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Developing
Purpose
Erik Huntsinger
Troy Boquette
Steve Nunez
Jon Mandrell

Developing Purpose
Developing Purpose is the 6th sector of Chickerings
Seven Vectors Model
1. Developing Competence
2. Managing Emotions
3. Moving Through Autonomy Toward
Interdependence
4. Developing Mature Interpersonal
Relationships
5. Establishing Identity
6. Developing Purpose
7. Developing Integrity

Though the vectors are not strictly hierarchical,

earlier vectors help set the context for how
individuals develop their purpose.

What does Developing

Purpose Mean?
Developing purpose entails an increasing ability
to be intentional, to assess interests and options,
to clarify goals, to make plans, and to persist
despite obstacles (Chickering & Reisser, 1993, p.
209)
To be intentional means to actively develop plans
to move from the status quo to a more desirable
outcome.
To do this, individuals must have a vision of a
better outcome.

Catalyzing the Development of

Purpose
It takes an act of will to move beyond past
patterns and seek purposes that take us into the
unknown (p. 211).
Colleges can provide this catalysis by providing an
environment for students to explore interests,
expanding imagined possibilities, and spurring
motivation.

Key Elements in Developing

Purpose
In addition to developing plans for action,
developing purpose requires establishing a set of
priorities that integrate three major elements:
1. Vocational plans and aspirations
2. Personal Interests
3. Interpersonal and family commitments

Vocational Plans & Aspirations

Vocations include paid work, unpaid work, or both.
We discover our vocation by discovering what we
love to do, what energizes and fulfills us, what
uses our talents and challenges us to develop new
ones, and what actualizes our potentials for
excellence (p. 212).

Clarification of Vocational Plans

Career counselors, career exploration courses,
internships, and discussing future plans with
instructors are all ways colleges can help students
clarify their vocational plans.
When plans have meaning, they can carry forward
for students interests, values, and a way of life
that has been rewarding in the past. (P. 219)
The importance of study, even tangentially related
to future goals, is recognized more clearly by the
students.

Clarification of Vocational Plans

Other ways to move students from passive to
purposeful learning:
Requiring students to write their own educational
goals
Reflecting in writing on what they are discovering
Applying for senior division status
By clarifying vocational goals, students are
increasingly engaged with coursework and cocurricular activities

Personal Interests
Clarification of vocational plans and aspirations
exerts a stabilizing force. When choices have real
meaning, increased time is spent on study and
other exploratory or preparatory activities.
(p.225)

Personal Interests
What factors do colleges have to consider when
guiding students to success?
Every decision that a student makes is essentially a
decision not to do something else.
Avocational activities and recreational interest provide
satisfaction and stimulation. (p.225)
Students feel uncomfortable giving up their personal
interests to enter college on a new ambiguous vocational
path.
College is a time that traditional college age students
start seriously dating which becomes a priority.
College years are a time of experimentation for many
college students.

Personal Interests cont.

Tools for colleges to use so that academia and
personal interests blossom.
Elective courses- Electives can help students find new
interests and hobbies with an academic baseline.
Faculty Interactions- Faculty members can be used as
mentors to college students. These interactions often
lead to peaked interests in students.
Prioritizing- Students must be taught to prioritize their
personal lives with their academic lives. Failure to do so
may lead to the end of their academic career.
Campus Involvement- Making new friends on campus that
have the same goals of being academically successful is a
positive driving force in a students life. They may meet
someone with similar interests and that will lead to a
more stable environment for both students.

Interpersonal and Family

Commitments
Considerations of life-style and family also enter
the equation. As intimate relationships
increasingly involve the question of marriage or
partnership and as education and vocational
exploration draws to a close, clarification of longrange goals, intermediate steps, and immediate
requirements become more urgent. (p.229)

Interpersonal and Family

Commitments cont.
Students must learn to commit to themselves by
identifying goals and interests while making the
decision to go to college.
They have to understand that family
commitments need to be prioritized along with
schooling.NOTinstead of schooling.
Supportive families have a great impact on a
students success while non-supportive families
may have the opposite effect.

Interpersonal and Family

Commitments cont.
Chickering suggests that students must continue
to search for the right path instead of quitting.
There are three ways to accomplish this task.
(p.229)
Ponder the possibilities of the road untaken but do so
while progressing down the other. (example Robert Frost)
For some students it is to avoid the fork in the road.
Travel a short way down one path maintaining a state of
indecision and non-commitment and then returning to the
crossroads and trying some of the others.

Intentionality
To be intentional is to be skilled in consciously
choosing priorities, in aligning action with
purpose, in motivating oneself consistently toward
goals, and in preserving despite barriers or
setbacks. (p.212)

Intentionality
Students become more intentional in their goal
setting and follow-through as they progress
through college.
Colleges can speed up development of
intentionality in their students when they require
reflection, exploration of alternatives, and
planning (p. 232)

Conclusion
A strong commitment to a value or belief can
determine purpose. Values constitute important
frames of reference that add depth to purpose
and context to action. In clarifying purpose, we
must therefore go beyond what is merely
interesting and find an anchoring set of
assumptions about what is true, principles that
define what is good, and beliefs that provide
meaning and give us a sense of our place in the
larger whole. (p. 234)

References
Chickering, A. W. & Reisser, L. (1993). Education
and Identity (2nd ed.) San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass.