Archive for December, 2014

The final edition of Antelope Intros for this calendar year features two more interesting people, a triathlete with an unusual hobby and a well traveled mom with an unusual trick that’s as easy as ZYX (you’ll need to read it to figure out what that means).

GCU News Bureau Employees in Grand Canyon University’s 27th Avenue office turned their digs into a festive place for Christmas, with lots of lights, trees, boughs, displays and, well, more lights. The most colorful ones are displayed here.      

The growth of GCU’s technology degree programs will continue in fall 2015 when the University’s first-ever engineering students arrive on campus to begin working toward degrees with biomedical, electrical and mechanical concentrations. Associate dean Dr. Michael Sheller of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology said the program design began nearly two years ago through the hard work and collaborations led by Dr. Michael Mobley and Haley Peebles, who oversee the University’s Center for Integrated Science, Engineering and Technology. GCU Today has a story about the new engineering programs and how they fit into the overall academic goal to better train young people for STEM-oriented careers.

By Janie Magruder GCU News Bureau Anytime something cool is taking place on the campus of Grand Canyon University, the music is loud and upbeat, competition is encouraged and everyone seems to be having fun. This Saturday will be no exception as hundreds of GCU faculty, staff and students team up to pack 100,000 meals for a nonprofit organization that has served 1 billion meals to hungry children around the world. The volunteer event for Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), from noon to 7 p.m. on campus, is part of GCU’s season of giving that is benefiting charities in various ways, each tied to men’s home basketball games. Saturday’s game, a 7 p.m. start in the Arena against St. Edward’s, is Feed My Starving Children Night. (It’s not too late to sign up: More helpers ages 5 and older are needed to pack meals or clean up after the MobilePack, and they each will receive a free ticket to the basketball game. Click here to volunteer.) Billy Thrall, GCU’s director of church relations, said the University chose FMSC because of the appeal and specificity of its missions. “It’s very clear what they do: They pack meals for children in distress around the world,” Thrall said. […]

GCU News Bureau This season, a gingerbread house competition for enrollment teams in the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions turned out to be one of the big Christmas festivities for staff at GCU’s Peoria office. Staffers designed Lopes lodges and a gingerbread trailer park, among other edible oddities. Check out our slideshow for a glimpse inside the office’s winter wonderland. The gingerbread competition was fierce, but enrollment manager Laurel Ramsey’s team members (Cristina Balamof, Previn Carr, Casey Cenatiempo, Salms Jones, Heather La Conte, Michelle Lipp, Mary Manning, Dani Merrill, Adam Ottosen, Karla Randall, Jen Tierney and Aric Wistar) took the prize with their version of Whoville in Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” The team is shown in the first photo here, and a detailed shot of their handiwork is in the second photo.

Story by Janie Magruder Photos by Darryl Webb GCU News Bureau Since it first began tutoring students at Alhambra High School last year, the Grand Canyon University Learning Lounge has been embraced by the campus community — faculty, staff and student tutors. On Monday, 15 months to the day after it opened its doors, the Learning Lounge got another big hug. This time, its teenaged clients came on campus, not for free help in reading, writing, math or other subjects, but to receive Christmas gifts from those jolly St. Nicks in the GCU Tempe office complex. Staff in the University’s international, College of Education Mid-Atlantic enrollment and non-degree/single course divisions brought dozens of gifts for three Alhambra students and their 17 family members. The delivery of gifts, including jeans and T-shirts, remote-control cars, roller backpacks and a “Frozen” waffle maker with pancake mix and syrup, came just a day after more than 350 children and their families in the GCU neighborhood visited campus for Canyon Cares Christmas. The annual event, supported by hundreds of faculty and staff members who purchased gifts and volunteered time, provided the guests lunch, crafts and visits to Santa in the Arena on Sunday afternoon. Alhambra junior Jane Sabuni and her sister, Lillian, came to the Learning Lounge […]

Photos by Darryl Webb GCU News Bureau An estimated 4,000 cheering family members and friends of the Class of 2014 attended the University’s first winter commencement on Friday in GCU Arena. There were more than enough smiles, high-fives and hugs to go around.  

By GCU News Bureau On a day when 530 Grand Canyon University traditional graduates were on cloud nine as they paraded up to receive their diplomas, numbers were the name of the game — and there were two ways about it. First, this was a first. GCU had never before held a winter commencement until Friday afternoon at the Arena, but the University’s ever expanding student population made it obvious a year and a half ago that it would become necessary. First-semester graduates previously had to wait until spring commencement if they wanted to participate in the ceremony. Second, there was the numerical magic of Justin Willman, who wowed the crowd in his entertaining commencement address, just as he had in the October ceremony for online graduates. His closing trick, in which the random numbers he got from four students equaled, when multiplied, the date and exact time (121,214,437, or 12/12/14 at 4:37 p.m.), is impossible to figure. But in between jokes and other tricks, Willman, host of “Cupcake Wars,” had a simple message for the graduates: “No matter how you do the math, the past and the future always wind up adding up to the present.” Three cheers for that. —Rick […]

This week’s Antelope Intros feature two new employees who have displayed considerable toughness in athletics and fitness, one as a player (who still plays) and another as a teacher (boy, does she ever give people a lesson). Check out the, uh, interesting nickname the teacher got from her students.

Students in Grand Canyon University’s new “innovative Computing” club (known by its iC abbreviation) are already working with advisers to help launch academic cloud-computing technology for the first-ever GCU computer science/information technology course. The club of mostly freshmen are also looking forward to collaborating on extracurricular tech projects.