Thousands of fresh-faced freshmen are starting classes Aug. 24 at GCU, raising ground enrollment to about 16,000 students, the largest ever. (Photo illustration by Billie Worth)

Stories by Janie Magruder
Photos by Darryl Webb
GCU Today Magazine

They are tomorrow’s electrical engineers and computer wizards, entrepreneurs and innovators, worship leaders and teachers, medical professionals and lawyers, musicians and thespians.

They will help solve global challenges, spread the Gospel, invent the next great thing and make their loved ones’ hearts burst with pride and joy.

They are a smart bunch with an incoming GPA of greater than 3.5, and so young, too: One in five is under 18 years old. They primarily hail from the western U.S. – Arizona, California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii – and while some literally are neighborhood kids, others were born far away, in South Korea and Nigeria.

They are our hope for the future. They will do great things at home and abroad. Welcome, Class of 2019. We’ve been preparing for you.

____

Aven Ault, 17
Hometown: Fresno, Calif.
Major: Biomedical engineering

Aven Ault

From the moment the Ault family stopped by campus to visit a friend and hopped aboard the GCU welcome wagon (guided tour, purple T-shirts, free tickets to a men’s basketball game), they were sold.

“It was a whole cool adventure,” said Aven Ault, whose family rolled through Phoenix in their RV on the way home from a trip to Texas a couple of years ago and found themselves at a boisterous Arena event.

The thrill continues now for Ault, the Class of 2015 valedictorian at Clovis East High, where he also was the top player on the boys’ tennis team. And he’s recruited several friends from central California to GCU, including his roommate, Trevor McIntosh.

Phoenix’s heat might be an adjustment: Ault spent the summer at mile-high Hume Lake Christian Camp in California, leading devotions and recreation for hundreds of young campers. Serving the Lord always has been important to this son of missionary parents, who grew up in Spain making friends with the locals and becoming fluent in Spanish.
The GCU factor: The family loved campus so much that Ault’s stepmom, Colleen, applied for a job and was hired as a regional admissions representative in California.

____

Briana and Brian Norheim, 18
Hometown: Bermuda Dunes, Calif.
Majors: Nursing (Briana) and Biology (Brian)

Among the record six pairs of twins and 470 freshmen entering GCU’s Honors College this fall are Briana Norheim and her one-minute-younger brother, Brian. They have a yin and yang that is both fiercely competitive and sweetly protective.

Brian and Briana Norheim

The competition shows up mostly on the basketball court, where Briana and Brian have bounced around together since they were old enough to walk. Briana played on her brother’s team in middle school because there was no girls’ team, and both were multiyear captains of their respective teams at Desert Christian Academy near their home in Bermuda Dunes, Calif.

Both played piano and were in AP and honors classes during high school. Briana also packed in volleyball and cheer, while Brian was drawn to ministry in the academy’s elementary school.

They each describe themselves as hard working, but she is positive, energetic and persistent while he is more strong-willed and dedicated.

Her favorite Bible verse is Galatians 6:9: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” His is Romans 8:37-39: “… neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

“We complement each other very well,” Briana said. “Whatever I’m weak in (math), he’s very strong in, and whatever I’m strong in (English and history), he’s not.”

Briana and Brian Norheim

Briana chose nursing but has not ruled out becoming a teacher because she wants to make a difference in people’s lives. Brian plans to become a doctor and has heard about the hands-on opportunities that pre-med students have in GCU’s cadaver labs and on medical mission trips around the world. He is interested in pursuing orthopedics in mission work, if that’s where God calls him.

The twins have been in the same classes at the same school all their lives, and when they began to think about college, Briana initially was open to being at a different place than her brother.

“One of the main reasons she wants me to go to the same college is to help her in math,” Brian joked. To which Briana replied, “God gave me a math tutor.”

And it’s not as if the twins won’t know anyone at GCU: one quarter of their 32-member graduating class is enrolled, too. Still, watching out for each other will be a priority.

“Briana is a strong woman of faith, and if I need her she’ll be there for me. She would drop whatever she’s doing,” he said. “I’m blessed to have a twin sister.”

The GCU factor: “Our parents are very secure in how the campus is and with how affordable it is, and I think GCU will provide more opportunities than other colleges could provide,” Brianna said. Added Brian, “I have a great opportunity to do well as I prepare for med school and become a doctor.”

____

Denisse Delos Santos, 18
Hometown: Phoenix
Major: Electrical engineering

Denisse Delos Santos

But for that one B, in Spanish, Denisse Delos Santos would have a 5.0 GPA. The Class of 2015 valedictorian at North High in Phoenix, who took four years of the boot camp equivalent of learning — International Baccalaureate — had to settle for a 4.92.

Delos Santos insisted she’s not that smart.

“I’m just really determined when it comes to work. It runs in my family,” she said. The tests, essays and homework at North were a grind, but she refused to be one-note. Choir, playing piano and guitar and drama were mixed in with U.S. history, pre-calc and physics.

Delos Santos, who was born in San Pablo, the Philippines, chose electrical engineering because her father, a teacher, is a “frustrated engineer” who couldn’t afford to follow his dreams. “I said, ‘OK, Dad, I’m going to finish your dream off for you.’”

The GCU factor: I’m really excited to be in the first class of engineers. We’re making history. We’re the first to be in the new building and classrooms, and whatever we do, the next class will have to follow us.”

____

Easton Barbour, 18
Hometown: Hershey, Pa.
Major: Christian studies

Easton Barbour

From a ready smile to the “I am Second” bracelet to his confident stride, Easton Barbour has the countenance of a young pastor.

“I’m hard-wired for the ministry, especially for fellowship and discipleship. I don’t have a passion for anything else,” he said.

When Barbour’s parents moved their family from North Carolina to Gilbert in 2011, it was a faith wakeup call. His new school, Basha High in Chandler, had more than 2,500 students, and Barbour felt a bit lost.

He joined the school soccer team and tackled the books, finishing with a 4.75 GPA and amassing more than 30 required college credits.

“I took AP classes so I wouldn’t have to take them later,” he said. “I wanted to focus on Christian studies.”

Barbour has taught children and teens at Mission Community Church and co-founded Basha’s chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He recently spent three weeks in Europe, a pack on his back and God on his heart and lips.

The GCU factor: “I wanted to stay local for college because I want to stay connected to my church and keep those relationships.”

____

Hope Tedrow, 18
Hometown: Gilbert, Ariz.
Major: Psychology

Hope Tedrow

“Well-rounded” comes to mind when thinking of Hope Tedrow:

• Voracious reader with early preferences, Clifford and Junie B. Jones, edged out by current favorites, Karen Kingsbury and Michael Crichton
• Singer who performed with a show choir in Hollywood
• Fluent Spanish speaker
• Visitor to the equator
• Co-valedictorian of the Gilbert High Class of 2015, with a GPA of 4.79

“I’m not a natural genius,” she said. “I’m pretty good at organizing my time to get my work done.”

The proof: She completed her freshman year of college, with 15 AP credits and one semester of dual enrollment, while in high school. Tedrow enters GCU with 35 college credits and a blank canvas on which to paint her future. She’s interested in how the mind works, maybe counseling or law.

Intramural volleyball and the Learning Lounge at GCU also have enlarged her sphere of interest.

The GCU factor: “My best friend since I was 6 goes there, and I like the smaller class sizes and the fact that there are tons of options — if I ever change my mind.”

____

Joey Bombaci, 18
Hometown: Phoenix
Major: Digital design

Joey Bombaci

Joey Bombaci grew up drawing anything with wheels or wings and playing ice hockey. When his parents suggested he pick art or sports, Bombaci hung up his skates and sharpened his pencils.

As a sophomore at Sandra Day O’Connor High in Phoenix, he was part of a team whose designs were among the top 50 in Vans Custom Culture, a national contest that inspires teenagers to embrace their creativity using the blank canvas of blank canvas shoes.

Bombaci pursued a job at a local Vans, not to perfect the art of selling apparel, but to learn the process of design. His creativity landed on the radar of Steve Van Doren, son of Vans co-founder Paul Van Doren, who sent Bombaci a pair of size 66 blank canvas high-tops to customize for display in the Cypress, Calif., corporate office. Bombaci has since personalized more than a dozen pairs of Vans for friends and is looking forward to exploring digital design at GCU.

The GCU factor: “I want to use my art to show a dark but creative world that there is light, and that light is God.”

____

May Carreon, 18
Hometown: Phoenix
Major: Business management

May Carreon

GCU has been a part of May Carreon’s life since grade school. She grew up eight blocks away, never missing a Fall Festival or Christmas party on campus and dreaming of being the first person in her family to go to college, in her very own community.

But money was tight, and Carreon realized during her senior year at Alhambra High that she was responsible for her future. Her math teacher directed her to the University’s Learning Lounge for pre-calculus tutoring, and Carreon sought its help in writing applications for college scholarships. She enrolled in GCU’s “Jump Start to Jobs,” coming to campus on Saturdays to build her resume and practice job interview skills. Carreon had never before held a job.

Her initiative succeeded: a full-ride scholarship from the Colangelo College of Business and a paid summer internship at Wells Fargo. Carreon has her sights on landing Jerry Colangelo as her mentor. Bank on it.

The GCU factor: “I consider it part of my family. I’ve known it since I was little. This is my second home.”

____

Kara Sutton, 18
Hometown: Charlotte, N.C.
Major: English for secondary education

Kara Sutton didn’t move to Phoenix in the most climate-friendly month — June — but she couldn’t be coming to GCU at a better time.

Kara Sutton

Sutton has plenty of speech and debate experience as a teacher of younger students and a participant in the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association. Members of GCU’s speech and debate team this spring won for the second consecutive year national titles in individual events at the National Christian College Forensics Invitational.

Sutton, who was homeschooled, doesn’t know if God will lead her to teach in a public or private high school or a university. But she’s certain she’s been called to share her Christian worldview through teaching.

“It may not be rewarding as far as pay goes, but the rewarding part for me was getting to see the students grow,” she said. “It’s a blessing to see students who at first dreaded giving speeches be so much more comfortable by the end.”

The GCU factor: Sutton wants to explore GCU’s global mission program. Her heart was captured by a February journey to China to minister in a nursery for babies abandoned because of their disabilities.

____

Rilynn Hansen, 18
Hometown: Grants Pass, Ore.
Major: Communications

Rilynn Hansen was a high school freshman in 2011 when she and her sister, Morgan, won first place in a national Future Business Leaders of America contest for their financial plan on a mock business. No other Oregon ninth grader had ever done that.

Rilynn Hansen

Hansen again wowed FBLA judges at the 2012 nationals, earning another blue ribbon for a real community service project. She and other students at Hidden Valley High launched the Josephine County Foundation in a region plagued by higher child poverty and unemployment rates and lower high school graduation and college achievement.

“We wanted to do something real. We saw our county struggling and we wanted to make a difference,” she said.

Hansen became proficient at grant writing and building relationships. The nonprofit began with community vision clinics, where 200 pairs of used glasses were handed out to low-income people.

Hansen’s newest FBLA national project was Youth Education Success, a partnership with a local television station that made 11 grants to area teachers. They purchased heart-rate monitors for PE classes and ceramic kilns for student artists and established a life-skills garden and dental clinic, among other services. The GCU factor: “Everyone seems so friendly, and the campus looks like a resort.”

Additional photography by Keith Alstrin and Karalyn Stairs

Contact Janie Magruder at 602-639-8018 or janie.magruder@gcu.edu.

The post Hello, my name is: GCU Class of 2019 appeared first on GCU Today.

By Michael Ferraresi
GCU Today Magazine

Erica Wadas will need to get used to New England blizzards this winter.

The Arizona native never has had to dig her way out of the garage or scrape a frozen windshield. But that’s about to change for the Grand Canyon University alumna, who

Arizona native and GCU alumna Erica Wadas has moved to New England to do a residency at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. (Photo by Sarah Priestap)

graduated this year from the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine and recently began her residency at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., just a few miles from the Ivy League campus.

Wadas, 30, is working in general medicine with a variety of patients and also is doing rotations that expose her to specialty areas of medicine, such as cardiology, endocrinology and gastrointestinal disorders.

Following in her mother’s footsteps, Wadas earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication but felt drawn to medicine. After working for a surgical equipment company, she enrolled at GCU, initially thinking she would study nursing.

A mentor directed Wadas toward the pre-med program and on a path more closely aligned with that of her father, a longtime Phoenix gastroenterologist. She said GCU helped her focus on what she was truly called to do, after trying public relations and nursing first. Wadas graduated from GCU in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, with an emphasis in pre-medicine.

