AdventHealth University
AdventHealth University
AdventHealth University is hosting the regional conference, “Vocation and Whole Person Education in a Transactional Age,” December 3-5, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. The event is made possible by the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education, and administered by the Council of Independent Colleges. This conference presents an opportunity to learn more about the concept of Whole Person Education from Oleg Kostyuk, Ph.D., who serves as assistant to the president for mission and a religion professor at AdventHealth University (AHU).
Q: Why are you so passionate about Whole Person Education?
Kostyuk: Education should help restore the image of God and shape not only what students know, but also who they are becoming and how they will use their lives in service to others.
My experiences as a pastor, chaplain, biblical scholar, and professor have taught me that people cannot be divided into separate compartments. Students bring their intellectual abilities into the classroom, but they also bring their relationships, spiritual questions, physical needs, emotional struggles, hopes, and sense of calling. God does not educate fragments of people; He works with the whole person.
This conviction is deeply rooted in the Adventist understanding of education. Ellen White wrote [in her 1903 book, Education] that true education involves “the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers.” Whole Person Education seeks to live out that vision in the realities of contemporary higher education.
Q: What does “whole person” mean?
Kostyuk: It means recognizing every human being is created in the image of God and possesses God-given dignity, value, and potential. Students are not merely minds to be filled with information or future employees to be trained for the marketplace. They are physical, intellectual, social, emotional, and spiritual beings whom God is forming for lives of meaning and service.
Q: Why would this matter to a student shopping around for schools?
Kostyuk: Students often begin by asking practical questions: What programs does the school offer? How much will it cost? Will I find employment after graduation? But I believe students should also ask, “Who will I become while I am there?”
A university shapes far more than professional skills. It influences a student’s character, relationships, habits, values, faith, and understanding of life’s purpose. Whole Person Education means that a student will be known as a person rather than treated as a number. AHU faculty and staff care not only about academic success, but also about the student’s wellbeing, spiritual growth, sense of belonging, and preparation for a meaningful life.
For students entering healthcare, this is especially important. They are preparing to care for people during some of the most vulnerable moments of life. They need excellent scientific knowledge and clinical competence, but they also need compassion, ethical discernment, resilience, cultural humility, and the ability to recognize the dignity of every patient.
Through Whole Person Education, AHU hopes to graduate students who see the person before the diagnosis. We want graduates who are intellectually prepared, emotionally resilient, spiritually grounded, ethically responsible, and compassionate toward people whose cultures and beliefs may differ from their own.
Q: Why hold a conference to share this with other schools?
Kostyuk: This is not something we want to keep to ourselves. It belongs to the larger story and mission of Adventist education.
Many schools face similar challenges. Students are experiencing loneliness, anxiety, exhaustion, uncertainty about the future, and difficulty finding meaning. At the same time, higher education is increasingly described as a transaction: students pay for credentials so they can enter a career. Adventist education must offer something deeper.
The conference creates a space for educators and leaders to learn from one another, share effective practices, examine our biblical and theological foundations, and imagine how this vision of education can be faithfully expressed in the 21st century.
To register or learn more about the conference, visit AHU.Edu/Netvue-Gathering.
AdventHealth University | November 2026
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