The Lilly Center

The Lilly Center for Vocation and Values grew out of an awareness that college students often feel unsure about having a real sense of purpose in life, a sense of their unique gifts and how those gifts might be used to make a positive difference in the world around them. Many students arrive at college with little or no idea of their "vocation" in the word's original sense of "calling." Popular culture flaunts wealth and status, but students can see on social media the unhappy lives of so many celebrities and they realize that being rich and famous doesn’t provide personal fulfillment or give life real meaning. Seeing that, students want to discover and understand how to live a life that does.

The Lilly Center and its programs are designed:

• To help students begin the process of identifying their own unique sense of vocation, their "calling" in life. Frederick Buechner, in his book Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC, refers to this sense of vocation as "the place where [their] deep gladness meets the world's deep need."
• To encourage students to consider how their religious faith relates, or could relate, to their choice of vocation.
• To encourage students to consider the many ways that Christian leadership, community service, and a secular career can be combined within a broad concept of vocation.
• To promote a serious exploration of the idea of vocation among all students at Catawba College, including those with less immediate interest in a theological career or a career in community service.

The Center believes that all students, if encouraged to consider seriously their lives and their futures, will prefer a path that enables them to improve the world in which they live.

The Lilly Center creates abundant opportunities for exploring vocation and values outside the classroom as well. The following represents a partial selection of the activities the Center makes available to students:

The Lilly Colloquium
Consists of a guest speaker on topics related to the theological, educational, or self-exploration of vocation. Colloquiums are open to the entire Salisbury/Rowan community and normally take place in the spring.

View Past Colloquiums

First-Year Retreat
The First-Year Retreat is open to all new students including early college students and transfer students with less than 18 credit hours. We’ll introduce you to member of your new Catawba family, orient you to college life, and help you reflect on your vocational calling.

Discover Camp
If you are in middle school or high school and are interested in exploring big questions with other students such as “How can I discover my purpose and calling?”, “Can I discover God in new ways?”, “Who am I in relationship to God?” and “How do I live out my faith?”, then Discover is the place for you!

Campus Ministry Small Groups 
We were not created to live this life alone. Community is an important part of our spiritual growth and small groups allow for us to take part in creating that community. Small groups allow for individuals to support each other and talk about faith and life together, in a safe and welcoming environment. There are small groups available for students, faculty, and staff! If you are interested in joining a small group please email campusministry@catawba.edu. 

Catawba Outdoor Adventures
Explore North Carolina and surrounding states, get a new perspective on life, and be adventurous! COA is open to all Catawba College students.

Retreats
Led by the Retreat Leadership Corps, these overnight events provide a relaxed setting for approximately 30 participants to pursue guided reflection and/or self-introspection by contemplating their relationships with their faith and how it impacts themselves and others in their lives. Participants are welcome to share their personal faith journeys and engage with their peers to learn each other’s stories. Certain retreats available through sponsoring campus organizations follow particular themes, e.g. leadership.

Mini-Retreats
Two-hour sessions conducted several times at the College during the academic year. They provide guided meditation and reflection on the types of vocation that participants would find most suited to their personal interests and abilities and thus most likely to provide a fulfilling and purposeful life.

Year of Inquiry Program
Open to any student who thinks he/she might be experiencing a "call to ministry" whether in teaching, music, counseling, youth, missionary, outdoor, vocational - or even taking seriously their work in the business, legal, or medical worlds, among others.

"Creating Catawba Community" Grants provide financial assistance to enable groups at the College to experience community building activities. The Lilly Center for Vocation and Values at Catawba believes that building of a sense of community is an important value to the members of the College.

Vocation and Values Dinners
Limited to about 30 participants. Selected individuals speak on what has shaped their values and how those values contribute to their sense of vocation. Participants receive a free meal in return for which they are asked to limit their table conversation to discussion of the presentations.

Scholars of the Chapel
A student group that uses contemporary music to enrich the campus worship experience, while they gain experience in worship leadership.