“It’s hard to say it was in one moment when it crystalized for me,” Wadas said. “As I got older, it was realizing what I loved and what I’m good at, where my strengths are, and finding a career where I could help people.

“When I got to GCU, it was the people who made me stay. They took a personal interest in me. That’s pretty incredible, especially coming from a large school like ASU.” (Click here to watch an Alumni Spotlight video about Wadas.)

She was president of the GCU chapter of the AzHOSA health professions club, which

Wadas became interested in medicine at GCU, where she initially planned to study nursing. (Photo by Art Foxall)

was new at the time but since has grown into the largest campus club of its kind in the U.S. As she became involved with networking and community service, Wadas saw she could have an impact as a physician, just like her father.

Wadas credited Haley Peebles, a GCU faculty member and former AzHOSA adviser, with recognizing her God-given abilities. Peebles, now associate director of GCU’s Center for Integrated Science, Engineering and Technology, saw that Wadas had the interpersonal skills, passion and grades to go to medical school and pushed her to challenge herself.

“People give up on things or on other people too quickly,” Peebles said. “It’s nice to see that you can redirect someone’s path and that pointing someone in the right direction can work out exactly as it’s supposed to if you invest in people, you’re there and you have their best interests at heart.”

Peebles attended Wadas’ graduation from medical school, and when her former student gave an impassioned speech on behalf of her class, citing the need for future doctors, Peebles knew her assessment years ago had been accurate.

As a medical student, Wadas assisted physicians at the Wesley Center in Phoenix. The clinic provides services to a low-income, at-risk population, so she had the opportunity to help heal people without consistent health care or resources about good health. She imagines her residency will be stellar, too.

“It will certainly be different in New Hampshire, with a different patient population,” she said. “But what I’ve learned about educating people about their health, and chronic conditions like diabetes or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder, will remain the same. I really enjoy teaching people how to achieve a higher quality of life.”

Now, if she could just figure out how to put chains on her tires, the roads seem to be opening up to Wadas as she motors into a future of caring for patients.

The post Alumna digs in at Dartmouth for medical residency appeared first on GCU Today.

The cover story in the latest edition of GCU Today Magazine introduces you to 10 new faces on campus who are shining representatives of this fall’s incoming freshmen class. Check out the students’ stellar academics, servant qualities and deep faith and watch a cool video about their first-year expectations. The September magazine also has full coverage of a beach get-together for new GCU students from Southern California as well as a story about the University’s new engineering degrees, a feature and video about its promising soccer program and an article about a unique collaboration between GCU and Arizona hospitals to train and employ new nursing graduates. Other content: a look at where GCU students spread the Gospel during summer mission trips, a story and video about new alumnus Zenon Castro, who is moving from school janitor to teacher thanks to GCU’s s online program and a profile of alumna/future doctor Erica Wadas, plus alumni class notes.

The post GCU Today Magazine welcomes Class of 2019 appeared first on GCU Today.

GCU Today Magazine

There were times when Carter Bennett felt asphyxiated, as if someone was sitting on his chest or thrusting a knife into his lungs. Throughout his youth, the Grand Canyon University freshman relied on his parents, Dave and Kimberly, for relief from the suffocating complications of cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder for which there is no cure.

Dave Bennett (left) and his son Carter have a better handle on the incoming freshman’s struggle with cystic fibrosis because of advancements in technology and health care. Photo by Darryl Webb

When Carter was diagnosed at age 9, his father was a software entrepreneur. But the family’s ensuing experience with doctors and insurance companies led Dave into the emerging field of health care information systems. He became focused on the blending of technology with personalized health care.

The Bennett family learned to understand Carter’s disease and to investigate his genetic makeup. They tailored his treatment plan by zeroing in on his disease mutation, one that affects only 4 percent of cystic fibrosis patients.

They researched new drugs for Carter’s mutation and actually brought information to their doctor about one that has helped him thrive.

“It’s kind of unfortunate that the doctor didn’t know it, but it’s not really the doctor’s fault since he didn’t really have the systems to do it,” said Dave Bennett, a member of the GCU President’s STEM Advisory Board who has shared his industry insights with the College of Science, Engineering and Technology and its science, technology, engineering and math programs. (Click here to read a GCU Today Magazine story about the programs.)

Today, as vice president of healthier populations at Orion Health in Scottsdale, he develops “precise medicine” solutions that allow doctors and patients to access and use personalized health care data.

“I became real passionate about how we can fix the health care system, how we provide docs and patients with more concrete support,” he said.

Seeing his son off to college this fall marks a transitional point in the family’s journey.

“Thinking about your son dying before you is quite frightening,” Dave said. “But when we understood the mutations a little more and we started following this drug, we were excited … we thought, in a couple years, Carter would have a shot to outlive me and grow up big and strong.”

The post ‘Precise medicine’ helps freshmen breathe easier appeared first on GCU Today.

GCU Today Magazine

GCU is training tomorrow’s engineers in an interdisciplinary setting that replicates the workforce environment. Here’s a snapshot of each program emphasis:

BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

Also known as “bioengineering,” this field produces technology for medical devices and other health care purposes. It’s where engineering and medicine come together to solve humanity’s biological problems and improve patient care through automation.

Innovations: Implants that regulate the brain’s response to hunger and guide weight loss in obese adults, optical scanners that analyze the skin to potentially reduce the need for routine dermatological biopsies, and microchips that alert doctors to potential heart attacks

Major course topics: Biomedical Design Elements, Biomaterials and Biomedical Instrumentation and Devices

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

From portable electronic devices to robotic manufacturing systems, engineers in this broad field work on hardware that delivers data for a range of everyday purposes. The technology they build and maintain keeps everything from wireless networks to power plants humming along at an optimal pace.

Innovations: Renewable energy delivery systems, such as high-efficiency solar cell materials, and microcircuit boards and nano-electronics for biomedical implants

Major course topics: Advanced Circuits, Electromagnetic Fields and Optics, and Communications Signal Processing

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Considered the broadest of all engineering disciplines, mechanical engineers often overlap in their careers with electrical engineers. Both deal in mechanical systems, but mechanical engineers specialize in how structures and machines withstand stress, systems that convert energy into power and the design of machinery.

Innovations: Advanced computer-assisted design modeling programs and alternative fuel systems, in addition to 3-D printers that use additive direct laser sintering and microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS

Major course topics: Mechanical Instrumentation and Devices, Structure and Property of Materials, and Solid Mechanics

Learn more about how GCU’s new engineering programs provide hands-on learning and work opportunities for students in this GCU Today Magazine article, and click here to read about a father who has used advancements in technology and health care to benefit his son, a GCU student.

The post Three branches of engineering, one goal: workforce readiness appeared first on GCU Today.

By Janie Magruder
GCU News Bureau

On the cusp of a new academic year, with ground enrollment at a record 16,000 students, including 8,500 living on campus, and with academic, residential and dining facilities going up in record time this summer, Grand Canyon University is on a tear.

GCU President/CEO Brian Mueller shared his excitement about the University’s “tremendous” development at Friday’s all-employee meeting. (Photo by Darryl Webb)

That was the message from President/CEO Brian Mueller to thousands of faculty and staff gathered Friday in GCU Arena for the annual all-employee meeting.

“The last six years have been tremendous,” Mueller said after a dozen University panelists representing the student body, enrollment, faculty, programs and community outreach presented recaps and forecasts of GCU’s rosy glow. “But that’s nothing compared to what will happen in the next six years.”

He emphasized the engagement of faculty and dedication of staff, giving a shout-out to student services advisers and enrollment counselors whose academic support of students “is one of the things that we do best.”

It was a “State of the University” address with this takeaway: Things are hot at GCU, toastier than the recent record-breaking temperatures across its Phoenix home.

Hot construction period with more to come

“Unbelievable changes” have taken place on the GCU landscape since school ended in April, Mueller said, including The Grove, four six-story residence halls that were built in eight months and 10 days; a STEM building for the new College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET) with a state-of-the-art music studio for students in the Center for Worship Arts; a soccer stadium that is expected to open in October with 3,000 berm seats and 3,000 more to be built in a covered grandstand; Lopes Way, an indoor/outdoor dining area with nearly a dozen new eateries, and the Grand Canyon University Hotel at the 27th Avenue office complex.

But there’s more to come, he noted, from new intramural fields that could host employee teams (a suggestion met with crowd applause) and the GCU Golf Course at 59th Avenue and Indian School Road to a restaurant and conference center adjacent to GCU Hotel and a new student services building on the main campus.

Further down the road, Mueller said, there will be 100,000 online students, 30,000 traditional students, a doubling of academic programs, a household-name athletics program, and more than 4,500 employees working in a thriving middle-class neighborhood around GCU.

Microphone in hand, Mueller then turned to his panelists to help communicate the University’s impressive progress report. Topics included:

Mental health of students: Cody Dumas, president of Associated Students of GCU, said the student group plans to break the stigma of mental health issues with an awareness week in January and the launch of peer-to-peer counseling program.

Faculty engagement: Provost Dr. Hank Radda said faculty are more enthusiastic than ever about their teaching responsibilities, advising student clubs, attending events and mentoring students. “They are completely jazzed about the quality of our students, the diversity of thinking, the energy here…” Radda said.

STEM integration: GCU’s science, technology, engineering and math curriculum was built with workforce needs in mind, based on the University’s comprehensive collaborations with industry and educators, Radda said. Michael Sheller, CSET associate dean, called the programs “extremely hands-on, extremely real-world,” with most classroom time spent on building and analysis.

Worship Arts: With their first extended play released in April, students are continuing to write and produce songs about the reconciliation, redemption and peace that come through Jesus, said John Fredericks, the center’s coordinator.

Theatre and music: The University’s theatre program will perform Shakespeare, two comedies and a beloved children’s musical in Ethington Theatre this school year, said College of Fine Arts and Production Dean Claude Pensis. Students in the Music Department will perform for the first time Giuseppe Verdi’s “Requiem” at Phoenix Symphony Hall.

Passion for the job: Several staff members revealed their commitment to GCU, notably Emily Montoya, an admissions manager for the West Valley who listed hers this way: passion for and relationship to God, then passion for the community, youth and education. Her team enrolled 540 students this fall, many of them the first in their families to attend college and with an average incoming GPA of 3.7.

Dr. Deb Wade, GCU’s new vice president of psychological and counseling services who recently left behind in Dallas her longtime home and career, said coming to GCU was a “dream opportunity.” Wade noted, “That it was Christ-centered made it absolutely a diamond.”

Public safety: Commander Kevin Robinson of the Phoenix Police Department noted that criminal activity has dropped — 16.2 percent in violent crimes and 16.9 percent in property crimes — in the quadrant surrounding GCU, partly because of the University’s public-safety initiative with the city.

Heart for the community: GCU’s unique partnership with Habitat for Humanity Central Arizona to rebuild up to 700 homes in the University’s neighborhood has been impressive since its January launch. Habitat President and CEO Roger Schwierjohn said nearly 250 GCU student volunteers have contributed 1,900 hours to complete 56 repairs and assist 27 families. “They (residents) are seeing that GCU is not trying to run them out of their homes, and they are now proud to be part of this neighborhood,” Schwierjohn said.

GCU employees can use the Donate to Elevate program to designate part of their state taxes to Habitat to help fund future projects. Randy Bellah, GCU’s director of academic alliances support, said in three years more than $1.3 million has been pledged by employees. The program costs nothing and does not impact an employee’s take-home pay. It merely reroutes through the payroll process state tax dollars to Habitat, or to GCU’s private and public school participants, if employees so choose.

The Learning Lounge: GCU’s unique afterschool tutoring program for students at Alhambra High, down the street from the main campus, has helped raise the state test scores and grades of the students, many of them first-generation graduates. Dr. Joe Veres, director of K-12 Outreach Programs, credited the program’s success in part to the passion and dedication of the Lounge’s tutors, who are GCU students.

Athletics: GCU’s name will be mentioned in the same sentences with Notre Dame, Texas, the University of Southern California and Alabama, said Mike Vaught, vice president of athletics. “You can thank the leadership of this University for that,” Vaught told the assembly.

For his part, Mueller thanked the group for its hard work at a “transformational institution” and encouraged employees to view their positions at GCU as careers, not merely jobs, and the University as a home for them and their children. Mueller said he never tires of hearing good things about the Lopes family: “I hear you are kind, compassionate, welcoming, generous. That’s what makes this what it is.”

Contact Janie Magruder at 602-639-8018 or janie.magruder@gcu.edu.

The post Mueller showcases GCU’s stunning transformation appeared first on GCU Today.

