GCU Today April Digital Issue 2018

GCU MAGAZ I NE • 1 5 One game from the Big Dance In its first shot at the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, the men’s basketball team comes up just short of qualifying for the NCAAs, losing to New Mexico State in the WAC championship game. Also, pole vaulter Scott Marshall (second team) and swimmer Mark Nikolaev (honorable mention) became the first GCU athletes to earn NCAA Division I All-American honors. 5 A lot to build on The opening of the new baseball and softball stadiums is only the start of another highly constructive year. Also sprouting up, all on the east side of campus, are two more apartment- style residence halls, the new Colangelo College of Business building, a club sports center and a parking garage. A decade of frozen tuition— cool! Talk about a perfect 10: For the 10th consecutive year, GCU freezes tuition on the ground campus. “Cost should not be a deterrent to earning a college degree,” GCU President Brian Mueller said. “Instead, universities must be innovative in their approach to higher education.” GCU on list of best campuses It certainly isn’t a surprise to any students who live here, but GCU’s campus is named the eighth-best in the country by Niche, a company that specializes in data on educational institutions. GCU finished just ahead of Stanford (ninth) and Yale (10th) in the 2017 rankings. The race to dissertation 500 The College of Doctoral Studies approves its 500th dissertation and also breaks its single-year record for graduates. The lucky No. 500 belongs to Melissa Beddow, a member of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology faculty. Love is all around us A little more than a month after GCU senior Levi Conlow draws national attention with his marriage proposal to Rachel O’Brien before a huge crowd of classmates in front of the Student Union, basketball player Keonta Vernon gets down on a knee to do the same with his girlfriend, Katie Peterson, during the team’s Senior Night at GCU Arena. Katie Peterson became Keonta Vernon’s fiancée on Senior Night. photo by slaven gujic Residence halls are lined up along the east side of campus, and two more are expected to be ready by August. photo by slaven gujic 10 6 7 8 9 VIDEOON NEWS.GCU.EDU The 10 most visual GCU moments of the year