Retreat Leadership Corps
A student-led organization that leads their peers in retreats in an attempt to foster spiritual growth, leadership, and service in their daily lives.

In keeping with its mission, the Lilly Center for Vocation and Values provides financial assistance for students preparing themselves for lives of service, either in the Christian ministry or in other fields of endeavor.

• Year of Inquiry awards are $500 per semester toward Catawba College tuition for qualified students who are interested in asking deep questions of vocational discernment (what am I called to do with my life). Year of Inquiry students meet every other week with the chaplain and other year of inquiry students as they explore this question through readings and reflective practices. Groups are limited to seven students a semester.
• Lilly Fellows & Scholars are students who are actively progressing towards entering professional ministry and able to assist with Lilly Center programs. A student must have already completed the Year of Inquiry program for a minimum of one year and have decided that he/she wants to pursue some form of ministry and is dedicated to the next steps of preparation for the same. They receive a forgivable loan of $2,000 per semester over the life of the award toward their tuition at Catawba College per demonstrated financial need.
  Apply for Lilly Fellows & Scholars Program

The Lilly Center for Vocation and Values was born in 2003 from a major grant to Catawba College from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., one of only 39 colleges and universities nationwide to receive such a grant. With funds from that grant, Catawba College founded the Lilly Center for Vocation and Values. A later renewal grant from the Lilly Endowment as well as other funding continues to sustain the offerings of the Lilly Center.

Each year, the Church/College Award is presented to a recipient who has supported the relationship between the church and Catawba College. 

Regularly, the Lilly Center brings well-known speakers to campus for the Colloquium. The event is free and open to the public.

Past Speakers

• Phil Kirk ’67 (Fall 2019)
  Catawba College alumnus Phil Kirk ’67, the youngest person to be elected to the N.C. State Senate and Chief of Staff for two former governors and a United States Senator, was the speaker.
• Mrs. Valerie Shepard (Spring 2015)
  Catawba College's 11th Lilly Center Colloquium featured Mrs. Valerie Shepard, the daughter of an American missionary who was killed by a primitive, stone-age tribe in the Amazon jungle while attempting to evangelize them, as the keynote speaker.  
• Dr. Kurt Corriher (Spring 2013) 
  The 10th annual Lilly Colloquium featured Catawba professor, author and actor, Dr. Kurt Corriher, who emphasized the importance of examining the artistic dimension of our lives.
• Dan Miller (Spring 2012)
  Miller, president of 48 Days, LLC and author of the widely acclaimed 48 Days to the Work You Love and No More Dreaded Mondays was the keynote speaker. 
• Ruth Anderson (Spring 2011)
• Sarah Susanka (Spring 2010)
• Joe Ehrmann (Spring 2009)
• Leonard Pitts (Spring 2008)
• Dr. Martin Marty: "A Matter of Faith" (Spring 2007)
• David Bornstein (Spring 2006)
• Sharon Parks (Spring 2005)
• Mackey Austin (Spring 2004)

The Lilly Center's "A Part of the Family" program helps new employees, as well as those of longer tenure, learn more about the mission and culture of Catawba College, which guides the daily work of employees. We strive to help new employees form a deeper understanding of the College, the family of individuals who make up its vibrant community, and the emphasis of vocational discernment which has long sense been a part of the culture here at Catawba College. The goals of this program include:

• Sustain Catawba’s emphasis upon the understanding of and approach to vocational discernment
• Encourage new faculty and staff to embrace the values and the concept of vocation
• Expand participants understanding of Catawba’s Mission, Values, and History
• Connect employees with individuals from other in different departments
• Encourage employees to collaboration with others in different departments
• Identify sources of support and collegiality
• Contribute to the development of pro-staff leadership who can provide leadership for the college’s signature “First-Year Retreat Program”

Video Sessions
Representatives from different areas of Catawba College share their thoughts and insights for new employees.

Watch Sessions
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Meet the staff of the Lilly Center below: