GCU Magazine

November 2024

Business with a purpose

Ten years ago, GCU's business college launched a new era when it became the Colangelo College of Business, named after sports business icon Jerry Colangelo. The college, which embraces conscious capitalism, has created a rich entrepreneurial ecosystem that includes such initiatives as business incubator Canyon Ventures and entrepreneurship competition Canyon Challenge.

Morsel of entrepreneurship

Students' spirit of entrepreneurship pervades campus, but it also permeates the neighborhood. Alumni have taken their ideas for businesses and made them a reality just a few miles from campus, from Chewk's Cookies to The Black Sheep coffee shop to Juanderful Tacos.

Fulfilling work

By day, Brett Bergstrom works at GCU as a university development manager. But by other parts of his day, he's a pastor You can do both, he said. GCU's latest initiative is to encourage students with a heart for ministry to become bivocational.

Service culture

Every week, more than 700 student volunteers fan out across campus to do what they do best: serve the community. It's a hallmark of the university's values and what GCU wanted to spotlight during its Week of Service in honor of the university's 75th anniversary. Students had more than 1,000 opportunities to serve across 40 ministries.

Fems in STEM

Women earn only 24% of the bachelor's degrees awarded in engineering and 21% in computer science, according to the National Girls Collaborative Project. But Women in Tech, the Society of Women Engineers and CybHER are set on supporting the campus's female students and their STEM ambitions

Faith, family, basketball

Men's basketball coach Bryce Drew was just a teenager when he had three heart surgeries. He gave his life to Christ back then and brought that faith with him to GCU, where he inspires students on and off the court, and where he's excelled in part because of his supportive family.

Right solution

Putting science courses online has been a sticky wicket. How do you include the lab work and hands-on experiences, which are so essential to learning science, online? GCU's College of Natural Sciences is innovating to do just that.

Straight shot

Alexis Ruiz is a steady presence in her job as a pediatric nurse. But the GCU alumna is steady in another facet of her life. She's a world-champion archer who has represented Team USA on the world stage for seven years.