GCU TODAY • 5
G
CU Today Magazine sat down with Matt
Hopkins, new director of residence life, to
chat about his plans for keeping the University
student-friendly at a time of great growth, and about his
life before GCU. Here’s what he had to say:
1
How can GCU build new campus residence
halls while maintaining the small-school vibe
many students enjoy?
As the population grows, the role of the residential
directors and residential assistants will become more
important. They help foster community in the middle
of a large campus and make it feel more like home. The
staff shines at events held in the dorms – that’s where
their impact is the greatest.
2
Less than two years ago, you moved to Phoenix
and worked at Costco before coming to GCU.
How’s it feel to be here?
I am incredibly grateful – God has been good to me.
After moving here from Chicago for family health reasons
and not having any work lined up, I started pushing carts
at Costco as a seasonal employee. God met my family’s
needs and kept opening doors for us. So when I shop at
Costco – especially in July or August – I’m reminded of
how good God is.
3
In the nearly two years you lived in Kenya, what
was the most important lesson you learned
about your faith?
God opens doors. He proved Himself as the “Master
Door Opener” in experiences such as us being just miles
away from the United States embassy in Nairobi when
it was bombed in 1998, our first of two sons being born
there, and making friends in the midst of different
cultures and languages.
4
What campus events do you enjoy most?
For my family, it is definitely the GCU basketball
games. After that, the Move-In part of Welcome Week is
right up there. Meeting new students with excitement in
their eyes and parents who have mixed emotions is always
a blast.
5
What’s on your iPod right now?
I’m not a huge music guy. But I do have ESPN
Radio’s “Mike & Mike” and Andy Stanley, founder of
North Point Ministries, on my iPhone.
MICHAEL FERRARESI
Got Your
Number
5 ON 5 WITH...
GCU is sending a record
number of students around
theworld to spread the love
of God during spring break
inMarch and this summer.
Check out these stats:
25
mission trips
32
faculty and staff
346
students
17
countries
7
new countries
(China, Cambodia,
Nicaragua, Haiti,
Uganda, South Africa
and the United Kingdom)
137
churches, orphanages,
homes and schools that
will be reached
SOURCE: GCU SPIRITUAL LIFE
Matt Hopkins, Residence Life
Three facultymembers in theCollege
of Theology are literally going inside
baseball this spring. NumaGomez, Bob
Greene andAndréMooneywill team
upas chaplains for theMilwaukee
Brewers, who trainatMaryvale
Baseball Park, not far fromcampus.
Read more about their upcoming
adventure a
Other GCU connections
to the big leagues:
Cody Ransom, drafted by the San
Francisco Giants in 1998, played for
the Chicago Cubs and the San Diego
Padres in 2013.
TimSalmon, drafted by the California
Angels in 1989, was the American
League Rookie of Year in 1993.
And another:
Five GCU film students, including
GCU News Bureau student
workers Katrina Palmisano
and Cassandra Hawk, shot a
documentary at Brewers spring
training last March. A highlight
was the popular sausage race.
Oh,
Yeah?
photo by darryl webb