By Janie Magruder
GCU News Bureau

If Ethington Theatre at Grand Canyon University ever staged “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” freshman Heidi Laabs would make an ideal lead character. The Mesa biology major, who moved into Willow Hall with hundreds of other new students Tuesday, has sampled University life over the past 72 hours and is finding things to her liking. It’s been a blessed week filled with good fortune.

Freshman Heidi Laabs of Gilbert smiles brightly at Tuesday evening’s Ignite on GCU’s campus. (Photo by Darryl Webb)

Her room, a vintage Pottery Barn prototype, is clean and cool. Already, her roommate and suitemates have BFF status, and in just three short days on campus, Heidi has experienced some of the best things GCU has to offer — a warm welcome from volunteers, a high-energy worship service, movie night, swimming, free iced tea and much more. All with thousands of other members of the Class of 2019.

With her long blond hair, Heidi is more Goldilocks than Little Red Riding Hood or Snow White.

The GCU decision

The only child of Susan and Tom Laabs, Heidi graduated from Gilbert Christian High, a college preparatory school, with about 40 other seniors this spring. She likes science, played on the women’s basketball team and performed with the hand bell choir at her church, Christ’s Greenfield Lutheran in Gilbert.

Heidi is a biology major with an emphasis in pre-medicine who plans to become an eye doctor. She started thinking about college as a sophomore in high school and touring campuses with her parents as a junior.

Heidi on Move-in day at GCU

There were three: the University of Arizona was too large, Concordia University Irvine was too far, and GCU, with its new science programs and buildings, interesting cadaver lab and friendly vibe, was just right.

She enrolled.

Earlier this month, Susan and Tom took their daughter to Hawaii to celebrate her graduation, and by the time they returned, Move-In was less than a week away. Many of those remaining days were spent on multiple shopping trips to get everything Heidi would need for dorm life, and there were teary times, especially at a going-away party Heidi threw for her best friend, Hayley Normoyle, on Saturday night. Hayley is attending Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, Calif.

“I’m excited, a little bit nervous,” Heidi said Sunday about leaving home. “I know I’m only 45 minutes away, but it’s not like I’m going to be home every day like I used to be.”

Heidi leaves her family home in Gilbert for GCU Tuesday morning.

Heidi and her parents had a brief night of sleep Monday before caravanning to GCU at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday in her car and theirs, radios tuned to the family’s favorite genre of music, country. As they weaved their way through campus, Tom marveled at the cheering volunteers, mostly returning students, who lined the campus roads.

“They make you feel so welcome here,” he said. “I wish they would have had that when I was in college.”

Once at Willow, the Laabs’ cars were quickly unloaded of Heidi’s things — suitcases, boxes of food and a mini-refrigerator, among other necessities. Susan thought less than an hour had passed from the time they exited I-17 at Camelback Road and were directed to the GCU parking garage.

The afternoon was spent setting up Heidi’s new suite with roommate Peyton Faber and her family from Prior Lake, Minn. The girls were delighted to learn their decorating tastes and preferred colors were complementary.

Heidi and roommate, Peyton Faber, at Willow Hall

Susan, who’s had “good days and bad days” in the weeks leading to her daughter’s departure, said she felt soothed by volunteers who “remembered to cheer on the moms after their students were dropped off,” she said.

Later that evening, along with nearly 3,000 other GCU students, Heidi and Peyton attended a worship service, their first, in the Arena and the candlelit commissioning of their new class right after on the Quad.

“It’s really cool that we all came together like this,” Heidi said, looking around at the hundreds of candles and classmates clustered about her.

Heidi fell asleep the second her head hit the pillow on her new bunk bed. The day had been too long, the time with her parents had been too short, but Tuesday night’s sleep — nearly 12 hours — was just right.

The days before classes begin

Heidi spent part of Wednesday with Hayley, who dropped by GCU before heading off to California. Heidi and her new friends learned the Arena was hosting movie night for students, so they donned their pajamas and walked over.

Heidi and her mom, Susan, waited less than an hour to be moved in at Willow Hall Tuesday.

Thursday was a day to cool down with iced tea and Jamba Juice and get tickets for the free Phillip Phillips concert in the Arena Saturday night. Susan and Tom drove over from Mesa to take their freshman to dinner later that afternoon.

“As a mother, I ‘feel’ the void,” Susan said about the week. “Despite these mixed emotions, though, we feel confident that GCU was the right choice for Heidi’s college career, and we look forward to where the Lord is leading her.”

Heidi had the foresight Thursday to find the best route from Willow to the College of Science, Engineering and Technology’s new building across campus. Doing so will help her minimize possible snafus when classes start Monday and the sidewalks are filled with students.

The new building is a modern facility with classrooms, labs, equipment and lots of new chairs. We imagine Heidi will find one that’s just right.

Contact Janie Magruder at (602) 639-8018 or janie.magruder@gcu.edu.

The post GCU through the eyes of a freshman and her family appeared first on GCU Today.

By GCU News Bureau

Grand Canyon University’s first engineering students begin their introductory STEM courses this week as they prepare for the more complex material ahead in their biomedical, electrical and mechanical majors.

Hundreds of students attended classes in GCU’s new engineering building for the first time Monday, the start of the 2015-16 academic year.

They will start at the basics as students from each of the three disciplines and others from the year-old computer science and information technology programs, learning foundational skills in design, computer programming and the team problem-solving taught in the freshman course, UNV-112, “Success in Computer Science, Engineering and Technology.” In two or three years, they’ll be deeper into physics, electromagnetics, thermodynamics, materials and preparing capstone projects.

Everything about GCU’s engineering programs is new. The coursework is brand new, most faculty have been at the University for a year or less, and a new four-story engineering classroom building opened Monday on campus along Camelback Road.

GCU’s growth is rapid, yet the University is focused on creating academic programs that equip students for jobs right out of college, which is relatively out-of-the-box in mainstream engineering academics.

Additionally, GCU has pioneered a host of K-12 STEM preparation programs to further develop the Valley’s high-tech workforce, including the tuition-free STEM Scholars program, which saw its first group of high school students complete a GCU biology course and earn college credits this summer.

Dr. Michael Sheller is excited about introducing the concept of Christian anthropology to GCU’s engineering students as they navigate their studies.

Dr. Michael Sheller, a longtime biomedical engineer and entrepreneur, joined GCU last year as associate dean of the engineering programs for the College of Science, Engineering and Technology. Led by Dr. Michael Mobley, executive director of GCU’s Center for Integrated Science, Engineering and Technology, and associate director Haley Peebles, the University spent months gathering feedback from leaders of Arizona technology companies. Together they then designed programs to be more hands on than those at larger schools where students often find themselves in lectures that limit the hands-on practice they get in their undergraduate experience.

At GCU, students will be introduced to engineering principles in short 3-5 minute presentations followed by activities designed to engage students in their classroom labs – experiments, problem solving, modeling and simulations.

Getting the students working together and considering the interdisciplinary overlap of their programs is part of GCU’s challenge.

“Typically, electrical engineering students just work together, mechanical engineers have their capstone, and biomedical engineering students have their own,” Sheller said. “They don’t work together. They’re off in their own space to do their thing. We’re trying to reflect industry practice.”

The importance of Christian anthropology

And because GCU is a Christian university, UNV-112 also will introduce concepts of Christian anthropology, the study of humans as it relates to God and spirituality, he said. Students will learn to critically think about whether advancements in science and technology, to create the perfect heart, skin, eyes and brain, for example, should be blindly embraced.

“When I can bioengineer things so that I can replace all of your parts eventually, how far should I go?” Sheller asked. “When we put your brain in silicon and replace it with a chip, do you still reflect the image of God? Are you still a human being? As Christians, we want to look at the whole person. We’re not just physical matter, we are much more.”

Additionally, students will consider the incarnational aspect of our humanity by delving into virtual reality and other Internet features that seem to eliminate the physical person, rather than valuing it, Sheller said.

“Jesus came in the flesh – that was His incarnation,” he said. “Is it OK to be a texting junkie or assign an avatar to represent you or have you lessened yourself or someone else who is created in God’s image?”

Developing a robotic hand and more

With that Christian worldview in mind, UNV-112 will include a project where students will develop and program a robotic hand that they will manipulate with basic circuit boards to make the fingers move, hand turn and — with some practice — shape a “Lopes Up” gesture.

Phoenix engineering entrepreneur Tim Stippick, who grew up in west Phoenix and sits on GCU’s Engineering Advisory Board, designed the robotic hand prototype over the summer. It consists of more than 20 parts and a pair of six-volt motors, which are about the size of a piece of bubble gum.

He got involved with GCU through Sheller, with whom he recently authored an academic journal article about combined magnetic fields for spinal fusion sites, which examined the healing effect of electromagnetic bone growth stimulators used to promote recovery from spinal surgery. Sheller and Stippick had also worked together on biomedical devices in the past.

Students in the UNV-112 course and lab will learn the components of basic breadboard circuit boards, learning about resistors, LEDs , transistors, and limit switches which are “the things that will tell you if something is on or off,” Stippick said, adding that those transistors provide the logic for the robotic hand. Students will control it by using a C-program, and they’ll learn “where solid materials and electrically controlled processes overlap,” Stippick added.

Sheller and CSET Dean Dr. Mark Wooden hired Dr. Melissa Trombley to oversee the electrical engineering program. Trombley began consulting for GCU earlier this year on curriculum development and joined CSET full-time this summer after 10 years at Intel.

Trombley said the equipment GCU is planning for its engineering labs will help students understand the technology they’ll be dealing with in their careers. She said they’ll learn, for example, about detail-oriented metrology, the science of measurements, by practicing with the same type of microscopes and optical devices they’ll see in industry.

Dr. Melissa Trombley

“It’s very useful for students to have some of that information,” Trombley said. “At least if you can speak that metrology language, when you see a standing electron microscope in the workplace, and you’ve used one in school, it’s more familiar and graduates will be more confident.”

Also, GCU engineering students will be exposed to the regulatory standards that engineers at all levels must grow accustomed to as they start their careers. Sheller said introducing students to those standards earlier in their program was a key goal in the development of the new biomedical engineering program.

“The more you can wrap their minds around the regulatory environment, the more employable they’ll be,” Sheller said. “It enables them to be the lead engineer on a junior type team in a medical device company. They’ll drive the project, because regulations drive everything.”

The post GCU engineering welcomes new faculty, students appeared first on GCU Today.

Story by Janie Magruder
Photos by Darryl Webb
GCU News Bureau

GCU has rolled out new tools to help students set academic goals, receive help with their school work and plan their future careers.

Grand Canyon University students can’t yet see the finish line of the 2015-16 academic year — after all, it’s only the fourth day of classes. But GCU’s 16,000 traditional students, including 7,000 newcomers, have never had more tools to help them set a successful college pace and sprint across at the end.

The University has expanded a variety of learning components and measurements that, among other functions, provide timelines and reminders to students about courses, volunteer work, internships, spirituality and networking experiences to best prepare them for the future.

From Honors College upperclassmen who warmed up incoming freshmen at summer orientation sessions to college deans who are on a whirlwind of student meet-and-greets during the first weeks of school, everyone is on board, said Dr. Antoinette Farmer, vice president of institutional effectiveness.

“We have introduced intentional and integrated advising, which coordinates program, career, academic support and spiritual components necessary for students to be successful from Day 1,” she said. “It promotes consistent conversation among students, faculty, student services advisers, Career Services and Spiritual Life. We are helping students through the entire process of finding their purpose, which begins and ends with purposeful planning.”

First Year Center opening soon

Through the First Year Experience, GCU freshmen receive a roadmap for navigating campus life, from dining and discounts to technical support and public safety. By the middle of September, the University plans to open its First Year Center in Juniper Hall, a new freshmen residence in The Grove. Juniper is the home of about 250 of GCU’s 750 Honors College students.

The First Year Center is scheduled to open in Juniper Hall in September.

It will be a one-stop shop for freshmen who need academic, psychiatric and spiritual assistance of any kind. Peer tutoring and other support will be available at all times of the day and night, weekends, too, and faculty will drop by periodically to greet and work with their students.

“Our message is, ‘Here’s a hand — just grab it,’” Farmer said.

The First-Year Center will be a unique place where academics and social activities come together. Reyna Mosely, an Honors College senior, said she wishes such a place had existed when she was new to campus.

“If students are confused about anything, we will be the middle man for them and all the resources GCU has, and we’ll be able to point them in the right direction,” said Mosely, a biology major with an emphasis in pre-Physician Assistant who works on the First Year Experience team.

“It’s all about making these connections, and I feel really blessed to help these students make it through their own journey,” she said.

Faculty are looking forward to being part of the center, too, said Jessi Farmer, an assistant communication professor in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS).

“It will be exciting to see how we bring together this collaborative learning environment with traditional academic approaches,” she said.

