Because the quest for meaning and direction in the lives of all students defines the goal of a liberal arts education in general and the mission of Transylvania in particular, the Lilly project seeks to develop a campus environment that pervasively invites and sustains conversations on vocation.  Our program assumes a threefold understanding of the concept of vocation:  (1) in the broadest sense vocation refers to the innate drive in every human to discover meaning and purpose, direction and wholeness in life, (2) in the religious sense it refers to the purposes of God in our lives, and (3) in the narrowest sense it refers to the calling of individuals to full-time Christian service.

Three specific goals direct the program:

Goal 1: to create a campus ethos that encourages our students to understand their future work in light of their life’s commitments and in terms of vocation.  This program goal will be accomplished by expanding existing programs and by initiating new ones in 6 areas of campus life: alumni relations, academics, career development, chaplain’s office, community service, and student life.  Reaffirming our 220-year tradition of identifying, nurturing, and preparing students for service in the world and church, Transylvania proposes to enrich and expand its religious and pre-ministerial programming and to initiate interchurch dialogue in order to accomplish goals 2 & 3.

Goal 2: to identify and nurture the next generation of church leaders, both lay and ordained.  Highlights include: chaplain’s office, Disciples on Campus [DOC], Students Exploring Religious Vocation and Education [SERVE], and TRANSY & T.E.A.M.

Goal 3: to strengthen existing partnerships and invite dialogues with Disciples of Christ institutions that share our commitment to identify and nurture the next generation of leaders for church and society.  Partnerships include: Christian Church In Kentucky, Lexington Theological Seminary, Kentucky Council of Churches, Division of Higher Education of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and summer symposiums.

The project design is based on our threefold understanding of the concept of vocation and is structured by our three goals. Because our first goal identifies the quest for meaning and direction in the lives of all our students, programs that already address the issue of vocation, as well as new programs, will be highlighted in six areas of campus life. They are: alumni relations, academics, career development, chaplain’s office, community service, and student life.  Major activities for goal one include: adding ½ time faculty position to the religion program, adding a faculty development seminar on vocation, adding a section to the weekly “academic affairs” presentations where faculty members will talk about the vocation of teaching their discipline, adding a vocation segment to our required orientation course University 1111 “AcademicCareer Skills,” highlighting the discussion of vocation in our required first-year course “Foundations of the Liberal Arts,” building service learning into the classroom, adding two lectures featuring speakers on “civic/social responsibility” and on religion, highlighting existing conversations on vocation in career counseling, adding service leadership groups, providing community service opportunities with reflection on vocation, and highlighting conversations on vocation in our student life programming.

Because our second goal reaffirms our 220-year tradition of identifying, nurturing, and preparing students for service in the church and world, Transylvania proposes to expand and enrich its three existing programs in this area, as well as to replace the dean of chapel (who will move into full-time teaching) with a full-time college chaplain. Major activities for goal two include: strengthening our religious programming on campus, especially Disciples on Campus (DOC) and Students Exploring Religious Vocation and Education (SERVE), expanding TRANSY & T.E.A.M. (the only national Disciples program specifically designed for high school youth that are considering leadership in the church) to a 3-day weekend program, and creating a college chaplain’s office.

Because our third goal seeks to strengthen existing partnerships with Disciples of Christ and ecumenical manifestations of the church, as well as to initiate symposiums for the purpose of sharing and developing new ideas on the theological exploration of vocation, major activities for goal three include: partnerships with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Kentucky to support a pilot project to help congregations identify candidates for lay and ordained leadership in the church, with Lexington Theological Seminary to share resources and programming, with Kentucky Council of Churches to assist with EcuCamp (an ecumenical weeklong summer camp for high school leaders), with the Division of Higher Education of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to co-sponsor a series of symposiums, with the Center for Leadership and Ministry (Disciples Center) to explore ways to identify and recruit the next generation of church leaders, with select seminaries to establish “semester at seminary,” and with the Fund for Theological Education to identify new initiatives and models for the identification and recruitment of the next generation of ordained ministers. In addition, three symposiums for affiliated Disciples institutions, in cooperation with the Division of Higher Education, are planned for successive summers to discuss initiatives on vocation, common educational and ministerial goals, and better ways to cooperate and assist one another in achieving our mutual ministries.