Grant to fund ministry programs
By Jeff Harvey
Old Gold and Black Reporter

A $1.9 million grant received Dec. 3 from the Lilly Endowment will help establish a Pro Humanitate Center for vocational exploration, the university has announced.

The new center will coordinate programs created because of the Lilly grant.

Bearing the name of the university’s motto, the Center likely will open in 2002.

Bill Leonard, the dean of the Divinity School and Paul Escott, the dean of the college, are directing the implementation of the new programs associated with the grant.

The Pro Humanitate Center will offer numerous programs aimed at encouraging students to explore the nature of vocation in their lives.

“One goal of the program is to help students explore the concept of vocation versus a career,” Leonard said. “One can have many different careers in a lifetime, but vocation refers to why we do what we do. Especially since Sept. 11, these ideas about why we do what we do have become a pressing issue.”

Programs offered by the center will assist students as they consider possible careers, including religious and service ministry. They will also help students relate vocation to identity, motivation and ethics and encourage them to examine the meaning of service.

Additionally, programs offered by the center will emphasize the importance of spirituality, tradition and values as they pertain to professional life.

Using funds from the grant, the university also plans to renovate a house on Polo Road to be used as a theme house for students interested in religious ministry. The grant will also provide scholarships for these students.

“A second goal of the program is to raise the option of service and ministry careers to undergraduates,” Leonard said. “The program will help prepare students for becoming priests, rabbis, ministers or public servants just as a pre-law program prepares undergrads for a law career. The house we are renovating will serve these students as a center for reflection, contemplation, and service.”

Workshops, first-year seminars and symposiums are also among the programs the university plans to offer through the Pro Humanitate Center.

The grant will go toward funding theme years, attracting speakers, and organizing travel/service courses.

The center will also fund summer programs for high school seniors and college undergraduates hosted by the Divinity School.

These programs will focus on questions of vocation, theology and service and will culminate with a group service project.

Furthermore, the award will provide grants for which faculty may apply in order to teach new courses relating to service, ministry, and vocation, and will fund stipends for faculty who instruct such courses.

The center will coordinate service opportunities for students that pertain to their academic studies.

The university hopes such service activities will assist students in choosing a valuable career.

“An increasing number of Wake Forest students ask for more guidance in career development once they have participated in service activities,” Escott said. “Many of these students are looking for ways to put their values and faith to work in service for humanity. The Lilly Endowment grant will help us provide effective guidance for these students, as we do for those who are heading to graduate school or into the corporate world.”

Leonard hopes, however, that the program will continue even after the funding by the Lilly Endowment is completed.

“My hope for the program is that we will provide ways for students to explore vocations in a variety of faith traditions,” Leonard said. “I hope we can encourage and nurture students in these traditions and prepare them for a life of ministry and service.”