Grant Funds Look At Career Values

Transylvania University Magazine
Spring 2001

In September, 2000, Lilly Endowment Inc. approved Transylvania’s request for a five-year, $1.5 million grant, the largest single grant from a private foundation in the University’s history, for the theological exploration of vocation. The grant allows Transy to implement programs that help students examine how their values and commitments can play a role in determining their profession.

Among the 20 other colleges to receive the grant are Baylor University, Boston College, Davidson College, Hanover College, and the University of Notre Dame. Paul Jones, professor of religion and dean of the chapel, said the program will expand and enrich Transy’s liberal arts curriculum. “The intention of the proposal in its broadest context is to assist our students in better understanding who they are and how they will choose to live out their values in all of life,” he said.

The grant will affect the campus on several levels. Under the umbrella of career development, for example, the University will invite former students to serve as mentors for current students interested in similar professions. In the area of co-curricular activities, the University will add a lecture series on civic and social responsibility. Ultimately, the program will encourage students to ask questions unique to the human experience, an exercise central to a liberal arts education, Jones pointed out. Among those questions, he said, are “’How do I begin to sort out my values?’ ‘How do I make judgments?’ ‘How do I act upon my value system when making decisions about career, family, politics, and social involvement?’”

The grant will also strengthen Transy’s ties with other Disciples of Christ colleges and will allow the University to host “Initiatives on Vocation” symposiums for those colleges.

The program’s leadership will consist of three full-time positions: campus minister, Lilly coordinator, and assistant to the coordinator. After the program is set in motion, its effectiveness will be evaluated by internal and external committees. A plan for continuation states that successful areas will be sustained once the grant ends.

Lilly Endowment, created in 1937 by family members in the well-known pharmaceutical business Eli Lilly and Company, supports religious, educational, and charitable causes. Based in Indianapolis, the private philanthropic organization is one of the nation’s largest.