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The Vocation of an Engineer

Engineering student welding

Engineering as a Call to Holiness

Humanity is uniquely invited to participate in God’s creative work. Engineers imitate their Creator in powerful ways, exercising their imagination, expertise, and practical skills to create tools, technology, and structures that shape our lives and the future — for good or for ill.

At Mary, we seek to form engineers who consistently serve the common good above pride or profit. Engineering is a vocational calling, and we desire that our alumni be recognized as technically capable, deeply imaginative, and ethically sound leaders who put people first in all that they do.

This is the vocation of engineering: a divine calling to serve and to place gifts at the disposal of the community as a servant leader. … Servant leadership demands that engineers not only build systems but also build up people, serving as Christ served, with selflessness and purpose.

Dr. Terry Pilling, dean of the Hamm School of Engineering Preface to “Vocation of an Engineer” by Dr. Michael Naughton

The Vocation of an Engineer Photo Essay

In his recent book, “The Vocation of an Engineer,” noted Catholic studies scholar, business thought-leader, and University of Mary Trustee Dr. Michael Naughton writes, “If engineers work while guided by true faith, true hope, and absolute love, only good things can emerge.” 

John Colton, a senior electrical engineering student, knows firsthand the fruits of integrating these virtues into his engineering studies, his musical avocation, and his service at the altar.
Sophomore Gianna Frasher practices in the welding lab, though such technical skills won't likely be a part of her day-to-day work as an electrical engineer. At Mary, students embrace what Hamm School of Engineering Dean Terry Pilling calls, ''the divine calling to serve and place gifts at the disposal of the community as a servant leader." Degrees programs don't just provide job credentials; they are mechanisms through which students discover their vocations.
Frasher embraces the collaboration that's essential to an engineer's vocation. Technical skills learned from expert faculty are crucial-but Mary engineers explore the whole of human experience. Our faculty and students ponder the relationship between faith and reason, the unity of the cosmos, and human dignity and flourishing.
A member of the UMary Late Show band, Colton understands the foundational concept of interdisciplinarity. Learning to love what's shared between other disciplines and engineering is central to cultivating a meaningful life as an engineer.
College is a time to explore wide-ranging pursuits. For Frasher, one such pursuit is her participation in track and field and cross country for the Marauders. Engineers are called to bring clear thinking and detailed reasoning to all disciplines, including sports.
Engineers are also called to be mediators between science, technology, and the human soul. A regular altar server for campus Mass as well as a member of the Fraternity of Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati, Colton understands this essential relationship.
In Luke's gospel, Jesus says, ''From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded." Grateful for the gift of her faith, Frasher chooses to share it with her friends and peers in a FOCUS Bible study.
Portrait of Blessed Stanley Rother

The Hamm School of Engineering is under the patronage of Blessed Stanley Rother – a Catholic priest, missionary, and martyr who grew up on a farm in Oklahoma and was a plumber, mechanic, craftsman, and amateur engineer. A man of holiness, grit, and courage, he tirelessly served the poor in Guatemala, working alongside them and serving as pastor even in the face of political unrest and violence, until he was killed in 1981.

 

 

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