Augustana faculty secure national funding to explore vocation

Following a competitive national selection process, two Augustana College professors were awarded vocational exploration grants from NetVUE (Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education), a program of the Council of Independent Colleges.

Dr. Jane Simonsen, history and gender studies, and Dr. Çağlar Çetin-Ayşe, sociology, received two of only 17 grants recently awarded to members of NetVUE’s 350 institutions. 

“What excites me most is that both projects extend beyond research and will produce tangible resources and models that other institutions can adopt,” said Dr. Dianna Shandy, Augustana provost. “Dr. Simonsen’s work in prison education and Dr. Çetin-Ayşe’s community-rooted model of vocational reflection both contribute important new perspectives to conversations about vocation. They position Augustana as a leader in innovative, inclusive approaches to vocational exploration.”

Dr. Simonsen teaches in the Augustana Prison Education Program, a four-year degree program for incarcerated men at East Moline Correctional Center. With her nearly $18,000 NetVUE funding, she will explore how incarcerated students understand vocation and calling. Too often, the focus is on how prison education benefits the public — lowering repeat offenses and saving money — rather than what it offers to those who are incarcerated.

“We often discuss vocational exploration as finding out where your talents and passions can serve the needs of the world,” Dr. Simonsen explained. “But the worlds in which incarcerated people live are severely circumscribed. Even if and when they are liberated, many jobs may not be available to them, even as many of them want and need to take on a wage-earning role for their families.”

Education behind bars shouldn’t be valued only for improving statistics, she said. At its best, it can foster intellectual freedom, build meaningful connections between people inside and outside prison walls, and create space to question and reimagine a system that relies so heavily on incarceration.

In addition to writing about her findings, Dr. Simonsen will create materials to help incarcerated students reflect on their goals and sense of purpose. These resources will be applicable to different educational programs at other institutions serving incarcerated learners.

With his NetVUE grant of nearly $12,500, Dr. Çetin-Ayşe will study ALIVE, Augustana’s  program for sophomores designed to support vocational discernment beyond traditional career planning. The project will look at how ALIVE encourages students to approach vocation as a shared endeavor and highlights the experiences of participants from different backgrounds. Students and mentors will work together as research partners to better understand the program’s impact.

“This insight will benefit the ALIVE program, the Augustana community and others in higher education who are looking for more student-centered ways to support vocational growth,” Dr. Çetin-Ayşe said.

In addition to co-authored blog posts, a peer-reviewed article and conference presentations, the project’s findings will be featured in an upcoming exhibition at the Putnam Museum in Davenport.

“This exhibition will allow us to share our stories, reflections and creative pieces with the wider community,” Dr. Çetin-Ayşe said. “We hope to invite more people into the conversation about vocation and show that questions of purpose are not only personal but deeply connected to community and shared experience.”

Both grant-funded projects are supported by the Council of Independent Colleges with generous support from Lilly Endowment Inc.