HILLSBORO, Kan.— Tabor College was awarded $150,000 in the Vocation Across the Academy Grant through the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and its Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE). Eight institutions received over $550,000 through the grant.
Tabor is seeking to launch an Entrepreneurial Leadership Program through the Central Kansas Entrepreneurship Center. Through this program, we are seeking to build an endowed scholarship program that will prepare Christ-centered leaders who view entrepreneurship as a calling. A matching award of $75,000 will be unlocked if Tabor can raise $75,000 over the 2026-27 academic year.
Tabor will use the grant to develop a campus-wide approach to entrepreneurial leadership, connecting entrepreneurship as a calling with academics, athletics, and student life. Through mentoring, seminars, community partnerships, and other opportunities developed through the initiative, Tabor seeks to prepare students to lead with purpose, innovation, and a Christ-centered vision.
The four-year initiative will build on Tabor’s existing vocational work by developing a shared framework for vocation across academics, athletics, and student life while expanding opportunities for students to explore entrepreneurship as a calling. The work will also strengthen collaboration with the Office of Career Services.
“This grant allows us to build on the work we’ve already done around vocation and extend that conversation across the Tabor experience,” said Dale Lemke, Ph.D., vice president of academic affairs. “Whether students are in the classroom, on the athletic field, or exploring entrepreneurship, we want them to see their gifts and work as part of a larger calling to serve Christ and surrounding communities.”
The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) is an association of over 600 nonprofit independent colleges and universities, state-based councils, and higher education affiliates that works to support college and university leadership, advance institutional excellence, and enhance public understanding of independent higher education’s contributions to society.
The Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) is a program of CIC with over 350 members. The purpose of NetVUE is to increase the capacity of independent colleges and universities to support their undergraduate students as they explore and discern their many callings in life. The process of vocational reflection is an interdisciplinary endeavor, bringing together theological, philosophical, ethical, historical, and affective approaches, and implementing the theoretical reflections of these fields in vocation-related practices.
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Established in 1908 and located in Hillsboro, Kan., Tabor College is a Christian liberal arts college affiliated with the Central, Southern, Eastern, and Latin American Districts of the United States Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.
Media Contact:
Adam Suderman
Communications Specialist
adam.suderman@tabor.edu
620-877-0095 (cell)/620-947-3121 (ext. 1225)