by Deb Skinner (Associate Professor of Marketing, College of Business)

One of the reasons I think I’m still hanging around a college campus, oh these 30 plus years after I graduated, is the awesomeness of that whole four year experience of being and becoming me. In retrospect, it was all the trials and tribulations, the joys and disappointments that helped to craft the person I am today.
If I think back to moments and people that had the greatest impact, I find a common thread – it was those moments of intimacy with either individuals or small groups where I was accepted for who and what I was, including the stumbles, faux pas or tantrums. It was the people that asked me the hard questions or encouraged me to keep seeking answers to the questions I asked. Who am I? Where do I belong? How do I get there? It was this amazing blend of pushing me forward, walking beside me, and having my back that helped me to walk forward across the stage at graduation and never look back.
Funny how you never outgrow those same questions even as you are staunchly set and happy in a career like college professor. Who am I? Where do I belong? How do I get there?
Over the last five plus years I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to work with the staff and students associated with the Center of Faith and Vocation. In my initial experience with the Blue House, I was part of an amazing Faculty Workshop composed of a group of faculty from across campus that met throughout the year to explore issues of faith and vocation. I remember sitting in the first meeting and being overwhelmed with a feeling of belonging, a feeling of rightness, a feeling that here too, I could find the support to continue to explore questions of being. I immediately slipped Judith Cebula, the Director of the Center and co-facilitator for the Workshop, a note. “How can I be involved with the Center? I believe in what you are doing here.”
And so, she took me up on my offer. I have been blessed to have been part of three more workshops as a facilitator and in other capacities, pseudo staff member, Center cheerleader, and advocate of the Center. I’ve taken advantage of the quiet solitude that the second floor porch offers on a spring afternoon to grade papers. I’ve sent countless students to the Center for help and nurturing from Judith, Marguerite and the associated clergy at the house.
I’m thankful for the CFV and the opportunities that faculty and staff have to continue our own personal growth and development. I’m thankful that we can continue to discern our developing purpose and meaning as we mature in our professional lives. I’m thankful that Butler students have a designated place to explore those important life questions and that people like Judith and Marguerite open their doors but more importantly their hearts to support the entire campus in our lifelong quest for “The Opportunity to Be.”