Professor Matthew Vos Receives NetVue Vocational Exploration Grant
Covenant College professor of sociology Dr. Matthew Vos was a recipient of the 2026 Grant to Individuals for Vocational Exploration from the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education, or NetVUE. The grant supports Vos’s research which draws on frameworks in the sociology of sport, and explores the intersection of big sport, culture, Christian faith, and vocation. The research was built around a global sport class co-taught with Dr. Michaela Kourmoulis, that involved volunteering with seven Covenant sport management majors at six 2026 FIFA World Cup matches in Atlanta, GA.
NetVUE awards grants to faculty members whose projects contribute to scholarship, teaching, and conversation about vocation in undergraduate education.
Exploring the Cultural Influence of Sport
Vos, who has taught sociology at Covenant since 2000, has focused on sociology of sport for the past 15 years. His initial interest was on how the Super Bowl influences how we think about men and women and sometimes subverts theological teaching about bodies, sexuality, violence, and human relationships. Vos suggests that while big sports like the Super Bowl or the World Cup have plenty to commend them, there is a danger in failing to critique or examine them theologically. The sheer normality of sport can make it easy for us to overlook and even embrace various practices that Christian theology cautions against.
While on sabbatical in fall 2025, Vos began exploring grant opportunities related to vocation and the common good. This culminated in his receiving a NetVUE grant for individuals studying vocation which permitted him to proceed with a study exploring how sport management students think about their future careers in terms of calling and Christian vocation. The study probes questions about big sport and the common good, stratification in sport, and the place of Christian sabbath in sport.
The grant proposal was organized around guided volunteer opportunities for sport management students at six World Cup matches in Atlanta, as well as a variety of other experiential learning events coupled with structured coursework and class discussion focused on the cultural context of sport in a global society. These features were combined in a course entitled, Global Sport and Society: Experiential Learning at International Sporting Events that reflects Covenant’s approach to learning, in which accomplished Christian faculty guide students through rigorous study beyond the classroom, connecting academic learning with vocation. Co-taught with sport management professor Dr. Michaela Kourmoulis, this was one of several May/Summer Term classes offered to Covenant Students.
Applying the Research
By combining classroom study and experiential learning, Vos and Kourmalis provided a more holistic experience for sports management students. At the end of this experience, students had the opportunity to discuss how this shaped their understanding of career, vocation, and faithful cultural engagement.
The NetVUE grant provides funding for Vos and Kourmoulis to visit Baylor University, in Waco, Texas to collaborate with Dr. Paul Putz, assistant professor of Christianity and Sports, and director of the Faith & Sports Institute at Baylor’s Truett Seminary. Vos and Kourmoulis plan to submit the results of their project to NeVUE’s journal, Studies in Vocation and Calling, as well as to the Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sport Studies.
Thank you to NetVUE for their generous support. A program of the Council of Independent Colleges, NetVUE is a nationwide network of colleges and universities formed to support and enrich vocational exploration and discernment among undergraduate students. Financial support of NetVUE comes from a combination of membership dues and the generosity of Lilly Endowment Inc.
Learn more about sociology and sport management at Covenant College.