Archive for May, 2015

This week’s Antelope Intros feature an employee who has parlayed his love of baseball (warning — he’s a fan of a team that’s not too popular around here) into a greater involvement in the game and one who is happy to follow sports from afar.

By Cooper Nelson GCU News Bureau After spending last summer in the Tell Science Building, the summer Chapel series will return to Ethington Theatre next week for a more intimate weekly worship experience than those held in GCU Arena during the school year. Summer Chapel begins Monday with a message from Nathan Hale, GCU’s life leader manager, at 11:15 a.m. in Ethington and will continue each Monday through July 27. This summer’s Chapel speakers are University employees primarily from the Office of Spiritual Life and the College of Theology. Jared Ulrich, GCU worship manager, will lead acoustic worship services before each message. Danielle Rinnier, director of spiritual life, said the Chapel messages will not follow a specific theme, allowing speakers to share what God has put on their hearts. She hopes speakers will focus their messages on ways for employees to remain diligent through the slower summer months and encourage them to stay enthusiastic during a time of great change at the University with multiple construction projects. “The majority of people who attend summer Chapel are employees, so we wanted to have speakers who understand what they’re going through over the summer and can encourage and uplift them,” Rinnier said. Employees hopefully will use Chapel to reconnect with […]

Converting a Division-II athletic program into a winner at the Division-I level is no small task. Grand Canyon University recognized the hard work that men’s basketball coach Dan Majerle and baseball coach Andy Stankiewicz put into setting a foundation to compete for conference championships and national titles by tearing up their old contracts and giving them fresh four-year deals through 2019. On Wednesday, the University announced those deals and a new five-year contract with Nike that will help expand GCU’s national brand.

By GCU News Bureau Grand Canyon University’s rise in NCAA Division I athletics was further entrenched Wednesday with three major announcements surrounding the program. Men’s basketball coach Dan Majerle and baseball coach Andy Stankiewicz each received new four-year contracts, while the University also signed a five-year deal with apparel and footwear giant Nike. “We want to be a top-25 program in everything we do, and these contracts are an example ofthat,” said Mike Vaught, vice president of athletics at GCU. “Dan Majerle and Andy Stankiewicz are perfect examples of what it means to strive for excellence — both have already built established programs in our second year of transition to Division I. In addition, Nike is the gold standard when it comes to apparel and footwear. We are partnering with a brand that has worldwide appeal and credibility.” Majerle and Stankiewicz had contracts that ran through the 2017-18 season. Those were replaced by new four-year deals that run through 2019. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Vaught said both will become the highest-paid coaches in the Western Athletic Conference in their sports and among the upper end of coaches from mid-major conferences. Their contract extensions follow a series of high-profile […]

Story by Janie Magruder Photos by Tyler McDonald In her communications courses at Grand Canyon University, alumna Lisa Cass learned one of the cardinal rules of being a journalist: There’s no question too dumb to ask. It’s a lesson that came in handy this school year when Cass decided to find out whether her alma mater had any computers it no longer needed. GCU did, much to her delight and that of 100 beginning and advanced journalism students at Independence High in Glendale who sometimes spent more time waiting for their computers to boot and less time learning than Cass would have liked. Her classroom now is outfitted with 35 Dell computers and monitors that hum right along. The equipment was donated by GCU in February and the final student project was saved Wednesday on the last day of school. Junior Julianna Cortez, who has taken Cass’ journalism classes for three years, said the donation has improved the school work of her and 34 classmates, and benefited the writing, photography, editing and design of the school’s newspaper, Patriot Glory. Software, including InDesign, is giving students new experiences in creating a variety of pages. “The computers run faster, so we’re able to get more things […]

All too often at universities these days, students find themselves confused by what they’ll owe on their degrees and the requirements to graduate, or struggle to get a resolution from their counselors. Not at GCU. Led by assistant vice presidents Michelle Nuckols and Kirk Dykman, the University has empowered its students to understand their financial obligations and degree paths with more precision through tools like the Degree Plan Net Price Calculator, a state-by-state compliance map showing ever-changing field placement requirements and a database that clearly identifies transfer credits. GCU Today has more details in this story.

Kaitlin Lovato, who plans to graduate from GCU in December with a bachelor’s degree in nursing, recently was elected to a one-year term on a committee of the National Student Nurses’ Association.

You still can see the big construction projects, such as the engineering building and The Grove, in the distance as you walk around campus, but now the changes are right there in front of you, too. All three of the main fields in the middle of campus are in the process of being redone, and those aren’t the only changes that will be noticeable during the summer months. GCU Today has the story detailing what’s happening and what’s about to happen.

Photos by Tyler McDonald GCU News Bureau Construction is humming along at Grand Canyon University, only now it has spread to the center of campus as well. Mariposa Field has been cleared so that work can begin on the new soccer stadium, the intramural field is getting artificial turf and new sod is being rolled out on the Quad.  

The new employees in this week’s Antelope Intros both are online faculty members who are at least relatively new to Phoenix. One of them has some impressive coaching accomplishments, and the other takes his love of environmental photography to electrifying heights.