Academics

Rice University synthetic organic chemist Dr. James Tour’s research spans from nanomachines that can drill into cells, such as cancer cells and super bacteria, and kill them, to graphene nanoribbons used in spinal cord repair. But his College of Science, Engineering and Technology One Foundation talk on Friday also focused on his faith and how it has played the biggest role in his life and his scientific success.

Grand Canyon University continues to be asked why it does not participate in the U.S. News & World Report college rankings, which came out this month. President Brian Mueller issued a statement explaining the University’s decision: GCU believes that the rankings do not measure things that are important to the learning outcomes of students.

A mixture of logical debate strategies for pro-life arguments and anecdotes about the sanctity of human life highlighted GCU’s second annual Bioethics Conference, Human Dignity: Clash of World Views. One speaker refused to abort her daughter and refused to use stem cells from fetuses to aid her brain damaged son. Another speaker shared heartfelt steps to ease grief from the loss of a newborn.

The Academic Web Services Department has developed an an award-winning online resource that’s a one-stop shop for GCU students. In the year since its inception, the Student Success Center’s propietary search of more than 1,000 resources already has been used nearly 1 million times. Department Director Miranda Hildebrand says the website is useful to the point where her son’s high school teacher has been using it at the high school level.

By Theresa Smith GCU News Bureau In August, Dr. Andrea Alden, an assistant professor of English in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, published her first book, “Disorder in the Court: Morality, Myth, and the Insanity Defense.” To order the book, click here. In a behind-the-scenes peek at the writing of the book, GCU Today peppered Alden with questions about her first single-author book project: How long did it take to research and write the book? It feels like a really long time, and it has been almost a decade from start to finish. I started the project in 2010 when I was a Ph.D. student; it eventually became my doctoral dissertation, which I completed and defended in October of 2013. I was introduced to the editor of the Rhetoric, Law, and Humanities book series with the University of Alabama Press, Dr. Clarke Rountree, by a colleague who thought he might be interested in the manuscript. He asked for a formal proposal, which I spent three months drafting (it was five pages long, but I wanted it to be perfect). My proposal did the trick, and I was offered an advance contract in early 2015. I delivered the first draft of […]

The new master’s degrees in teaching content programs at GCU meet educators’ needs, enabling high school teachers to keep their jobs teaching dual enrollment and adjunct college professors to maintain their positions at colleges and universities. The programs were designed to dovetail with the standards imposed by the Higher Learning Commission, which oversees colleges and universities in 19 states, including Arizona.

The College of Science, Engineering and Technology is taking a unique approach in helping their freshmen engineering students “find their God-given purpose,” as CSET Dean Dr. Mark Wooden calls it. As part of their curriculum, those students take a comprehensive personality and career assessment called the Indigo Assessment. “We were looking for something that would help incoming students determine early on whether their choice of an engineering major was truly in line with their internal motivators and capitalized on their unique strengths,” said Wooden.

New students at Grand Canyon University have a multitude of ways to connect, and one of the most important is the First-Year Experience program. They are urged to visit one of the 15 Academic & Career Excellence Centers (ACE) on campus, which are called “the epitome of concierge service” by Dr. Joe Veres, Vice President of Student Development and Outreach.

GCU is always evolving, with new buildings rising up and offices and colleges moving to new spaces. All the change makes for an interesting first-day of class. The GCU News team fanned out on Monday to talk to students, professors and even the Success Patrol and Academic Career Excellence Centers, who there there to make sure students found their classrooms.

Story by Ryan Kryska Photos by Travis Neely GCU News Bureau The grapevine is purple for a reason. It’s how sophomore Isiah Brown heard about the way Lopes do things, ultimately leading to his decision to join the herd this year on Grand Canyon University’s men’s basketball team. He said in April, “I can’t wait to meet them. I’ve heard great things …” and on Friday, faculty, staff, alumni and students showed him great things. “They are really about what they say they’re about,” Brown said. “It’s great helping the people that will be out supporting our team at the games.” Men’s basketball coach Dan Majerle said the team tries to make it out to volunteer during Welcome Week every year. “We want to be a big part of this university and the guys love being out here,” he said. The team was just one of the many groups of Lopes out before the sun to move in 1,100 Welcome Crew members, who in return will move in the remainder of on-campus student next week. Nine members of the University’s qualifying specialists department were among the Lopes moving in student volunteers. Qualifying specialist and alumna Hannah Miller was one of them, covering all […]