity to engage in an Intentional Conversation with their RA or Fellow to continue the exploration of their Vocation. Students can earn one PATH credit per month for participation in a Community Building Meeting and one PATH credit per semester for participation in an Intentional Conversation.
• Center for Social Concern: Campus Ministry's Center for Social Concern provides many opportunities for students to explore vocation. Service and Social Action Clubs, the REAL Dayton, BreakOut trips, the UD Summer Appalachia Program, and Summer Cross-cultural Immersion trips provide experiences and reflection components that assist students in discerning their gifts, interests, and how they can meet the needs of the world. In addition, the Beyond UD program and events are specifically designed to encourage students to consider a year or two of full-time volunteering as a significant part of their vocation journey.
• Campus Ministry: Callings Leaders, Faith, Vocation & Leadership Special Interest Houses, and more: Discover and respond to your call. How will you make a difference in the world? What’s the connection between using your gifts and interests to finding joy in life? What’s your vocation? Who is God calling you to be? Explore these questions and more through Campus Ministry’s vocation programs.
• Career Services: Vocational reflection is an important part of the academic major selection and career development process. In addition to examining skills, values, and interests, students and alumni are welcome and encouraged to explore the concepts of calling and vocation with professional Career Advisors. In addition, Career Peer Mentors are available to provide career-related assistance and advice from the perspective of a peer.
• Fitz Center for Leadership in Community Programs: The Fitz Center for Leadership in Community serves as a connecting point for community partnerships and innovative solution-based strategies to civic needs through an asset based approach. The Fitz Center offers programs and opportunities for students to strengthen the Dayton community, build supportive relationships, and accomplish goals while discerning future paths of service and civic engagement.
• ETHOS - Engineers in Technical Humanitarian Opportunities of Service Learning: The ETHOS Center offers experiential learning programs for students to engage their engineering mindset and skillset while working with community organizations in Dayton, the US, and around the world. Through week-long or semester-long immersions, students work on technical projects that are community-driven, allowing students to integrate their skills and passions with the needs and desires of communities to address societal issues. With guided reflective practices before, during, and after the experiences, students reflect critically and deeply about their vocational pathway.

For more examples of experiential, co-curricular programs centered on Vocation, visit the Involvement Generator and select “Vocation” under the co-curricular focus option. For more information about any of the EL programs above please contact the Office of Experiential Learning.