In the News: Breaking New Ground in Vocational Discernment Education
Liz was recently featured in a Marquette news story highlighting innovative approaches to vocational discernment in higher education. The article explores how she is making discernment practices accessible to both graduate and undergraduate students, helping them navigate their academic and life paths with greater intention and clarity.
Meeting Students Where They Are
"Students have come to faculty and said they don't necessarily know what to do with their lives," she shared in the article. "They don't know how to say no, they sometimes don't know how to say yes, and they don't know what their own voice sounds like." This observation led to the development of new courses designed to address these fundamental life questions.
Innovation in Practice: The Discernment Map
One of the highlighted innovations from her graduate course (English 6820) is the "Discernment Map" exercise, where students creatively represent their decision-making processes. As she explained in the article, "I gave them the license to do whatever they wanted in terms of how to creatively represent their own discernment process." This approach helps students understand not just how they make decisions, but whose voices influence their choices.
Impact on Students
The article features feedback from graduate student Serina Jamison, who described how the course helped her move beyond merely justifying her choices to understanding her deeper motivations and passions. This transformation from external justification to internal understanding is exactly what our discernment work aims to achieve.
Looking Forward: Expanding to Undergraduate Education
Liz is excited to share that this spring, she’s expanding her discernment-focused curriculum to include undergraduate students through English 4224. This new course aims to help students who feel "career confused" find their path through radical writing and discernment practices.
Why This Matters
In a world where students face increasing pressure to justify their educational choices, her approach offers something different: a chance to align academic pursuits with personal values and authentic calling. This work demonstrates how academic institutions can support not just career preparation, but whole-person development.
Are you navigating educational or career decisions? Whether you're a student, graduate, or professional, let's explore how spiritual direction and discernment practices can help you find your authentic path.
