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P21
December 2013
T
he renaissance of Grand Canyon University
speaks for itself, but
Will Gonzalez
is always
eager to add his testimony.
There’s a simple reason, he says, that the campus is thriving: Compassionate,
service-minded students are gravitating to it and “exporting excellence.”
“These are kids who volunteer because they find purpose and meaning
to it,” says Gonzalez, 50, a two-time alumnus who graduated from Grand
Canyon with a bachelor’s degree in history and behavioral science in
1987 and a master’s degree in leadership in 2004. He is chairman of the
University’s board of trustees and also an adjunct business instructor.
“This University is trying to elicit a spark,” he says, “and that’s the reason
employers want our nurses and teachers and business students. We’re
different. We don’t look just to get through life. We want to change lives,
and that’s profound.”
Gonzalez, a first-generation Cuban who grew up in central Phoenix, says he
was a “floundering fish” until he discovered a greater purpose for himself
through Monte Vista Church of the Nazarene in Phoenix. With a law degree
from Texas Southern University, he is an assistant city prosecutor for the
City of Phoenix, focusing in that position on community redevelopment.
He knows what makes neighborhoods work, and he says GCU is situated
perfectly in west Phoenix. The Alhambra High School tutoring project (see
Page 14) is a prime example.
“Why aren’t other universities doing the same thing?” he asks. “Why not
invest in your neighborhood? (With the Alhambra project) you have kids
helping kids. What does that tell the high school students who are involved?
GCU’s payback will be that they do the same thing down the road.
“We don’t need to be in the most affluent neighborhood…. Find me
those neighborhoods that are underperforming, and that’s where we
need to be.”
Gonzalez says an increasing multinational, multicultural presence on the
GCU campus reflects 21
st
-century Phoenix.
The school “was more homogeneous when I was (a student),” he says.
“Phoenix is more international now. But even when I was (at Grand Canyon),
the expectations were that you would get a degree and do something with
it. The kingdom of God is built with the giving and not the taking.”
Aaron Carreon-Ainsa
, Phoenix’s chief prosecutor, says Gonzalez lives
those words.
“He is one of those folks who became lawyers to change the world, and
he truly means it,” Carreon-Ainsa says. “Will is always building community,
bringing people together to pool their talents to make Phoenix a better place.”
Gonzalez contrasts GCU with other urban schools that have cordoned
themselves off, saying GCU doesn’t have “the 20-foot brick walls” that tell
the community to keep out. He says the welcome exists in a figurative
sense, too.
“I have a friend with the City of Phoenix who is Jewish and is doing her doctoral
work with GCU,” he says. “She recently lost her father, and GCU has helped
her connect back to her faith.
“We invest time, energy and commitment. The caring humanity is what
we bring.”
■
University ideally positioned
for influence, Will Gonzalez says
Will Gonzalez, a two-time alumnus, remains tied to GCU as a trustee and adjunct
instructor. Photo by Darryl Webb
alumni
– by Doug Carroll
GRAND OPPORTUNITY