DIGITAL GCU Today AUG issue

1 2 • GCU MAGAZ I NE Diversity Council, a community volunteer and now as ASGCU president, Wolfe utilizes his tender heart, galvanizing charm and exemplary speaking skills to lead the Lopes. “All of those experiences helped me to see first-hand how really special this university is,” Wolfe said. Research will be under microscope Researcher Dr. Mike Mobley — his expertise is in spectroscopy and optics — has no problem cranking up the volume when it comes to providing the kinds of life experiences Wolfe referenced. So it seems apt that Mobley, Executive Director of GCU’s Center for Integrated Science, Engineering and Technology, would be the University’s champion in spearheading its efforts to establish an office to develop grants – research grants included – as well as endowments, donations, philanthropic giving, scholarships and the like as GCU enters a new era as a nonprofit. The office will administer new sources of income for the University, which didn’t qualify for most grants and similar types of giving in the past because of its for-profit status. “The issue has been that there are a lot of foundations that support educational initiatives, community service initiatives, health care initiatives, and we’ve been excluded from those opportunities in the past,” Mobley said. “So that’s one major area. The other is in the area of federal grants. A significant portion of those grants are earmarked for nonprofits. So now (as a nonprofit), we’ve become eligible for those.” The new development office is still being established and the University is close to naming a vice president to oversee it, but Mobley has been quietly and busily working in the background. He has been meeting with the University’s deans to define their strategies and how to leverage the new grant and philanthropic opportunities. He also has been tasked with devising a budget. His focus, he said, will be on research initiatives – ones that will bring in more equipment to the University, for example, and more research opportunities for students. GCU touts two major research initiatives, the first of which is the Center for Innovation in Research and Teaching. It focuses on the scholarship of improved teaching and learning outcomes and the presentation and publication of those best practices at academic conferences and scholarly journals throughout the country. The other program, established just two years ago, is the Research and Design Program. About two dozen projects fall under the RDP umbrella, and about 40 faculty and staff and almost 290 students were engaged in one or more research initiatives in 2017-18. Those projects have been supported by the budget of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET) but now may find support in these other funding sources. The projects have included: • Investigating Sonoran desert plants to learn if they tout medicinal properties; • Researching cyanobacteria to find out if they could be the answer to the world’s dirty fuel problems; We have students attending our Christian university from all over the world, representing almost every culture that you can imagine. Yes, we are a very diverse university, providing full inclusion for all students preparing them to serve their communities, all in the glory of God and our savior Jesus Christ. That’s the real wow factor.” —DR. JIMRICE, MEMBER, GCU BOARD OF TRUSTEES