Planning down to a science

Dr. Antoinette Farmer

Antoinette Farmer is enthused about the new purpose-planning process, by which students are given specific academic support that fits their courses, majors and career goals.

“Students may know what they want to do, but they may not know how to get there, and that can be overwhelming,” she said.

The plan directs freshmen to the GCU Learning Lounge or another academic excellence center on campus, where they may obtain homework help and sign up for content clinics. It also provides year-by-year checkpoints and recommendations on the academic, career and spiritual plans of all students, no matter their year in school.

“The intent is to help make sure that students, from their freshman year to their senior year, are taking advantage of all the resources at GCU,” said Jessi Farmer, who, with psychology professor Laura Terry, developed the purpose plan for CHSS.

A sampling from each year’s plan:

• Freshmen: Review your program of study and four-year course walk, set a target GPA goal and a plan to achieve it, join a learning community in your college to connect with peers sharing common academic goals and interests, note your professors’ office hours, review your class schedule, sign up for a content clinic to get help for a challenging course, find a job on campus, attend an interview workshop with Career Services and create an online career-assessment tool.
• Sophomores: Consider a leadership or mentoring role at GCU, discuss options for a minor or double major with your adviser, research graduate schools, maintain your target GPA, review your career-assessment tools, attend a guest speaker event to learn from an established professional in your field and consider joining a professional organization.
• Juniors: Finalize your graduation path with your adviser, register and take graduate school admissions tests if needed, create or update your resume and letters of recommendation, seek internship opportunities and attend Career Week sessions on etiquette, resume review, mock interviews and jobs/internships.
• Seniors: Explore professional research circles and opportunities, stay involved in your college’s learning communities, finalize your career plan with your adviser, complete graduation application and connect with alumni relations to start building lifetime connections.

In each year, joining a faith community, church, Bible study or small group is emphasized, too.

Tracking academic progress

Because math, which often is surrounded by phobias, is among the subjects that can make or break a student’s college experience or career path, Antoinette Farmer said, GCU has developed variables that enable the University to determine the probability of success among students in each section of math offered. The tools pinpoint the concepts the student is struggling with and the point in the semester — to the week — that his or her comprehension is falling off. The data has been made available to faculty and used as an early alert system to obtain help for the student, she said.

The tools pinpoint the concepts that the student is struggling with and the point in the semester — to the week — that his or her comprehension is falling off.

“At that point, we can add learning advocates (leads or peer tutors) or instructional aids, tools and other assistance to help them be more successful,” she said. “Young people can get other students excited about these tools in ways that the rest of us may not be able to.”

The new learning tools are designed to enhance, not replace, faculty attention and expertise, Jessi Farmer said. For example, math and science tutors may be floaters in those classes to provide extra help.

“Even in small classes, it’s hard to get to everyone, and what’s great is that they are on campus when we can’t be, and they are in places on campus where we aren’t, too,” she said.

Faculty also will give prompts in the classroom about guest speakers and career-enhancing events and remind students to periodically check their progress plans, she said.

“This helps us helps students transfer from backpack to briefcase,” she added.

Antoinette Farmer credited part of student success to the continued support of the faculty and to Bret Miller, academic affairs research and analytics program manager. Miller worked with Dr. Joe Veres, director of K-12 Outreach Programs, and the colleges to build important tools for their faculty.

“These include a Math and English Faculty Dash, which provides an indication of student experience and preparedness within these respective areas, and Early Alert Trending for all courses, which provides a historical view of the number and type of early alerts,” she said. “These let faculty know where, when and how students normally struggle within the respective courses.”

Contact Janie Magruder at (602) 639-8018 or janie.magruder@gcu.edu.

The post ‘Backpack to briefcase’ strategies help students stay on track for success appeared first on GCU Today.

By Rick Vacek
GCU News Bureau

As the working world keeps changing, so do internships. What once was a way to just test the water is now an opportunity to jump in with both feet and make a really big splash.

Marquis Scott, GCU’s director of internships, helps students find opportunities. (Photo by Darryl Webb)

More and more students at Grand Canyon University are taking advantage of those opportunities. The number of GCU students who have had internships has grown from 20 in 2012-13 to more than 300 in 2014-15, not including students in the College of Education and College of Nursing and Health Care Professions who must do practicums and internships for their degrees.

But the strength isn’t just in the numbers. It’s in the sum of the internship parts.

“Internships used to be compartmentalized into specific skills,” said Marquis Scott, GCU’s director of internships. “Now interns can help someone launch a business. The opportunities are unlimited. They even can suggest ideas.”

Interviews with six recent interns from GCU uncovered six tales of eyes opened and minds expanded. Count this half-dozen among the students making waves:

Janel Davis

A wealth of good experience

Janel Davis was an intern for nearly a year at Advisor Growth Strategies, a Phoenix wealth-management firm. One of the senior accounting major’s professors in the Colangelo College of Business, Dr. Ernie Scarbrough, recommended her, and before long she was learning about a whole new world in high finance.

“It never was on my radar before, but I would definitely consider it now,” she said. “It has been really cool to see the different factors that go into what a company’s worth and the different paths I can take.”

John Furey, the company’s principal and founder, said having Davis on his team has been “fantastic.”

“She’s mature beyond her years,” he said. “She’s driven, hard-working, serious and very grounded. We’ve had some interns who have gone on to bigger things, and I think she’s going to be a very effective young professional wherever she goes. We’d love to have her back.”

Davis transferred to GCU after her sophomore year at Glendale Community College and is living on campus, in North Rim Apartments, for the first time. She also is a student worker in the GCU Accounting Department.

“I want to see which I enjoy better and which I’m better at,” she said.

But no matter what direction her career goes, Davis is at peace with it.

“First and foremost, I am a Christian, saved by grace in high school, and just trying to live my life to glorify God and serve Him in any way I can,” said Davis, who is a high school leader and has taught Sunday school kindergarten at her church. “I really have a heart to serve and to love all people. That is who I am. But none of this has happened because of me; it all has been Him.”

Kelsey Dean

Getting to perform on a big stage

Kelsey Dean was searching for an internship when she came across one that resonated: a chance to work in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.

With help from Scott, Dean was hired to work on the special events team in the center’s department that provides opportunities for people with disabilities to learn more about the arts through performances and conferences.

The highlight was a monthlong celebration commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 40th anniversary of the founding of the department where she interned.

“I’ve had the most amazing experience,” Dean said. “I’d recommend it to anyone who applies for it.”

Best of all, the senior marketing major got valuable hands-on experience that was anything but trivial.

“It wasn’t a situation where you just get coffee and file things,” she said. “I worked with the Secretary of Education (Arne Duncan) and the Surgeon General (Dr. Vivek Murthy). I got so much experience that I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else.”

Amber Moldrem

Learning what goes on backstage

Seniors Amber Moldrem and Melissa Kamel both have designs on behind-the-scenes jobs in the theatre. Their internships have played an important role in their development.

Moldrem works in the prop and costume shops at Childsplay, a professional children’s theatre in Tempe. That experience has been excellent preparation for her next big assignment: scenic and properties designer for “Scapin,” which GCU’s College of Fine Arts and Production will present Oct. 9-11 and 16-18 at Ethington Theatre.

“It’s a professional theatre for children — adults acting as kids,” Moldrem said. “It was educational to see how good they are at their craft.”

Melissa Kamel

Kamel has been helping with costume design at Brelby Theatre Company in Glendale since her sophomore year. This summer, she was part of the production crew for the play “Beyond Musketeers: Utopia Lost.”

“I saw an ad on Facebook and went with two friends. We thought it would just be fun, but then I got to be in the show and kind of never left,” she said.

Both theatre majors have minor acting roles in “As You Like It,” COFAP’s season opener this weekend at Ethington — Kamel as Audrey and Moldrem in the ensemble.

Location, location, location

Josh Kennedy found an internship right up his alley right down the street from GCU. Kelly Pollard found one in her hometown of Fort Collins, Colo.

Josh Kennedy

A junior majoring in biology with an emphasis in physical therapy, Kennedy worked this summer at Spooner Physical Therapy at 15th Avenue and Camelback Road in Phoenix. He started out as a technician but was able to learn all types of exercises after a few weeks.

Kennedy discovered he had an interest in physical therapy when he sprained his left ankle twice and had to go through it himself.

“I loved science already and this was like, ‘Oh, wow,’” he said. “And I really like helping people.”

Kelly Pollard

Pollard, a sophomore majoring in communications with minors in digital film and worship arts, worked for iHeartMedia’s radio station (97.9 FM) that serves Fort Collins and nearby Loveland and Longmont, north of Denver. She sat in on live shows, advertising recording sessions, promotional meetings and concert warmups.

“I got to tag along and see what it would be like to work in the radio industry,” she said. “I’m not sure if radio is what I want to go into, but if I went into radio it would be on air — I love music.”

Self-starters reach the finish line first

All six students told similar stories of how they got their internships: They took the initiative to search out something they wanted to do and then reached out.

“Students need to realize that there are a lot of people here who can help them with internships,” Scott said. “We have relationships with alumni, and professors and staff members have ideas and connections, too.

“Sometimes students think that if it hasn’t jumped out at them on a billboard, it doesn’t exist. That’s simply not true.”

The water’s great. They just need to jump in.

Contact Rick Vacek at 602-639-8203 or rick.vacek@gcu.edu.

The post Internships don’t just skim the surface anymore appeared first on GCU Today.

By Janie Magruder
GCU News Bureau

You’ll never hear Yousif Al Dulaimi complain.

Not about his 45-minute one-way commute from his home in Chandler to the campus of Grand Canyon University, not about the two jobs into which he pours 36 hours a week to support his family, not about the five challenging classes he’s taking this semester for his biology major despite having learned English just two years ago.

GCU freshman Yousif Al Dulaimi and his family are Iraqi refugees who fled their homeland in 2013. Now, he’s studying biology, working on campus and living his dream.

You’ll never hear this GCU freshman, who turned 18 Wednesday, complain because he’s living the American dream, albeit for now, as an Iraqi refugee.

“I hope to become an American,” Yousif said. “This country gave me a place without worrying about something coming down from the sky on myself and my family. I can sleep to know I’ll be safe until the next day.”

It’s a remarkable attitude for a person who spent two-thirds of his young life surrounded by war.

Born and raised in Baghdad

Yousif doesn’t remember much about life in Baghdad before the Iraq War because he was only 5 when U.S.-led forces invaded the country in March 2003. His father, Fawaz Aldulimi, managed duty-free shops at the Baghdad International Airport, and his mother, Hanan Al Chalabi, focused on raising their three children, including elder sister Rahiq, now 19, and younger brother Ali, now 14.

Yousif (front row, fourth from left) in grade school in Baghdad, Iraq. (Photos courtesy of Yousif Al Dulaimi)

Both parents knew the value of education and made sure their children did their homework and got to school and back home safely. But otherwise, the family didn’t go out much — Yousif never rode his bicycle in the neighborhood or played with his friends at a park — because it was simply too dangerous.

“We had to put blankets on our windows so if the window gets broken, we don’t get injured, and we couldn’t leave our house unless it was important,” he said. “There were bullets everywhere, bad people, terrorists, radical groups.”

Yousif was taught by his parents to watch what he said.

“When I was little, Saddam Hussein was in power, and you knew that if someone was talking about him in a bad way, they would be killed,” said Yousif, noting that some of his relatives met such a fate. “This was a place where you would need to know what to say and you would need to know what to do.”

Because his father worked for a company that dealt with American forces, Yousif said his father was targeted by the Islamic radicals. In 2013, the terrorists sent a message to the family — they beheaded their cats and left a warning note: Leave home immediately or be killed, he said.

The family fled to Erbil, Kurdistan, in northern Iraq.  Yousif was enrolled in a school for smart students because of his science acuity, and he learned Kurdish and English, too.

The boy who loved science and technology witnessed widespread death and injury and vowed to become a surgeon. “I think it would be a great feeling to be able to help someone and help them return to their family, to be a person who would be able to heal,” Yousif said.

Yousif on the coast at San Diego

But a career in medicine would not be possible for him in Iraq.

“You could get a degree in anything and still not be able to use it,” he said. “It’s a country of destruction and corruption, and no one follows the rules. No one cares if you graduate or not. You need the high-class people to get you a job.”

Setting up a new life in the U.S.

Nearly a year after applying for tourist visas to come to America, Yousif and his family arrived in Chandler, where friends who also were Iraqi refugees had settled. It was June 28, 2014, and Yousif would start his senior year at Hamilton High just weeks later. Among the first people he visited was counselor Rosemary Gallo, who remembers he had many questions about the state’s high school graduation exam.

