GCU Magazine

August 2025

Community-focused

Many things surprised economist Jim Rounds about GCU – the number of residence halls, the hyped-up basketball games, and the volume of nursing graduates the campus produces. But what made the biggest impression on him while doing his economic impact study was the university’s impact on the community.

Driven to help

Levi Conlow has a raw talent for business and now runs a multimillion dollar e-bike company. But the GCU alumnus said he’s not interested in sitting on money. He has a new purpose – to see how much of his company’s success he can apply to philanthropy.

INside scoop

A lot of things happened on campus while you were away. Fresh Fusion moved, a singing alien plant is headed to campus via “Little Shop of Horrors,” and a new seven-story apartment complex is making its debut this fall. Read about some of the other changes on campus in “GCU INsider.”

Cyber-savvy

When cyber students arrive in the fall, many of them will be moving into Encanto Apartments, the site of a new living-learning community dedicated to cyber. The best part? They'll have access to HACKnet, a hackable, gamified network unlike any other.

Mining the metaverse

Websites just don’t pique students’ interest like they used to. If you really want to engage students, you have to meet them in places like the metaverse, a shared 3D virtual environment in which students and professors engage through avatars.

Hoops heroes

Fifty years ago, Grand Canyon, then a campus of 1,036 students, did the unthinkable. Its 1974-75 basketball team won the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship trophy in Kansas City, Missouri.

Academic touchstone

University counselors don’t just guide students through their academics. Often, they become touchstones for those GCU learners, who share their fears and doubts as they try to make it to their big day: graduation.

Wild ride

Keeli Rodriguez graduated from GCU with a theatre and drama degree, but she has found her place somewhere unexpected –  at Universal’s Epic Universe. It’s where she used her artistic talents to bring Harry Potter’s Ministry of Magic and the Dark Universe to life.