GCU TODAY • 2 1
applies to campus and online
graduates. They want their
degree to mean something to
their career, as well.
How do you plan to build
that connection?
I think you can do so
much in communicating
to alumni. I intend to
develop communication
tools that include monthly
e-communication. They’ll get
a digest of what’s going on at
the University, and a website
that is updated to provide a
central place for resources.
We’ll partner with GCU’s
Office of Career Services to
make sure they have all of the
tools — resumé services, job
boards, LinkedIn. We also
plan to launch local alumni
chapters across the country to
create community.
What are GCU’s alumni
numbers?
In Arizona alone, we have
nearly 19,000 traditional and
online alumni. Our total is
nearly 68,000, with more than
71,500 degrees granted.
Will you make a distinction
between traditional and
online graduates?
Once you become an
alumnus, we don’t
differentiate between the
two. Many online alumni
chose GCU for its traditional,
brick-and-mortar campus and
for its Christian mission. They
still want the same types of
information, and they care the
same way about the University.
Online students still want to
know what’s happening with
our basketball program, and
they love coming to campus
for graduation.
How important is it to get
alumni to campus for a visit, if
they haven’t been in awhile?
It’s important to get our
alumni reconnected to
campus. Many of our alumni
haven’t been on campus in
years, and it’s exciting for
them to see all the growth and
change that’s happened since
they left. Inviting them out to
basketball games and events
like homecoming are great
ways to bring them back.
We are also focusing
on going out to alumni to
reintroduce ourselves. Many
haven’t heard from us in a long
time. With GCU’s athletic
teams traveling as they do,
and with the sponsorship of
something like the Roadshow
tour, we’re inviting local
alumni to come out and
support GCU and get a little
bit of the campus experience
right in their hometown.
With GCU’s investment-
supported financial model,
you’re not twisting arms for
donations. That has to be
a plus.
Our phone calls are a lot
less intimidating because
of that. You’d be amazed at
how many people are taken
off-guard that we have no
motive other than to make
a personal connection. They
don’t have to worry about
seeing a “602” area code and
being hit up for money.
These are people who need
to feel valued, and we need to
earn that back after years of
not hearing from us. But more
than 350 alumni bought season
basketball tickets. They’re
starting to re-engage.
DOUG CARROLL
Toys to
Trowels
KBCOB alumni
make a difference
It has been anything but hibernation
season for the Phoenix alumni chapter
of GCU’s Ken Blanchard College of
Business. Chapter volunteers played
Santa before Christmas, helping the
Salvation Army collect and distribute toys
to 435 underprivileged families.
Shortly after, as part of a “Paint the Town
Purple” community service project,
chapter members spruced up the yard
of Larry and Maxine Wilson, a Phoenix
couple married for 45 years. The pair
recently has been saddled with health
issues that made yard work difficult.
“It bothers us to ask for help because
we’ve always been the ones to help
others,” Maxine Wilson said. “Not having
the yard work done adds to our stress,
and letting go of stress helps us to heal.”
When the weeding was done, everyone
joined hands in a prayer circle, giving
thanks for their many blessings. A thank-
you letter from the Wilsons said it all:
“You gave us a ‘medicine’ that could not
be found in any bottle or drugstore, the
medicine of caring, loving people. The
prayers that were said in our family room
will live forever in our hearts and help us
to keep traveling this road that He has
given us.”
The feeling was mutual. Said chapter
president Linda Tapley: “Amazing
experience how God put the people and
the plans together so beautifully to share
the love of Christ.”
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