Story and photos by Laurie Merrill
GCU News Bureau
Maricopa County Justice Courts officials gave Grand Canyon University an award for hosting its Staff Training Conference in July as part of a “mutually beneficial and collaborative relationship.”
“We are hoping to assist each other and can continue to engage with the students — who are our future workers,” Jeff Fine, court administrator, said Tuesday after bestowing the trophy.
The award names GCU President Brian Mueller, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean Dr. Sherman Elliott and CHSS instructor Kevin Walling.
“This is an advantageous relationship not just for everyone in Maricopa County, but also for society in general,” Elliott said.
The win-win relationship benefits students because it makes GCU one of the primary institutions that the Arizona court systems look to when hiring personnel, Elliott said.
Nearly two dozen GCU students had the opportunity to hobnob with more than 250 attorneys and court staff during the MCJC annual conference July 19-21.
Elliott praised Walling for cementing the arrangement.
“It provides our students an opportunity to meet with court personnel, including administrators, judges, probation officers, etc. and learn from their expertise,” Walling said. “Students are currently working as interns and have also been placed into jobs with the local court system.”
The justice courts hear civil, traffic, loan defaults, eviction, protective order and HOA cases, among others, and officiate at weddings, Fine said. Fine, former Justice of the Peace, said he heard about 24,000 cases in just one year.
Contact Laurie Merrill at (602) 639-6511 or [email protected].