“He wanted some study guides for the AIMS test — no student ever does that, and I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, you are quite a different soul,’” Gallo said.

Yousif found Hamilton’s classrooms to be modern, with computers and projectors that were nonexistent in Baghdad, and its teaching methods foreign. He was accustomed to lectures and homework, not critical thinking and collaboration.

He had never heard of advanced placement classes, but he enrolled in AP biology at Hamilton and did well, graduating last spring with a 3.75 GPA. But socializing with other teenagers was difficult for him.

“I wondered if I would say this, would that be accepted?’” he recalled. “I didn’t know what type of conversations would be normal and what kind of sentences would be offensive.”

Yousif graduated from Chandler’s Hamilton High last May with a 3.75 GPA.

Yousif’s questions for Gallo, about graduation, college admissions and scholarships and whether his siblings could drop by for counseling, too, kept coming.

“He never would dwell on the past,” she said. “He was all about working hard and taking advantage of every opportunity, and in a great way, he was adamant about making sure he could get in-state tuition.”

Yousif applied, and was accepted, at Arizona State University and the University of Arizona, but his heart was set on GCU. The campus was “a beautiful city,” and “I thought it was a place I needed to go for the programs for medicine. I liked the way the staff interacted with me.”

In less than two weeks since school started, Yousif has jumped into his classes, 15 credit hours, with both feet. He especially enjoys chemistry, physics, biology and math and is learning Spanish because that’s what wise doctors do.

Yousif works 20 hours a week on the ITS help desk and also is a clerk at Sprouts. He likes movies — especially Harry Potter for the magic and “The Fast and the Furious” for the action. The one thing he may have in common with American teenagers is that he likes hip-hop music.

His father is looking for a job, but at this time Yousif and his sister are working to support their family, which is awaiting word on their asylum application. Yousif said he is blessed that GCU offered him a good scholarship to help make his dreams, which are as everyday as safely walking outdoors to as long term as earning a medical degree, a reality.

“Getting to Arizona was like waking up from a nightmare,” he said. “It’s heaven.”

You won’t hear Yousif chatter about his “fondest childhood memory,” a term he didn’t know the meaning of until it was explained to him. It’s simply living to see another day.

His past will always be a part of him, Yousif said, pointing to his chest, but he chooses to move ahead.

“I always look forward to trying to be good,” he said. “I want to go higher and live my life in a higher place. It’s always better if you know more — that will help you for your life journey.”

Contact Janie Magruder at (602) 638-8018 or janie.magruder@gcu.edu.

The post GCU student flees Iraq for Arizona ‘heaven’ appeared first on GCU Today.

By Janie Magruder
GCU News Bureau

A faculty member at Grand Canyon University spent the summer at a prestigious European science institute studying a type of bacteria that someday could produce inexpensive biofuel that does not harm the environment.

Dr. Galyna Kufryk, a professor in GCU’s College of Science, Engineering and Technology, spent part of the summer studying cyanobacteria at a premier research institute in Paris. (Photo by Darryl Webb)

Plainly said, the tiny photosynthetic organisms could supplement oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear power and solve the world’s expensive, dirty energy problem.

Dr. Galyna Kufryk, a professor of biological sciences in GCU’s College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET), was invited as a visiting scientist to the Institut Pasteur in Paris. Founded by Louis Pasteur in 1887, the institute is the world’s oldest research organization in microbiology and virology, and home to the most impressive list of discoveries in those fields. It also has produced 10 Nobel Prize recipients in physiology or medicine.

Additionally, the institute houses several large collections of microorganisms, including cyanobacteria, a photosynthetic group in which Kufryk is interested.

Cyanobacteria were among are the oldest known fossils, about 3.5 billion years old. They capture sunlight and use its energy to produce organic material from carbon dioxide and water. In the process of doing so, they release oxygen that is used by many organisms, including humans. And, they are capable of producing biofuels, such as biodiesel and biohydrogen.

The potential of cyanobacteria

Examples of cyanobacteria (Photos courtesy of Galyna Kufryk)

Kufryk and others are studying the transformation of light energy in cyanobacterial cells and how that energy ultimately can be used to produce biofuels. Specifically, she is exploring the potential of different strains of cyanobacteria for hydrogen production. As photosynthetic microorganisms, cyanobacteria can be grown inexpensively, which is a substantial advantage in making biohydrogen.

“I am working on the production of molecular hydrogen, which is the cleanest fuel possible, because when you use it, the only thing produced is water,” she said. “Gas, ethanol natural gas and diesel contain carbon and emit carbon dioxide during combustion, which creates the greenhouse effect.”

In addition to her research, Kufryk was invited to present a seminar at the Institut Pasteur. She spoke about the photosynthetic complexes of cyanobacterial and how they can be used in biohybrid systems that utilize sunlight for the production of molecular hydrogen.

“Hydrogen is our best option for an environmentally friendly and renewable biofuel, as it can be generated by living organisms such as cyanobacteria,” said Kufryk, who is teaching microbiology and genetics courses this semester. “The ultimate source of energy for hydrogen production is sunlight that is captured in the process of photosynthesis.”

From early interest in chemistry to distinguished science career

Kufryk was a visiting scientist at Institut Pasteur, founded by Louis Pasteur in 1887, which has several large collections of microorganisms, including cyanobacteria.

Born and raised in Ukraine, Kufryk became interested in biology at age 9 when she accidentally walked into a chemistry lab and witnessed a reaction that turned two colorless liquids into a colored one.

“I was captivated by that transformation,” she said. “I could not help but ask why it happened.”

Years later, she earned a Ph.D. in biology from the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences and did post-doctoral work at Arizona State University, where she also taught.

It’s no coincidence that GCU rewarded Kufryk last year with the Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award from CSET. In about 20 years of scientific research and teaching, she has published in reputable journals and books in her field, spoken at a dozen global conferences and presented at nearly 30 international meetings.

“The results of her pioneering work are frequently cited by colleagues publishing in high-impact science journals such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,” said Dr. Dmitrii Vavilin, a senior scientist at DuPont Industrial Biosciences in Palo Alto, Calif., who worked with Kufryk at ASU. “She is clearly an outstanding science professional, lecturer and mentor.”

Kufryk also is a co-inventor of a biohybrid system for hydrogen production that has the potential to solve the world’s energy crisis, said Dr. Brian Sillanpaa, an assistant professor of human anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology at GCU. She is a caring, compassionate educator and willing colleague and collaborator, and she is a constant participant in University events, from Move-In to Health Sciences, Technology and Engineering Day.

“Additionally, Galyna has repeatedly taken time out of her busy schedule to help our pre-med students prepare for medical school interviews,” Sillanpaa said. “I know she truly cares about student success.”

Scientists at the International Symposium on Phototrophic Prokaryotes include (from left) Kufryk, Jack Meeks of the University of California at Davis, Rosmarie Rippka, the original curator of the Pasteur Culture Collection, Michael Herdman, an original researcher of the Pasteur Culture Collection, and Annick Wilmotte of the University of Liege, Belgium

More broadly, Kufryk has been involved in numerous collaborative projects across the U.S. and Europe and is a leading author of many publications in internationally recognized science journals.

Dr. Georg Schmetterer, an associate professor of biochemistry who retired from the University of Vienna in Austria last year, worked with Kufryk to improve the efficiency of genetic transformation in cyanobacteria. Their findings were published in the FEMS (Federation of European Microbiological Societies) Microbiology Letters in 2002.

“I consider her recent work on hydrogen production using cyanobacteria or cyanobacterial proteins to be very interesting with a real prospect for future practical and even commercial applications,” Schmetterer said.

Kufryk said her Pasteur experience was like none other. “It presented a unique opportunity to work with researchers in my field and interact with scientists in other areas in microbiology, all in one place.”

Kufryk plans to return to the Institut Pasteur next summer to continue her work. She would not offer a prediction on whether and when hydrogen-fueled vehicles will be tooling down roads in Phoenix and everywhere else, putting money in our pockets and cleaner air in our lungs. However, she said, “Science has made previously unheard-of things possible.”

Contact Janie Magruder at (602) 639-8018 or janie.magruder@gcu.edu.

The post Professor pursues bacteria-to-fuel research abroad appeared first on GCU Today.

Story by Laurie Merrill
Photos by Tyler McDonald
GCU News Bureau

One by one, the Peoria high school students deferentially approached the cadaver they were studying Friday as part of Grand Canyon University’s STEM Scholars program.

Students in the Medical, Engineering and Technical (MET) Professional Academy listen as Dr. Richard Holzer, a GCU adjunct faculty member and MET Academy biology teacher, familiarizes them with a cadaver.

Blinking their eyes behind lab glasses and breathing through blue paper masks, the students from the Medical, Engineering and Technology (MET) Professional Academy were at first tentative about their unusual laboratory experiment. Their task was to locate and identify vital organs in the chest cavity.

“Remember this is a human being,” their biology teacher, Dr. Richard Holzer, a former medical doctor and GCU adjunct faculty member, told the group. “Don’t be afraid. You won’t hurt her.”

The 25 MET students were the first STEM Scholars to have a hands-on lesson in anatomy in one of three cadaver labs in the University’s new engineering building, said Dr. Michele Sioredas, GCU program manager of institutional effectiveness. They will spend two hours a month in the lab, and earn free college credits for the course.

The teenagers belong to one of the inaugural cohorts in STEM Scholars, a new college-credit program that GCU President Brian Mueller announced last year to develop students for the workforce for years to come. It enables qualified (3.25 GPA or higher) high school juniors and seniors who are focused on math and science to earn up to 32 credit hours and finish their first year of college, at little or no expense to them, while still in high school. STEM Scholars tuition is free for high school students who are eligible for the federal free-and-reduced lunch program. Others pay just $50 per credit hour.

MET students are the first in GCU’s STEM Scholars to study in the University’s cadaver lab.

High school students complete coursework in computer science, information technology, algebra, biology, general chemistry and other subjects.

“The main goal of STEM Scholars is to encourage high school students to pursue careers in the science, engineering, technology and medical fields,” Sioredas said.

In addition to the MET Academy participants, another 25 students each from Alhambra High in Phoenix and Andrada Technical High in Tucson are participating in the program this year.

The plan is to create new partnerships and enroll more than 650 students across 10 or more local school districts over the next two years, she said.

“We want to get these students excited about a variety of medical fields and see how knowledge that they learn in the classroom is used in professional settings,” Sioredas said.

For Christina Patino, a MET Academy senior, the experiment was exciting and fits into her goal to become a neurosurgeon.

“I am trying to see how drastic is the difference between our textbook body and an actual body,” Patino said.

Patino and several others admitted that at first, they were a little squeamish. But the pure excitement of the learning experience took that away.

Holzer encouraged the students not to fear the cadaver, noting “You won’t hurt her.”

“I wanted to see a real body, feel what an actual body is like,” said junior Rebeca Balea. “It’s definitely a good learning experience. I’m hoping through this program I can learn what my options are for the future.”

Ryan Cannon, a GCU anatomy and physiology lab coordinator, said the cadaver that was examined Friday is one of about 16 available for study at GCU. The program has grown from having just six cadavers in 2010, Cannon said.

The program also gives students a familiarity with the new engineering building, which opened this fall, GCU’s new STEM programs and other high-level lab opportunities at a University they may be considering for their futures.

“I’m really thinking about GCU because it has a great medical program,” said junior Arleth Castaneda.

Reach Laurie Merrill at (602) 639-6511 or laurie.merrill@gcu.edu.

The post ‘This is a human being,’ STEM Scholars told in lab appeared first on GCU Today.

By Laurie Merrill
GCU News Bureau

A new assistant dean who is a former scientist at a renowned neurology research and patient care center and 13 new ground faculty members with impressive pedigrees of their own are among those teaching the nearly 2,900 students in Grand Canyon University’s College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET) this fall.

CSET Assistant Dean Dr. Jon Valla

CSET, GCU’s second largest college behind the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions (with nearly 3,300 students), needed the new faculty to help keep pace with rising enrollment. Of the 2,900 students, more than 1,800 are enrolled in biology said Dr. Jon Valla, an assistant dean and associate professor who joined the college in June.

Valla, who most recently worked at Midwestern University, earned his doctorate in psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. His resumé includes seven years as a staff scientist with the Department of Neurology at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, and he has written dozens of peer-reviewed publications, abstracts and research papers.

As assistant dean, Valla is responsible for overseeing about 40 biology, chemistry, forensic science and exercise science employees. He is also playing a role in helping GCU transition  into a strong research facility.

“It is something that is going to enhance our competitiveness tremendously,” Valla said. “There are tremendous benefits in terms of recruitment and philanthropy.”

