Program Overview
The three courses that make up our Occupational Life Calling program meet students where they are rather than telling them where they should be.
In these courses, you go on experiential journeys and conduct self-assessments to discover your strengths and passions. You use your insights to find careers that could be a good fit for you. Then you actually try on those vocations by entering into immersive internships, job shadowing and other types of interactions with professionals.
In addition, you gain the job-seeking skills you will need to successfully embark on the career path you choose. These courses are in high demand and continually receive high satisfaction ratings!
A Closer Look at the Courses
The first course is designed to help you explore where you might fit best within an organization. It does this by providing an overview of career opportunities in the global business community and explaining how the various disciplines within the College of Business and Economics would prepare you for these careers. You gain a much broader awareness of the diverse range of business and economics professions that exist which enables you to pick a major that will prepare you for the career opportunities that interest you most.
In the second course, you engage in experiential activities to enhance your self-awareness. Then you pair your insights with potential careers and/or industries. Next, you identify internships or other experiences to test your fit for a particular career or industry that has piqued your interest. Finally,you immerse yourself in those internships or other experiences.
In the final course, you gain a better understanding of how to identify and use your business degree credentials, accomplishments, talents and skills to attain your career goals. Equipped with these job-seeking skills, you exit the class prepared to find and get the kind of job, internship or other type of experience that will serve as the next stepping stone toward a career in your chosen vocation.
Endowments That Support These Courses
We are fortunate to be able to support students in the Occupational Life Calling program with grants from two generous endowments.
This endowment makes it possible for students to immerse themselves in applied learning experiences outside of the classroom with grants that cover costs for housing, transportation, research, conferences and other activities that help students discover and further develop their unique competencies and skills.
Eligibility for a Sue Heimann Professional Enrichment Grant
To be eligible, you must be:
- A full-time Ashland University undergraduate student
- Currently enrolled in or successfully finished BUS 152, the second of our three Occupational Life Calling courses
- In good academic and judicial standing - you must have a minimum GPA of 2.50 and no level I or II judicial or academic integrity violations
Grant Recipient Stories
This endowment funds the McKnight Life Calling Lecture Series, Immersion Experiences and Life Calling Retreat, as well as some students who might not otherwise be able to participate.
Recent McKnight Life Calling Guest Lecturers
April 2023 – Life Calling Program and Panel Discussion
A panel discussion with AU alumni Emily Ledbetter, Tyler Easton and Grant Denbow.
January 2021 – Christine Whelan, Ph.D., author, professor and speaker
Dr. Whelan teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is the director of MORE: Money, Relationships and Equality. She is the author of The Big Picture: A Guide to Finding Your Purpose in Life and continues to inspire young minds through speaking and mentoring. To see Dr. Whelan’s lecture, go to the McKnight Lecture Series: EgoYou v. EcoYou.
January 2020 – Richland County Juvenile Court Judge Ronald Spon
Spon dedicated 42 years of his life to public service, in the Domestic Relations and Juvenile divisions of the Richland County Court of Common Pleas, the city of Mansfield’s assistant city solicitor and as an assistant Richland County prosecuting attorney. If you’d like to watch Judge Spon’s lecture, go to our recording of the McKnight Lecture of January 30, 2020.
January, 2019 – Bryan Dik, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Colorado State University and co-founder and Chief Science Officer of jobZology
Bryan studies meaning and purpose in the workplace, calling and vocation in career development, and the intersection of faith and work. Bryan has served on editorial boards for seven research journals and has collaborated on four books, including Make Your Job a Calling: How the Psychology of Vocation Can Change Your Life at Work. To see Bryan's lecture, please watch our recording of How to Find and Live a Calling.