Azusa Pacific University received an $84,000 NetVUE Program Development Grant from the Council of Independent Colleges. This significant funding will support the “Pathways to Purpose: Enhancing Vocational Exploration in the APU Core” initiative, designed to deepen and strengthen vocational exploration within the university’s newly launched general education curriculum—The APU Core: Pathways to Flourishing.
Rooted in APU’s mission to form disciples and scholars who advance the work of God in the world, The APU Core places questions of purpose, calling, and service at the center of the undergraduate student experience. This grant will provide essential resources over the next two years to build customized, engaging courses that help students align their gifts and passions with meaningful career paths and societal needs.
“If you ask a lot of students why they go to college, it’s to get a good job when they graduate, and that’s very important,” said Bryant Mathews, PhD, principal investigator of the grant, professor in the Department of Computer Science, Engineering, Math, Physics, and Statistics, and director of General Education. “We want to prepare students to get excellent jobs, but we also want them to make a difference in the world for Christ and His Kingdom. In order for them to do that, we need them to not just develop skills in their discipline, but they also need to be people of character and purpose who know how they feel called to contribute to the world and people around them.”
The grant focuses on three foundational courses within the APU Core:
- CORE 101- Cultivating Wellness: Assessing and refining the vocational wellness component of this first-year course to ensure students begin their college journey with tools for self-understanding and career exploration. “Far too often, students wait until the end of college to visit our Career Center and begin thinking about their jobs after graduation,” said Louise Ko Huang, PhD, vice provost for Academic Services. “I would like to change that narrative, for students to think about their career and calling from day one, and to have a strong ethos in not just who they are, but their calling and whose they are in God’s Kingdom.”
- CORE 250- Seeking Shalom Seminar: Creating six new themed versions of this sophomore seminar, each focusing on a particular societal challenge such as homelessness, creation care, or artificial intelligence. “Sophomore year is when we really want students to start exploring outside of themselves, looking around at society, and imagining the impact they might have through their careers and in their communities,” said Mathews.
- CORE 450- Calling and Character Seminar: Developing eight new discipline-specific versions of this senior-level seminar. These courses will be team-taught by a practical theology professor and a faculty member from students’ respective majors. “The goal is to tie together all of their biblical studies and theology courses and ask the question, ‘what does all this mean practically for my life and my future?’” Mathews said.
The Pathways to Purpose initiative aligns seamlessly with APU’s identity and flows cohesively from the university’s strategic plan—The Nehemiah Initiative. “As a Christian university who lives out our motto of God First, one of our biggest strengths and opportunities is equipping students not just to find a job that pays well, but teaching them the importance of finding meaning in what they do, whether they land their dream job right away or not,” Huang said.
The grant will primarily fund faculty stipends to support the collaborative design of these new, customized courses, ensuring they remain an integral part of the undergraduate experience long after the grant period concludes. “I’m really excited that these funds will help support collaboration among faculty across campus to develop truly transformative interdisciplinary courses for our students,” said Mathews.
Mathews Selected for Prestigious Lilly Network Leadership Institute
In addition to leading the “Pathways to Purpose” grant initiative, Mathews has been selected as 1 of 13 fellows for the 2026-2028 Lilly Network Leadership Institute. The program focuses on exploring the perspectives, practices, and principles of leadership in church-related higher education. During the two-year fellowship, Mathews will engage in cross-institutional collaboration through five conferences and participate in a robust mentorship program, including shadowing a mentor on another campus.
“I’m looking forward to learning from peers and mentors from a variety of other campuses about what has worked well in their contexts,” Mathews said. “As APU’s director of General Education, I want to support our faculty who teach GE courses to serve our students as well as possible.”