Jan. 16, 2001

George Ragsdale came to Duke University with a dream shared by many of his classmates: to work on Capitol Hill as a political aide or lawyer.

Four years later, he is headed - without any regrets - along a lonelier academic path toward seminary and a career in the ministry.

The definition of "success" for many college students would not include becoming a member of a clergy, said Ragsdale, a senior from Salisbury. "But there are ways to be successful in life that don't necessarily involve law school or medical school or being an investment banker on Wall Street."

The Church & Society Servant-Leader Initiative, a campus wide educational and vocational program to be established next year, is aimed at encouraging more top Duke undergraduates to heed that same call toward careers as leaders of congregations and other religious institutions.

Funding for the program will come from a $1.98 million grant award from Lilly Endowment Inc., Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane announced Wednesday.

The grant will strengthen the university's efforts to educate future leaders for service to others and to foster an interdisciplinary approach to learning, Keohane said. Both are key priorities identified in Building on Excellence, the university's long-range academic plan that was approved by Duke's Board of Trustees in February 2001.

"We are deeply grateful to the Lilly Endowment for its generous support of Duke's efforts to help our students appreciate the possibility for challenging and worthwhile careers in ministry," Keohane said. "At Duke, we emphasize the value of an interdisciplinary approach to challenging issues. This grant will help our efforts to strengthen students' ability to look at questions through the prism of many intellectual fields, and thus achieve a deeper understanding and richer educational experience."

The three-tiered Servant-Leader Initiative, which will be coordinated by the Duke Chapel, will create a number of new services and resources, including:

• Eight new courses across academic disciplines;
• Two new lecture series;
• A pre-seminary advising program;
• Expanded opportunities and increased funding for service learning and internships;
• A special career counseling position to advise students interested in religious, faith-based or nonprofit jobs; and
• A house where four graduating seniors would live, eat, worship, pray, perform community service and discuss theology together as they reflect on faith-based careers.

"This program is not restricted to the Duke Chapel, and that is one of the main characteristics that appealed to us," said Craig Dykstra, Lilly Endowment's vice president for religion.

"Duke is an outstanding school and has a strong chaplaincy program. The university's students are bright, engaged, committed and articulate," he said. "We at the Endowment are trying to do what we can to help schools encourage students to take their faith and values into consideration as they think about their future and to seriously consider the ministry when they consider their life's work."

Duke is one of 28 U.S. colleges and universities to share $55.3 million in grants awarded in November by the Indianapolis-based endowment to create or enhance programs that encourage young people to consider religious vocations. Founded in 1937, the foundation supports causes of religion, community development and education.

"There have been widely discussed and well-documented concerns about the new leadership of the church," said William H. Willimon, dean of the Duke Chapel, who will help oversee the Servant-Leader initiative. "We are also seeing declines in membership among people under 35. We need young leadership to attract that new generation."

The grant, which is the largest ever received by Duke Chapel, will change the face of campus ministry, said Sandy McNutt, the chapel's director of development and administration. She and Albert Mosley, assistant dean of the chapel and director of university religious life, co-chaired the team that crafted the initiative.

Perhaps the most significant change will be through the cooperative nature of the initiative, McNutt said. In addition to fostering the creation of eight new courses across the undergraduate curriculum, the chapel also will form partnerships with the university's Kenan Institute for Ethics and other centers, departments and schools.

To be effective, the initiative will have to reach beyond the students who ultimately decide to choose careers in the ministry, McNutt said.

"We hope that hundreds of people on campus will engage in dialogue about vocations and callings," she said. "If more students and faculty engage in meaningful discussions about the meaning of their lives, we'll have been successful."

That shouldn't be too much of a stretch, even among a student body that includes many future doctors, lawyers and bankers, Willimon said.

"What is the life worth living? To my mind, that is already the question behind all other questions for 99 percent of our students," he said. "We feel that students are increasingly open to a more adventurous option. They simply need to be made aware that it is available."

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