GCU’s faculty and staff are doing amazing things every day, taking on the world with a great support system behind them. One such staff member is Military Enrollment Counselor Chris Kirk, who is making the most of a helping hand from a club on campus. Kirk serves as vice president of an innovative new sports memorabilia company called The Fan Post. Together with founder Ken Sandy and director of media relations Brandon Hesterman, they design and sell mini football goal posts and basketball hoops, suitable for games of finger football and basketball.

Faith Based Marketing Specialist Spencer Fehrenbacher is hitting the road for another Rock and Worship Roadshow, only this time he’s got a new travel partner in Stephanie Cashin — and the effort will be bigger and better. “It’s all about the power of the sun and our beautiful campus,” says Cashin, who will be with Fehrenbacher on a seven-week, 26-city tour covering 17,000 miles, starting Thursday in Biloxi, Miss. “We want to show prospective students how nice it is here (in Phoenix). While students in Chicago and Spokane are freezing in January and February, we have a beautiful, sunny campus to offer them.”

It all began with Mark Glazier and his seven-foot Santa Thunder. The Tempe enrollment manager sent us a photo of the custom-made Antlered One in a Santa suit, standing sentry at his desk, and wondered if we would post it on GCU Today. We did last week, inviting others to send photos of their Christmas-themed work stations. The good news: We heard from several people. The bad news: The cell-phone shots weren’t so hot. So on Wednesday afternoon, we took a field trip to Tempe and Peoria to see for ourselves what the season hath wrought.

It is logical to think that there are only two reasons to run: toward something or away from something. But what if there were a third reason? To run for something? GCU’s Eva St. Arnauld, director of student success for the Center for Learning and Advancement and coach of the Antelope dance team, felt there was a third reason and decided that she had something to run for: to inspire others. On Nov. 6, St. Arnauld ran in the New York City Marathon, something that very few people — even avid runners — get the chance to do.

As GCU’s senior vice president of campus operations, Sarah Boeder makes things happen. She oversees admissions, academic counseling and finance counseling and everything they involve. Married for 10 years and the mother of two children, ages 6 and 4, Boeder has been with the University for three years and held a variety of positions in that time.

Dean of Students Tim Griffin joined GCU after more than 10 years as chaplain of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. “When I was a chaplain in motor sports, you had to live with your community to be able to serve them,” he says. “So we lived out of a motor home every weekend.” Taking that same approach, the Griffins moved onto the GCU campus. At the same time, their son, Spencer, was preparing to join his older brother, Taylor, at GCU. Most kids leave the nest, but rarely does the nest follow them to college.

After 58 nights, 14,000 miles and thousands of GCU-branded coconut sunscreen bottles, Trevor Roberts and Spencer Fehrenbacher claim they have seen it all. The duo returned to GCU in mid-August after a summer of touring the country promoting the University, handing out scholarships and checking out some of the hot Christian bands that will be performing at GCU Arena in its first year. “It was a lot of fun,” said Roberts, who is already back out on the road for 30 dates of the Third Day tour, which comes to campus on Nov. 20. “We were able to speak in front of thousands of people at a time, sharing our campus with them and getting people interested in attending GCU.”

Basketball fans know Hap Hopper by his work. “If you’ve seen the boards at the US Airways Center during a Suns game, you’ve seen Hap,” says Cathey Moses, vice president of event planning and marketing at GCU. As GCU’s new digital systems director, Hopper is the one responsible for everything Antelopes fans will see on the high-definition video screens in GCU Arena. The screens were created and installed by Atlanta-based Innovation Sports Marketing.

History remembers national championship teams, but rarely does it remember those who fought to reach that goal — and the people they are. Even rarer are those who achieve athletic excellence yet consider the striving more important than the success. GCU’s longtime men’s soccer coach, Petar Draksin, is that kind of person.

If you’re looking for a campus job, Jackie Smith and her team are the ones to know. If you’re preparing you’re resume or getting ready for an interview for an off campus job Jackie and …