Plans to create a stronger research presence at GCU are in the information gathering phase, but it is a priority for the University, he said. “There is a push to get this done and get this ball rolling,” Valla said.

Valla said GCU’s vibrant energy and the positive attitude of so many employees also attracted him to join the faculty. “Everyone is excited,” he said. “Everyone is striving, and that has been striking. I haven’t met the person yet who isn’t striving.”

Other new ground faculty (click here to see their photos) in CSET this fall and their teaching assignments are:

• Dr. Randy Boyles, who teaches biology, genetics, microbiology and exercise science, earned a doctorate and bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Nevada. For more information, click here.
• Dr. Tim Chen, who teaches physics, earned a doctorate in physics from the UCLA, master’s degrees from the UCLA and California State University, Northridge, and a bachelor’s degree in physics from the Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. For more information, click here.
• Dr. Karen Denzler, who teaches microbiology, earned a doctorate in molecular and cellular biology and a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Arizona State University. For more information, click here.
• Dr. Anju Dubey, who teaches genetics and human anatomy and physiology, earned a doctorate in biological sciences from SMU. For more information, click here.
• Gail Francis, who teaches biology, earned a M.S. degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the California Polytechnic State University. For more information, click here.
• Dr. Darien Hall, who teaches biology, genetics and human anatomy and physiology, earned a doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Illinois and bachelor’s degrees in molecular and cellular biology and psychology at the University of Arizona. For more information, click here.
• Aprill Hite, who teaches biology, earned a M.S. in biology from USC and bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry, molecular biology, and chemistry from the Illinois State University. For more information, click here.
• Dr. Charley Langley, who teaches chemistry, earned a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Wisconsin and a bachelor’s in chemistry from Utah State University. For more in information, click here.
• Dr. Kathryn Meloche, who teaches chemistry and probability and statistics, earned a doctorate in integrated biomedical science from Ohio State University and an M.S. in chemistry from Youngstown State University. For more information, click here.
• Dr. Ed Ramirez-Reinat, who teaches microbiology, earned a doctorate in microbiology from ASU, an M.S. in microbiology from ASU, and a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the University of Puerto Rico. For more information, click here.
• Joseph Smith, who teaches a Team Innovation Experience lab and a Success in Science, Engineering and Technology course and lab, earned an M.S. in engineering from the University of Tulsa  and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Oklahoma Christian University of Science and Arts. For more information, click here.
• Dr. Stephanie Stang, who teaches human anatomy and physiology, earned a doctor of chiropractic degree from the National University of Health Science. For more information, click here.
• Dr. Mel Trombley, who teaches engineering and technology, earned a doctorate of philosophy in electrical engineering, an M.S. in electrical engineering, and a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Michigan Technological University. For more information, click here.

Contact Laurie Merrill at (602) 639-6511 or laurie.merrill@gcu.edu.

The post New faculty members add to academic rigor, momentum of CSET program appeared first on GCU Today.

By Janie Magruder
GCU News Bureau

The Mason brothers, from left, Darek, Dilon and Woody, have a positive attitude about Dilon’s chances for a full recovery from cancer after Woody, a GCU employee, donated some of his stem cells. (Photos courtesy of the Mason family)

Dilon and Woody Mason were born two minutes apart on an autumn day in St. Paul, Minn., identical twins who grew up worshipping the Green Bay Packers and Brett Favre and devouring bags of apples. Woody grew up healthy, despite his tiny (3.2 pounds) too-early arrival, but his older and slightly heavier (4.2 pounds at birth) brother was plagued throughout childhood by high fevers and illnesses.

The Mason family never thought too much about that until, at age 15, Dilon was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Their parents decided to treat the cancer with natural methods and assumed a positive attitude about their son’s recovery.

And improve he did until the disease returned with a vengeance when the twins were 21. This time, Dilon received slightly more aggressive non-medical treatment and all was thought to be well for more than a decade during which time the brothers married and started successful careers, Dilon in business and Woody at Grand Canyon University.

“That lasted until about three years ago when Dilon got really bad and wasn’t able to function, and the doctors said he only had six months left to live,” said Woody, an online full-time faculty member in the College of Education since 2010.

Heavy doses of chemotherapy and stem-cell therapy, using blood donated by Woody, saved Dilon’s life last January.

“I would have given him anything, whatever it takes,” said Woody, 35, of the journey that the duo has been on for more than half their lives. “If I could have switched places with him, I would have.”

The experience left a mark on Woody who, along with his wife, Allison, an assistant dean in GCU’s Colangelo College of Business, and others from across the University community are planning to participate in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. The non-competitive walk, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24, at Tempe Beach Park, raises awareness and funds for breast cancer research and patient and family services.

Maria Quimba, associate dean in the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions, said faculty, staff, students, alumni and their family members and friends are invited to be involved in a variety of very GCU-like ways: “Participate — Walk — Donate — Pray.”

GCU is a partner with the American Cancer Society on a number of initiatives, but its involvement in the Making Strides event, which falls during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, is purely grass roots, she said.

“The colleges have risen up to participate in this because our people have been personally touched by cancer,” said Quimba, a member of the board of directors of the American Cancer Society, Arizona district. “Our goal is to share stories of survivorship, reach out to those who are fighting, and come together as one community to show that we care.”

Although breast cancer often is thought of as a women’s disease, it impacts the physical, mental and emotional health of men and children, too, she said. According to 2015 statistics from the National Cancer Institute, 231,840 women and 2,350 men are expected to be diagnosed in the U.S. this year with breast cancer. Nationwide, more than 40,000 women are expected to die this year from breast cancer, which is the second leading cause of death of women behind heart disease.

Quimba said everyone should be aware of the importance of annual breast evaluations and monthly self-examinations, research progress and advancements in genetic testing and other technology that aids early diagnosis, treatment and recovery. The Making Strides event offers that education outreach, in addition to being a leisurely walk around Tempe Town Lake at a beautiful time of year.

GCU’s team leaders are Connie Colbert, director of the Canyon Health and Wellness Center, Brandon Warner of the CONHCP, Allison Mason of the CCOB, Cindy Seminoff of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology, Jennifer Jones of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Jonathan Sharpe of the College of Theology, Susannah Keita of the College of Fine Arts and Production, Arielle Alvarez of the Tempe office complex, Quimba, representing the Peoria office complex and Veronica Perez of the 27^th Avenue of the office complex.

Ultimate brotherly love

On Christmas night 2014, in what the Mason family hoped would be the beginning of Dilon’s final battle with cancer, Woody arrived in Dallas to begin the stem-cell transplant process in the hospital where his brother was receiving chemotherapy. The transplant was followed by months of

Woody, an online full-time faculty member at GCU, donated stem cells to his twin, Dilon, at a Dallas hospital in December 2014.

therapies and now, physical therapy and surgery to correct the damage inflicted by cancer.

But for nine blessed months Dilon has been cancer-free, and feeling better every day.

“He’s been ‘cured’ before, but this time it was a different type of cancer that progresses and got very aggressive, but is very responsive to the stem-cell treatment,” Woody said. “It’s hard for me trivialize how hard this has been for him, so much pain he went through. For two years, he couldn’t get out of bed in the morning. He would have a couple of hours of awake time, and would take a lot of naps. A lot of days he couldn’t even put on his clothes.”

GCU made it possible for Woody to be there for Dilon. “When I asked my manager, Sheila Damiani, if I could leave at Christmastime, she said, ‘Do what you need to do,’” he said. “GCU was there for me, totally there. I’m indebted.”

Woody, Allison and their two small children plan to walk at Making Strides because they feel strongly about supporting all cancer victims and their families. Later this year they are hoping to host a family reunion of the Mason parents, Dilon and his wife, and the twins’ two older siblings and their families for an Arizona Christmas.

That may involve a birthday cake with candles and singing on Jan. 8, the date of Dilon’s “new birthday,” when his little brother saved his life.

Contact Janie Magruder at (602) 639-8018 or janie.magruder@gcu.edu.

The post GCU strengthens ties to breast cancer fight appeared first on GCU Today.

By GCU News Bureau

A little rain and lightning wasn’t going to keep the Class of 2015 from its fall commencement celebration. (Photo by Darryl Webb)

Crazy weather was no match for the uber-determined non-traditional graduates of Grand Canyon University who powered through snarled traffic, dashed through a hard rainstorm and spilled onto campus sidewalks Friday for the first of four fall commencement ceremonies in a gussied-up Arena.

A wicked dust storm that had cell phones buzzing with alerts and lightning that made you think twice about being outdoors couldn’t keep these folks away. (One graduate’s trip from her home about in Casa Grande, about 60 miles southeast of Phoenix, reportedly took three hours.) More lightning before Saturday afternoon’s celebration and menacing purple rain clouds swirling around GCU Saturday evening failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the graduates, their family members and friends.

After all, what’s a little weather when you’ve raised a family, worked full-time, struggled with technology, cared for aging parents, studied into the wee hours and/or put everyone else first while earning a college degree?

All hail to the Class of 2015, you might say.

For the first time, GCU held four commencement ceremonies for non-traditional graduates over a two-day period. (Photo by Darryl Webb)

Nearly 3,150 online graduates in the Colangelo College of Business, College of Doctoral Studies, College of Education, College of Fine Arts and Production, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Nursing and Health Care Professions and College of Theology showed up in their Sunday best (and some in T-shirts and shorts) to receive their diplomas.

The four ceremonies — a GCU record for two days — also drew more than 16,000 guests, many carrying roses in crisp cellophane, shiny balloons, cameras and Kleenex. They weren’t about to miss this moment, either.

Here’s some of what we heard and saw (click here for our slideshow).

—Janie Magruder

Commencement speaker’s faith is no illusion

Jared Hall is an illusionist, but even he gets confused while doing more than 100 shows a year.

“Every morning I look at my phone to see where I’m at,” he said.

Commencement speaker Jared Hall makes it “snow” in Phoenix at the conclusion of his address. (Photo by Darryl Webb)

This weekend he found himself in Phoenix doing something a little different — the commencement address at GCU. He still did a couple of tricks, but he spent most of his time at the podium sharing stories about his past and his faith, with a few jokes thrown in to keep it light.

“This is fun,” he said. “It’s a little bit more formal than most events that I do, but it was kind of a fun thing to be part of. It gets my wheels turning, too.”

Hall grew up in Baytown, Texas, wanting to be a Las Vegas magician (“Like Seinfeld & Roy and David Coppertone,” he joked). He still does tricks, but he has found his niche in something a little different: He uses his act to spread the Gospel and inspire people, especially the young.

It took an unfortunate event for Hall to truly find his identity. Upon getting up one morning he discovered that a trailer containing all of his equipment, $20,000 worth, had been stolen from in front of his house.

“Who I was was wrapped up in those props, those illusions,” he said.

Not anymore. This weekend, he urged the graduates to not only find their identity but also live intentionally and seek to inspire others.

“To inspire you must first be inspired,” he told the audience. “It’s a transferrable thing, inspiration — a gift best received, then given.

“And your identity is in Christ. Your identity is more than your diploma, your salary, your career.”

Life has changed for Hall this year. He got married in May, and his wife, Maegan, travels with him. They happily shared restaurant reviews and were on the lookout for new places to try.

“Since I got married, I’ve kind of slowed my pace a little bit and tried to enjoy more of the city,” he said. “There have been times we’ve even stayed over.”

All the better to figure out where he is.

—Rick Vacek

North Pole man visits Phoenix for first time

You’ll forgive Tom Resseger if he thought it was a bit warm Saturday. While Phoenicians were fairly giddy about the 88-degree high (hey, it’s better than 100), he might have felt more comfortable at home in Alaska, where it was half as warm.

New GCU graduate Tom Resseger (right), pictured with his son, Devin, came all the way from North Pole, AK, for Saturday’s commencement ceremony. (Photos courtesy of Tom Resseger)

The mercury didn’t get past the 38 degrees in North Pole, a town of about 2,200 people southeast of Fairbanks where Resseger, a new GCU graduate, has lived for two years. North Pole, which has a website bedecked in Christmas colors, is about 210 miles south of the Arctic Circle, the distance from Tucson to Prescott.

Resseger, 40, flew to Phoenix for the first time last week to receive his bachelor’s degree in nursing at commencement Saturday night.

Nursing is rooted in Resseger’s family, and it was a natural choice for him. He obtained an associate’s degree and for 15 years has worked in a variety of nursing positions, including an Intensive Care Unit, on a telemetry floor and in outpatient surgery. Currently, he is a nurse at the Tanana Chiefs Conference, a tribal consortium of the 42 villages in Alaska’s interior that provides, among other services, health care to Indian Health Service patients.

