A pandemic’s reminder: The public service vocation is at the heart of our field

ABSTRACT

As the COVID-19 pandemic threatens American lives and disrupts daily routines, we continue to see front-line public servants step forward to battle the virus with persistence. Given the increasingly polarized COVID environment, the natural inclination is to ask: what is motivating these public servants to persevere in their work despite the chaotic circumstances of this pandemic? For many public servants, the public service vocation is their reason – the collective ethos that binds public servants together in creating a purpose-driven and action-oriented life. This essay encourages public service educators to adopt vocation as a motivational lens in their classrooms to help students understand the true meaning of public service work. Vocation is not a new concept for public service that simply emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic; rather, the pandemic serves as a focusing event to remind scholars and students that the public service vocation is at the heart of our field.

KEYWORDS:

• Vocation
• COVID-19
• public service education
• motivation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Morgan D. Vogel

Morgan D. Vogel is a doctoral candidate at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the School of Public Administration. Her research interests focus on public service as a vocation and the motivations, ethics, and work-life balance of public and nonprofit practitioners. She has her BA in political science and her MPA from the University of Dayton.