Archive for December, 2015

By Janie Magruder Photos by Darryl Webb GCU News Bureau No matter how you slice it, the most talked-about stories at Grand Canyon University in 2015 had something to do with students and creating for them the best possible academic, spiritual and social experiences. With a record number of students matriculating on campus this year, new programs, new faculty and staff and — especially — new buildings were needed to help facilitate their learning. Additional residence halls and eateries were required for the students’ care and feeding, as were fields for their recreation and structures for their vehicles. The University did not disappoint. In what has become a year-end tradition at GCU Today, here are our top 10 stories of 2015, in no particular order of importance. (We do think you’d be hard-pressed to argue against the first entry, however.) Our list is by no means etched in stone, nor all-inclusive, but is merely meant to prompt water-cooler debates or a bit of reflection. Thanks for the memories, GCU. Up, up, up: student enrollment. If not for the 15,500 traditional students (a 21.6 percent jump over 2014’s ground enrollment) and the 59,200 online students (up 7.5 percent from last year) […]

Photos by Darryl Webb GCU News Bureau Talk about a year with a lot going on: Big things were happening on the GCU campus and well beyond its borders throughout 2015. Here are the year’s best photos:    

Grand Canyon University Golf Course is taking tee times and is set to open on New Year’s Day. So what’s in store for golfers seeing it for the first time? Even if they used to play the old Maryvale Golf Course before it was redesigned into a championship layout, they will need this hole-by-hole guide.

The list of Chapel speakers from outside GCU for the spring semester includes five newcomers. It’s always great to hear from a fresh face, but Dean of Students Pastor Tim Griffin emphasized that the format and feel of Chapel won’t change.

Photos by Darryl Webb GCU News Bureau Coach Dan Majerle and the men’s basketball team gave GCU an early Christmas gift, winning the Global Sports Classic title Tuesday night with an 85-81 win over Marshall at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas. Joshua Braun was named the tournament MVP, having led the Lopes with 20 points. Braun, along with teammate Grandy Glaze, who had 10 points and six rebounds, were named to the All-Tournament team.  

Stanley Fred Hawkins, a GCU alumnus and retired educator who is a leather crafter in St. Louis, Mo., has a positive story about how life can be full of surprises, especially as he recently celebrated a big moment in his career. The 81-year-old owns an international leather business and was asked by the NFL to create a leather cover for a book of records honoring Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.

By GCU News Bureau Everywhere you look around GCU’s 27th Avenue office, holiday decorations fill the eye with wonder and awe. There’s even a man with a green beard. Really!    

In the season to be jolly, Sean Coffey of GCU’s 27th Avenue office may be the jolliest of all, sporting a glittering, bauble-enshrined, merry green beard one day in the week before Christmas. He won a first prize, but not in the category you might imagine. And his twinkling chin hair was just one of many imaginative flights of Christmas fancy that teams created at 27th Avenue.

By GCU News Bureau Enrollment counselors, student services advisers and other Peoria office employees decked the halls, their cubicles and hallways with holiday decorations galore in time for Santa’s visit.          

GCU’s Peoria office employees, who recently toppled the GCU’s main campus in the Thanksgiving turkey-donation contest, seem to have no shortage of seasonal spirit. They merrily switched gears for Christmastime and decked their cubicles, hallways and lobby with red, green, white — and purple — holiday cheer. Ho, ho ho!