Resseger enrolled in GCU at the urging of friend Kendra Harding (left), who also graduated Saturday but was not able to attend the ceremony.

Resseger said moving to Alaska, where the sun shines for 21 hours a day during parts of the summer and can put a person’s circadian rhythm out of whack, gave him a perfect opportunity to return to school and build his future. GCU provided the flexibility he needed to work around his schedule.

A friend in North Pole, Kendra Harding, already was a student in GCU’s online nursing program and convinced Resseger to enroll, too. Harding also graduated Saturday but did not attend commencement.

“What drew me in was that GCU made it financially feasible, but I also liked that I could take courses for five weeks, then take two weeks off, which opened the door for me to travel when I needed to for work and to experience Alaska,” said Resseger, who enjoys fishing and cross-country skiing.

The single father of a 20-year-old son, Devin, Resseger plans to return this summer to Ohio or possibly become a traveling nurse, having fulfilled a three-year personal commitment to live in Alaska. Resseger will miss the incredible wildlife, the literally breathtaking cold (his coldest was minus 36), and North Pole’s melting pot community of friendly troops stationed at nearby military bases, native people and Russians.

“When I came here, I said it would be an open-book journey,” he said. “I’m ready to start that next chapter. It seems appropriate now that I have my BSN.”

—Janie Magruder

Pomp + circumstance = a lot of work

The commencement fairy at GCU doesn’t just sprinkle a little magic dust and — poof! — four ceremonies involving 3,147 graduates and 16,279 guests come off with nary a hiccup.

It takes an army of volunteers, smiling and pointing to available spaces in the parking garages, fussing over the regalia of the excited graduates, happily greeting visitors outside the Arena, guiding balloon- and flower-toting family members to their seats, warmly providing assistance to people with special needs and tending to the University’s administrators and faculty seated on stage, to pull it off.

Smiles like these make all of those commencement-prep hours worth it. (Photo by Darryl Webb)

The smiles are all worth it to Vanessa Jones, ground administrator in the disability services office and captain of the special needs team.

“My favorite memory would probably be the first time the executive team saw that we clap for the graduates when the graduates exit the Arena, and then without hesitation joined in our applause,” said Jones, who wore awesome silver sparkly Vans shoes to commencement Saturday night. “All of their faces lit up, and then all of the graduates exiting were even more overwhelmed and elated to see the president (Brian Mueller) standing there clapping for them, to round the corner and find all of us volunteers there cheering as well.”

GCU does an amazing job of sending its new alumni into the world on a positive, celebratory note, starting with graduation guru Jennifer Girl, director of campus events. Girl works year-round on GCU’s fall, winter and spring commencement ceremonies, always with a smile on her face, and is gracious about sharing the credit with her commencement captains.

This time, there are 14 faculty and staff members who organized their respective stations and volunteer crews of more than 200 people for each of the four ceremonies Friday and Saturday. Let’s meet some of them:

● Scott Busch and Vanessa Daniels, check-in staff captains: Busch, associate director in the Office of Academic Records (OAR), and Daniels, an OAR manager, have been involved in commencement for four years and eight years, respectively.

Busch is involved because, he said, “The excitement of the participants and volunteers is always enjoyable and, of course, I get to work with Vanessa Daniels.” Daniels, who has participated in every GCU commencement since 2008, said she loves the energy and magnitude of the moment.

“Graduation is a rite of passage,” she said. “The years of hard work and dedication needed to earn a degree should be celebrated.”

● Jacqueline Smith and Jackie Cotoia, regalia captains (“The Jackie and Jackie Show”): Smith, director of career services, and Cotoia, an admissions representative for the traditional campus, have a combined 13 years at commencement, seven for Smith and six for Cotoia. Additionally, Smith’s husband, Dave, director of academic excellence in the College of Education, is one of two people announcing the thousands of graduates’ names from the stage.

Commencement captains and their volunteers work long hours to make commencement a night to remember. (Photo by Darryl Webb)

“I love seeing the graduates so happy and the families so proud of them,” Jackie Smith said. “I love hearing all the stories — how far they drove … obstacles they have overcome. It’s why we are here at GCU. It’s my favorite time of year.”

Cotoia, who took last spring’s commencement off to watch her son, Anthony, graduate, said her husband, John, volunteered instead. She most enjoys seeing the graduates’ faces right before they walk onto stage in front of thousands of cheering people.

“Most are so nervous they pay no attention to what is going on,” said Cotoia, who accepts their name cards and points them across stage to receive their diplomas. “Talk about stage fright! I try to get them to relax with kind words and remind them to smile for the camera.”

● Beth Jamison, executive regalia captain: Jamison, manager of disability services, is a seven-year volunteer who participates rain or shine. The first year she was captain at commencement, in 2011 at Chase Field, Herb Kelleher, founder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines, was among the guests. It was a highlight for her to meet and talk with him about his work. Jamison loves volunteering at commencement because everything GCU does is about getting students there.

“The Events team and Jennifer Girl really know how to put on a show and make everything look amazing for the students,” Jamison said. “It’s a big day. It helps give perspective on what we are all doing here at GCU.”

● Emily Montoya and Micah Dennard, captains of graduate seating: Montoya, an admissions manager, and Dennard, an admissions representative, have been at the seating

This is why GCU staffers volunteer at commencement. (Photo by Darryl Webb)

helm for two years. Seeing the excitement of the graduates, especially those who are the first in their families to go to college, is one of the reasons Montoya volunteers. Dennard finds it satisfying helping the graduates’ days go smoothly.

Jones has been assisting special-needs folks attending commencement for four years.

“I love getting to share in such an exciting day for our students,” she said. “Getting to smile with them, congratulate them and assist them on this important day is incredibly rewarding and reminds me why we do what we do here. It all leads up to that ceremony, that accomplishment, and we get to be a part of that.”

—Janie Magruder

Teachers urged to be ‘force for good’

Dr. Kimberly LaPrade

Dr. Kimberly LaPrade, dean of the College of Education, looked across the sea of online students getting their bachelor’s and master’s degrees Saturday at GCU Arena.

“Today we come together as one group, the class of 2015, but also a much larger one…the field of education, the teaching profession, the most noble of professions,” LaPrade said.

LaPrade said graduation is a milestone and a time for mixed emotions. “Be a force for good,” she urged the graduates. “Congratulations and God bless you all.”

—Laurie Merrill

Graduate blessed by GCU enrollment ‘angel’

If not for an “angel,” Lynn Bintliff of Pennsylvania wouldn’t have graduated Saturday from the College of Education. It’s because of her angel that Bintliff studied online and earned her long awaited bachelor’s in educational studies.

And why did she and her husband embark last week on the “trip of a lifetime” across the U.S. to Arizona? You guessed it — it all started with the angel, Michele Kramlich, a COE enrollment counselor for the northeast region. The prospect of meeting Kramlich at Saturday morning’s COE commencement was almost as exciting to Bintliff as getting her diploma.

Bintliff’s road to college began in 1977, when she graduated from high school in Clifton, N.J. She went on to secretarial school, got married, had children and stayed home. When Bintliff returned to the workforce 15 years later, she realized her skills were outdated and she began studying at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, Pa.

The college hired Bintliff as an administrative assistant to the nursing director even before Bintliff earned an associate’s degree in 2003. Bintliff is still employed at the college, as an administrative assistant in Academic and Curricular Services. But she was intent on getting her bachelor’s.

She began taking online classes at GCU in 2012, completing most of the coursework before a series of events prompted her to withdraw. Last January, Bintliff asked GCU about finally finishing her degree, but she had doubts. How many classes did she still need? Did she still need to student teach to graduate? Was it worth it?

Michele Kramlich (left), an enrollment counselor in the College of Education, and new graduate Lynn Bintliff met face-to-face for the first time Saturday on campus.

“I thought, ‘Do I really need this?’ Then, Michele called. Within 24 hours, she had determined I would need just 12 credits to complete my degree in the newly implemented program,” Bintliff said.

“Within two weeks, I was in class.”

Kramlich said the help she gave is part of her job and that the term “angel” is an exaggeration. “She is too funny,” Kramlich said. “She didn’t really need my help. She could see the light at the end of the tunnel immediately.”

Bintliff and Kramlich agreed to meet before Saturday’s graduation at a set time in the GCU Arena lobby. They were texting each other, not knowing they were six feet apart, when Bintliff heard an unmistakably familiar voice and stood face to face with Kramlich.

“I knew it was you right away,” Bintliff said minutes later after their hug-filled meeting, smiling warmly at her friend for life. “This is incredible to me, to see my journey come full circle.”

Bintliff’s story is what Kramlich’s job is all about.

“I’ve been working in higher education for 16 years,” Kramlich said. “The most rewarding part of it is seeing people meet their goal and knowing you’ve been a part of that.”

Two hours later, as Bintliff walked across the stage to pick up her diploma, Kramlich joined in the cheering for Bintliff. Tears streamed down Bintliff’s face when Kramlich congratulated her in person.

“Thank you,” Bintliff said. “Thank you for being part of it.”

—Laurie Merrill

Grandma knows best: This 75-year-old never stops learning

One of best moments of Mary Trickel’s visit to GCU came when her 21-year-old grandson was working out in the fitness center at the hotel and was asked by another man there why he was in town. When he replied he was here for the GCU commencement ceremony, the man asked him what his degree was in.

Dr. Mary Trickel

“No, my grandmother’s graduating,” he said. “She’s getting her doctorate.”

“Your grandmother rocks!” the man exclaimed.

But this isn’t just any rockin’ grandma. This is a wise-cracking 75-year-old who jokes, “I’m just thankful I completed the program before I turn senile.”

Trickel, who was profiled in this 2013 GCU Today story, had an ulterior motive for bringing two of her grandsons to witness the big event: The East Stroudsburg, Pa., resident is always looking for ways to inspire them to continue their education, passing down a belief system her father instilled in her.

So what do you do when you’re retired from your 16-year role as vice president for finance and operations at Middlesex County (N.J.) College and now can call yourself a Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership with an Emphasis in Higher Education Leadership? You keep looking for ways to give back, that’s what.

While visiting GCU for the first time this weekend, Trickel met with Dr. Cynthia Bainbridge of the College of Doctoral Studies to talk over the possibility of mentoring other doctoral learners, just as she did with her cohort.

“As alumni, we understand what the student is going through and some of the frustrations, and we also understand what’s expected from the University to complete the program,” she said.

Trickel also wants to network with other alumni, continue to do consulting work in higher education and volunteer at universities that are struggling with strategic planning (her dissertation was titled, “The Exploration of Succession Planning Strategies in New Jersey Community Colleges”).

“I have a reputation for a positive attitude,” she said.

Ya think? Rock on, Dr. Trickel.

—Rick Vacek

He reached his goal with an assist from his enrollment counselor

John Johnson loves doing Bible studies and thought it would be a good idea to get a master’s degree in the subject. But when he signed up for the online program at GCU, his first thought was, “Why am I doing this? I’m not a technical guy. I feel like a fish out of water.”

Enter his enrollment counselor, Trinita Doughty.

John Johnson

Johnson, a 65-year-old insurance and investment sales broker who lives in Spokane, Wash., visited the campus for Destination GCU and met Doughty, who made him feel at home both at the University and in the online program.

“I really believe that face-to-face interaction helped,” she said.

Did it ever.

“I thought, ‘If she’s a good indication of what GCU is like, I’d be a fool not to do it,’” Johnson said.

But Doughty didn’t stop there. She called Johnson every couple of months to make sure he was on track, and the payoff came Saturday when Johnson received his degree in Biblical Studies of Christian Leadership.

Johnson, who admits to being “a bit of a perfectionist,” showed during his coursework that he hadn’t forgotten how to study despite being out of school for so long. He got straight As.

What does he do with his degree? “I really don’t know except having the satisfaction of completing this,” he said.

But he did have one task in his immediate future: He was showing Christian leadership by bringing some things to a friend’s nephew, a student at GCU. Clearly, this is a man who does more than just study the Bible — he lives it.

—Rick Vacek

Employees show their mastery

GCU fosters continuing education by offering free tuition to employees and their immediate families, and more than a few staff members take advantage of the opportunity. But two of them who got their master’s degrees Saturday afternoon have paid dearly in other ways to get where they are.

Previn Carr

Previn Carr, an enrollment counselor in the CONHCP who works at GCU’s Peoria campus, began work on his degree during a two-year stretch in which he and his wife, Kimberly, were adopting five — count ’em, five — children even though they already had a daughter who’s now 13.

All five kids (two boys, three girls) have the same mother, and Carr said it just kind of worked out the way it did because the adoption agency wanted to keep the siblings together.

