developmentnews King Chapel’s WorldHouse Initiative Realized Project Funded by $2-million Lilly Endowment Grant
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illy Endowment Inc.has awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel a grant for $2 million plus, to support the WorldHouse Initiative Realized project. The support staff and programmatic components funded by the grant specifically address the three major aims of Lilly Endowment’s Programs for the Theological Exploration of Vocation: to examine how faith commitments link to vocation; to provide the opportunity to explore ministry as a vocation; and to create sustainable environments that foster such exploration. The WorldHouse Initiative Realized project interweaves vocation into focused, campus-wide conversations and activities that highlight the impact of lives of commitment and the development of vocational discernment and personal vision. Through three program components—ministry as a vocation, opportunities for vocational discernment campus-wide, and vocational discernment in communities of practice—Morehouse will focus on three core areas of inquiry: vocational discernment, acceptance and maturing of a guiding faith, and development of servant scholar leaders. According to Roy Craft, executive director of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, the funds will be used, in part, to help enhance the current Chapel Assistants program into a certificate
“Research shows that students who participate in vocational programs are more mature, more on track with career goals and make better life decisions.”
program, as well as turn the 27-year-old College of Ministers and Laity into a formal annual conference. The dates for next year are April 16-19, 2012. “Research shows that students who participate in vocational programs are more mature, more on track with career goals and make better life decisions,” said Craft. Craft also quoted a January 2011 survey by Parade Magazine,where 61 percent of respondents answered “no” when asked,“If you could do it all over again, would you choose the same career?” “More than two-thirds of people surveyed say they hate what they do, indicating that they’re not in a career that matches who they
are or where they can best serve,” said Craft. “But these questions have to be asked before they complete college,”he said.“We have to make sure people do something they’re called to do versus just something that looks good on their resume.” The Chapel is doing this in myriad ways—from inviting Crown Forum speakers to tell their vocational story to helping undeclared majors and music majors explore their options. Also, the Chapel has partnered with other campus initiatives and offices, including the Faces of Manhood, Career Services, New Student Orientation and the Office of the Freshmen Class to continue vocational work that, according to Craft, has always existed at Morehouse and can be seen most clearly in the writing and teaching of Howard Thurman ’23 and President Benjamin E. Mays. “Our job is to define and make explicit what has long been a part of Morehouse,” said Lawrence E. Carter, founding dean of the Chapel. “This year’s Science and Spiritual Awareness Week theme was ‘A Renaissance of Vocation,’ which focused not only on preaching as a vocation, but also on the emerging green movement and all the related emerging careers.” “We discussed people doing jobs that they’re passionate about while also being of service,” he said. ■
Historic Legacy of CLA Journal Should Be Sustained By Add Seymour Jr. NEW RESOURCES WILL BE NEEDED for the 54-year-old, Morehouse-based CLA Journal (College Language Association) to thrive in the future, said Terry Mills, dean of the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences. The Journal, which is housed at Morehouse and led by editorin-chief Cason Hill, is funded by the College Language Association. Former Morehouse President Hugh Gloster founded it in 1937. The CLA Journal is a selective, peer-reviewed humanities journal that fosters professional development and cultivates student achievement and creativity at historically black colleges and universities. The Journal, which has an international readership, MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
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publishes contributions from leading scholars in literature and the humanities. “In order to sustain this legacy at Morehouse in the 21st century, the Journal must expand its staff and increase its funding,” Mills said. “An expanded budget would allow for summer stipends, which would bolster the editorial leadership of the Journal. “Increases in funding would make it possible to extend the CLA Journal’s national and international footprint—and lead to a new status as a periodical that emphasizes African American and Africana literary studies, as well as interdisciplinary contributions,” he said. For more information or to support the CLA Journal contact Dean Terry Mills at tmills@morehouse.edu. ■