The Initiative for Vocational Inquiry is a set of interlocking programs that engage Millsaps students with the Jackson community and the wider world. It consists of four distinct programs: a set of faculty-led courses in Community Engaged Learning (CEL); an academic minor in Vocation, Ethics, and Society (VESO); the Center for Career Education; and the Wellspring living and learning community. For more information about each of these programs, please see the webpages below and contact the directors of each program. These interdependent programs are part of what makes Millsaps a vibrant place to live and learn.
Community Engaged Learning
CEL provides students the opportunity to apply classroom knowledge to real world challenges and opportunities as a part of their regular coursework.
Vocation, Ethics, and Society
Students who minor in Vocation, Ethics, and Society (VESO) integrate their intellect and identity by engaging in multi-disciplinary coursework and internships to explore society, ethics, and the meanings of their work in the world.
Center for Career Education
The Center assists students (and alumni) with career readiness, provides guidance in the graduate and professional school application process, and facilitates connections to career and internship opportunities on a national level.
Wellspring Program
In this intentional learning community, students build relationships by working weekly at community sites and reflecting through discussion and writing on the complex, exciting city of Jackson.
IVI Hours
IVI Hours are intended to help our students think in flexible and creative ways about majors, careers, and our lives in the world. We also highlight faculty stories to encounter and celebrate one another as whole, complex, and irreducibly unique persons in our community. Support for the IVI Hours is provided through a grant from the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE).
Please also visit the IVI Reading Room, in the Millsaps-Wilson Library. Located on the atrium level facing the Millsaps Bowl, the room is open to all students as a quiet place to read and reflect on post-graduation work and life. Check out http://libguides.millsaps.edu/ivi for a virtual exhibit of vocation-related books and other resources.
