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| Retreats and Conferences Faculty/Staff Retreats Each fall and spring, ten faculty and staff members join Lilly staff for an overnight retreat in a nature setting near Wooster that encourages group and individual reflection. During these retreats, discussions & group exercises centered on the topics of vocational journeys, ethics, authenticity, and engagement with meaningful work are discussed. Each weekend is focused to help college staff recover the sacred in working, teaching, and learning together. Group activities, meditative practices, small and large group discussions, and journaling time are built into the retreat weekend. Our first two retreats focused on the books of Parker Palmer's *Let Your Life Speak* and Anne Morrow Lindbergh's *Gift from the Sea*. During 2003-4, retreats were at Mohican Resort Lodge, and focused on recovering authentic core values in knowing, teaching, and life-long learning. Faculty/Staff Retreats will take place throughout the grant period. This year's retreat was with the Wellness Center Staff. For pictures from the retreats click here. Macalester College's "Life's Work Conference" Macalester College was awarded a Lilly Grant in January 2001. One of the components of their grant was to plan and host a six-college convocation, allowing delegations of students, staff, and faculty from six selected colleges across the United States to get together and discuss issues of work, ethics, and vocation. The six colleges that participated were The College of Wooster, Colorado College, Davidson College, Macalester College, Mount Holyoke College, and Occidental College. On September 28-29, 2001, three College
of Wooster representatives attended the Planning Conference as a
part of Macalester College’s Six-College Convocation in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. Those representatives were: On January 17-19, 2003, twelve College of Wooster representatives attended the Life’s Work: A Six-College Convocation on Work, Ethics, and Vocation Conference at the Mercy Center in Burlingame, California. Those who attended were:
Go to Macalester’s Six-College
Convocation Page: Visit the Mercy Center, where the Life’s
Work Conference was held: Take it Outside!
In January, a delegation of 12 Wooster students, faculty, and staff attended the Life’s Work Conference at the Mercy Center in Burlingame, California. The conference was sponsored by Macalester College as a component of their Lilly Grant. At the end of the three days we spent together, Macalester’s team challenged the teams from the other five colleges in attendance to return to their campuses and do something to bring the ideas of work, ethics, and vocation that we discussed to a wider campus audience. Upon return to campus, this delegation renamed itself S.O.U.L. (Step Over and Under Life) and conceived and planned an afternoon nature retreat where students can have some time outdoors away form campus, and hear Wooster faculty and staff tell the stories of their vocational journeys. On April 5, 2003, S.O.U.L., along with support from the Lilly project, Career Services, Interfaith Campus Ministries, and the Pre-Health Advising Program, sponsored an afternoon nature retreat. A group of 39 College of Wooster students, staff, and faculty traveled to the Wilderness Center in Wilmot, OH. Despite the windy weather, participants walked the Wilderness Center’s many trails individually or in small groups before heading inside to hear from three College of Wooster employees. Dianna Kardulias, Classical Studies and Director of the Lilly Project, Thomas Tierney, Philosophy and Pre-Health Advising, and Lisa Kastor, Career Services, shared pieces of their vocational journeys. After a chance to talk with the presenters and a time to reflect on what the speakers said, we returned to Wooster. To see the emerging wisdom from the retreat, click here. (.pdf) For pictures from Take It Outside, click here. Visit the offices that gave additional support to Take it Outside: |
