Asbury University Launches the Center for the Future of Work

October 25, 2019

Students in Asbury University’s Surrendered Class may be graduating in 2023, but their education is preparing them for 2040 and beyond. Asbury has been rolling out special measures to ensure that its students leave prepared to face an ever-changing, global marketplace. Today, the University is proud to announce the latest of these initiatives.

Asbury’s Center for the Future of Work (CFW) will prepare students for a largely unforeseeable future labor market.

“The CFW aims to provide rigorous, relevant 21st Century education that uniquely equips our students to navigate the present and future complexities of a dynamic, unpredictable global economy,” Asbury President Kevin J. Brown said.

According to Brown, the Center will engage students through self-aptitude testing, critical philosophical and theological reflection, mentoring, service learning and interdisciplinary, application-based courses.

“Through self-discovery, guidance and innovative learning opportunities, these programs will prepare our students to discover and cultivate their passions and talents, and faithfully serve in today’s rapidly changing marketplace,” Brown said.

The CFW will encourage students to learn through new, creative modalities that marry theory, experience, reflection and community. Course participants will be invited to think and speak theologically about the work they do—what it means to be made in God’s image and the implications for our creation, production and commercial activity.

The mission of the CFW is to “further develop an institutional infrastructure to improve liberally educated students’ abilities to transition into the complex, global world beyond 2030.”

Students will be challenged to cultivate a vision for productive work and become equipped with a set of competencies to meet the demands and opportunities of a largely unknown social, political and economic landscape.

Pilot coursework, beginning in spring 2020, will support the CFW. Students may register for these two new, three-credit courses beginning Monday, October 28.

The two courses that will be offered in pilot are:

• PHL293 Ethics & Ethical Issue Exploration– Dr. Sydney Penner
• BU393 Design-Led Strategic Management: Preparing for a Workplace of Exponential Change– Dr. Mike Kane

PHL293 will feature a study of the major positions and thinkers in the field of ethics and will pay special attention to their relationship with Christian thinking. A lab component of the course will allow students to conduct a supervised exploration of an ethics issue of their choosing. This course may serve as a substitute for PHL231 and fulfill the Foundations philosophy requirement.

BU393 will arm students with the tools to address an ever-changing marketplace. This interactive class will allow students to work in teams to address pressing problems that local organizations are facing, using design thinking methods and strategic management.