“The agency liked us so much, they’d say, ‘Hey, how about one more?’” Carr said. “Then it was two more, and then another, and then another, and I finally had to say, ‘OK, that’s it.’”

Kimberly had warned her future husband while they were dating that she wanted “a house full of children,” and now she’s working with the HOPE Foundation of Arizona, a nonprofit adoption-support organization, to help families transition the way hers did.

Once the Carr family got used to the idea that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were school days for Dad, everything worked out fine. Previn, an assistant pastor at his church who also was a senior pastor elsewhere for 15 years, said working at GCU inspired him to get his Master of Arts in Christian Studies with an Emphasis in Pastoral Ministries.

Komi Lokossou (holding diploma) and his family

“What makes me proud is that they see me as an example,” he said. “We’re trying to set a good example in education. Watching me motivated them to work harder in school.”

Another employee with a big smile on his face and a mortarboard on his head Saturday was Komi Lokossou, but the smile part was nothing new: Lokossou, profiled in this GCU Today story/video last year, never tires of greeting everyone he sees on campus in his role as a public safety officer.

Now, however, he’s an officer with an MBA with an emphasis in strategic human resource management. The father of 10 had 50 family members and friends on hand Saturday for his big moment. So it was time to party right afterward, right? Not quite.

“We’re going to party Sunday after church,” he said. “We’re going to praise the Lord first.”

The Lord is smiling, too.

—Rick Vacek

Longtime teacher reaches dream, conquers technology along the way

For Ernesteen “Tena” Budak of San Bernadino, Calif., the death of her father was heartbreaking, and the nocturnal stress seizures she suffered left her incapacitated for days at a time. But they weren’t the biggest hurdles she had to clear while earning her online master’s degree over the last year and a half, a feat she completed when she got her diploma Saturday morning.

Celebrating with GCU graduate Ernesteen “Tena” Budak are, from left, Luca, son Dylan, Budak, granddaughter Makayla and daughter Stephanie.

Budak, 51, said her biggest challenge was the technology. Everything about the class was online — textbooks, lectures, homework, even communicating with classmates, she said.

“I’m not a techie person,” Budak said. “Everybody at work teased me because I don’t even check emails. I still don’t check my emails. I have about 900 unread work emails right now.”

She began her program, Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction: Reading with an Emphasis in Elementary Education, in the spring of 2014. At first, Budak spent a great deal of time on the phone with GCU’s ITS department.

Now more proficient on the Internet, Budak often incorporates its use in lessons for her second- and third grade pupils at Fitzgerald Elementary in the Rialto (Calif.) Unified School District, where she just began her 21st year as a teacher.

She didn’t have time until two years ago to pursue a master’s degree because for 20 years she’d juggled her family, job, role as PTA president and duties as a soccer coach.

“I’m not coaching soccer, I’m not a PTA president, and my daughters are grown and out of the house,” Budak said.

On Saturday, two of her children, Stephanie and Dylan, her granddaughter Makayla, and Luca, a foreign exchange student from Italy who lives in Budak’s home, watched Budak graduate. Before going inside for the ceremony, her family gathered around Budak in front of GCU Arena. Her eyes filled with tears of happiness and gratitude.

“I’ve waited a long time for this,” she said.

—Laurie Merrill

Contact the GCU News Bureau at GCU.Today@gcu.edu.

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Story by Laurie Merrill
Photos by Darryl Webb
GCU News Bureau

Aruba Siddikqi and Jazlyn Leon are only in 10th grade, but they already know they want careers in the health sciences. That’s why they traveled four hours Friday morning from Douglas, Ariz.,  to Phoenix for Grand Canyon University’s Health Sciences, Engineering and Technology Day 2015.

Aruba Siddikqi and Jazlyn Leon, sophomores at Douglas High, traveled a long way from their homes to Phoenix Friday for HSET Day at GCU.

“We came to get more information about the medical fields,” said Leon, who attends Douglas High with Siddikqi. “I’m interested in studying to be a pharmacist, or some kind of forensic career.”

Siddikqi is also considering a career as pharmacist, in addition to wanting to be a physician.

They were among nearly 2,500 high school and junior high school students who descended on campus to learn more about careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and nursing. They toured science labs, listened to lectures from impressive speakers, participated in hands-on experiments and visited booths ranging from the GCU Sports Medicine Club and Honors College–Honors STEMists to Dignity Health and the AZ SciTech Festival.

“The students come out with a much stronger idea of what they wanted to go into,” said Teri Varley, who teaches at Ray High School in Kearny. “It opens up broader ideas to them.”

GCU’s first Health Sciences, Engineering and Technology Day Friday was a chance for the University to show off its new Engineering Building, lab space and other features.

More than 70 experts gave presentations throughout the morning from a long roster of topics, including the robotic hand experiment, electrical engineering, forensic dentistry, what is a perfusionist, careers in business analytics, splint this–sling that, the brain on drugs and more.

Dr. Michael Sheller, associate dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET), spoke to a rapt group about why he loves biomedical engineering in his session, “My flesh and my heart may fail.”

He presented a power point showing work he has done regarding bone fluid flow, bone growth simulation, neural computation, blood clotting and relaxing cells.

“It’s kind of nerdy, but I love it,” Sheller said. “Engineers get to understand human physiology in ways other people never see.”

Among things he likes about his career  is working on both micro (cells) and macro (body) levels, developing software, systems and math models and, in general, helping the injured and diseased. Sheller said he answers to a higher power, he said.

“My flesh and my heart may fail, as God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever,” Sheller said, quoting Bible verse Psalm 73:26.

High school students were able to get up close to a variety of science tools, including skeletons and real cadavers.

Julie Patterson and her three teenagers from Kearny were among those attending Sheller’s session. “This is our first class, and I was impressed,” Patterson said.

GCU instructor Lindsey Wagner told a fascinated audience that tissue regeneration is changing the field of physical therapy. When patients receive injections of stem cells to help an injury, they are encouraged to move to help the new cells grow, Wagner said.

“As physical therapists, we have to be able to think, ‘Do we need to create protocols of movement?’” she said during her presentation, on careers in physical therapy and regenerative medicine.

This year, GCU changed the focus and name of its annual Health Sciences and Nursing Day to include the growing STEM fields.

Contact Laurie Merrill at (602) 639-6511 or laurie.merrill@gcu.edu.

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By Laurie Merrill
GCU News Bureau

Separating faith from work is no easier than separating gender or ethnicity from work, Dr. Daisy Savarirajan told about 75 Grand Canyon University faculty during a “Lunch and Learn” session Friday.

Dr. Daisy Savarirajan incorporates Christ into her microbiology lessons.

“I can’t separate one from the other,” said Savarirajan, a College of Science, Engineering and Technology microbiology instructor. “When I’m serving the students, I’m serving Christ.”

Savarirajan discussed “Christ in the Classroom” during one of a series of peer-led talks about assimilating faith into teaching. The sessions are part of GCU’s Integration of Faith, Learning and Work initiative under Dr. Jason Hiles, College of Theology dean.

She referenced John 4:35, which reads, “ … look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” This refers to people who would have eternal life in His kingdom, she said. “I see this campus as a field that is ready for harvest.”

Teaching microbiology gives her the context for God’s calling, which is to save lives. Focusing on one’s true calling, or the big picture, gives work meaning, Savarirajan said. Otherwise it can feel demeaning, discouraging or draining. She believes her purpose in the classroom is to represent Christ and allow God’s spirit to work in her.

She also uses classroom examples to bring Scripture to light. For example, staining cell walls during research can be likened to the Walls of Jericho, for walls represent any impenetrable situation. Likewise, Savarirajan believes that lab rules for disinfecting equipment are not so different from the laws that God laid down in Leviticus.

Picking up on the topic after Savarirajan’s talk, Hiles said that work is an area in which man has suffered since Adam and Eve tasted the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Hiles asked participants to apply the first and second commandments, love the Lord thy God and love thy neighbor, in considering the Bible verse from Luke 10:38-42, when Jesus visited the home of sisters Martha and Mary.

Mary “was listening to the Lord’s word, seated at His feet. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him, and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.’

“But the Lord answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.’”  ​

In small group discussions, faculty debated such issues as whether they could better relate to Martha, who was doing chores, or to Mary, who was listening to God, and whether Martha was justified in asking Jesus to compel Mary to help her.

The exercise was meant to stimulate thinking about how issues of work are portrayed in the Bible, Hiles said.

Contact Laurie Merrill at (602) 639-6511 or laurie.merrill@gcu.edu.

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Story by Laurie Merrill 
Photos by Darryl Webb
GCU Today Magazine

In the heralding of a new era, Grand Canyon University is rolling out a new series of online science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degrees in subjects ranging from digital design to cybersecurity.

The seven bachelor of science degrees represent the tip of the information-age iceberg. GCU is seeking to ramp up its online offerings as it escalates its emphasis on STEM subjects for all students.

“We are designing cutting-edge programs that represent the future of STEM education,” said Dr. Hank Radda, the University’s provost. “We have innovative ways of delivering STEM education to online populations.”

STEM classes, many of which are held in this building, are increasingly offered online.

This initial crop of online STEM degrees, with plans underway to offer more in the future, are the latest moves GCU is making to produce well-trained, highly competitive graduates in these subject areas as well as to make the degrees more accessible.

The number of STEM students GCU graduates each year is growing, and so are the number of opportunities to apply their skills, said Dr. Mark Wooden, dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology.

“There is a huge job market in this area,” Wooden said.

According to the Economics & Statistics Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, STEM occupations are projected to grow 17 percent from 2008 to 2018, compared to9.8 percent growth for non-STEM occupations. STEM workers command higher wages, earning 26 percent more than their non-STEM counterparts.

At the same time, GCU is experiencing rapid growth in both online and ground students. The online population of nearly60,000 students is expected to expand by 6 to8 percent a year, while the ground population of more than 15,000 students is expected to nearly double to 30,000 by 2020, according to President Brian Mueller.

Radda said deans of GCU’s colleges joined together to create “vibrant new degrees with the student in mind.”

The new degrees, which will be launched in 2016, are being offered through CSET, the Colangelo College of Business and the College of Fine Arts and Production, Radda said. They include: CCOB (applied business analytics, applied business information systems),CSET (computer programming, information technology, information technology with an emphasis on cybersecurity), and COFAP (digital design/web design, digital design/animation).

Expanding STEM offerings has been at the forefront of GCU’s agenda for several years, Radda said. Known traditionally for its strong nursing and biology programs, GCU is building on that solid core to prepare students to succeed in the fastest growing fields.

“In doing that, we have met, and continue to meet regularly, with industry leaders and members of industry boards in computer science, technology and engineering,” Radda said.

The fields not only are fast growing, they are high paying. GCU lists the annual median wage for computer and information research scientists, for example, at $102,190.

A growing number of students take STEM classes.

Advancing education for the existing workforce

Many people who have worked in STEM fields for a while have certificates, but they haven’t earned their bachelor’s degrees, said Dr. Michael Sheller, CSET associate dean.

“They tend to be older,” Sheller said. “They tend to have been out in the world, have a certificate, and got a job right away and never went to college. Then, they find they are pigeonholed.”

The computer science and IT courses are set up to align with the body of knowledge associated with a certification, he said. For example, Microsoft offers a certification in C#, a computer programming language, and GCU has a series of three courses under a bachelor’s degree that dovetails with that certificate, Sheller said.

If a student already has taken C# college level classes, he can swap them out for classes in Java, another programming language, or any number of three-course sequences, he said.

GCU also is offering nearly three dozen new computer programming and IT classes for traditional students this school year and plans to make them available to online students in the near future, Sheller said.

To help manage the growth, GCU hired Dr. Heather Gollnow in October as assistant CSET dean and associate professor of information technology, computer science and computer programming. Read more about her here.

Producing STEM-educated graduates helps the Valley and the state because businesses seeking to relocate greatly value the quality of a trained workforce, Mueller said.

“We are going to make this a very, very inviting place for companies to create jobs,” he said.

Contact Laurie Merrill at (602) 639-6511 or laurie.merrill@gcu.edu.

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The latest edition of GCU Today Magazine tees up a cover story on the newly renovated Grand Canyon University Golf Course and what it means to west Phoenix and to the University. See why it’s such a big victory, and watch a video that shows off the transformation from Maryvale Golf Course. The December magazine also features an inside look at how GCU students are being the hands and feet of Jesus in the community, introduces you to five recent graduates of the College of Fine Arts and Production who are having lots of success in the working world, traces the University’s origins as the Antelopes and the evolution of its popular mascot, Thunder, and offers a behind-the scenes look at our own Thunder Dan Majerle. 

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