Academics

“I really do believe the big gap between engineers – male and female – is that girls are told it’s a boy’s job,” said sophomore psychology major Madi Abercrombie, a member of the GCU Robotics Club, at Saturday’s Girl Powered STEM Workshop. “We’re empowering girls at a younger age and helping them to have confidence.” About 40 fourth through eighth grade girls spent the morning programming robots, making a slime-like non-Newtonian fluid called gooey gak and making simple battery-powered motors. They also listened to a panel of women, including GCU Associate Dean of Engineering Dr. Janet Brelin-Fornari, speak about their careers in STEM fields. The workshop was a collaboration between the Robotics Club and K12 Educational Development, as well as VEX Robotics and the Robotics Education Competition Foundation.

Jennifer Elfenbein, the new hospitality management instructor in the Colangelo College of Business, has extensive experience in the tourism industry and is passionate about “the practice of loving the stranger.” But there are plenty of other things she’s passionate about, including what she eats and all the healthy pursuits she does in her spare time.

GCU’s Eta Chi chapter of Delta Mu Delta, the international business honors society, keeps giving Colangelo College of Business students more reasons to join if they are lucky enough to receive an invitation. It now ranks among the top 10 chapters in the country, and this year its members received four scholarships from the organization — the first time the chapter has gotten that many. Students with 24 GCU credits and in the top 20% of their class are eligible.

Dr. Jeff Jibben, a member of the Online Full Time Faculty in the College of Theology, is an expert on the Gospel of Matthew and was a church pastor for 20 years. He is passionate about making complex material easier to understand, is a do-it-yourselfer and has a side career that feeds his love for making a house a home.

Alan Klibanoff has brought with him to the Colangelo College of Business a lot of expertise and a lot of stories about how to handle money. But what’s also interesting about him is his large family and what his daughter did that changed his life.

Dominique Adkins’ research looking at the factors that influence forgiveness within the African American community has been shared in a long list of presentations at major conferences across the country and overseas. Not only is she an Online Full Time Faculty member in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences — she also works in the College of Doctoral Studies and has done lots of other amazing things in her life.

GCU’s IT-cybersecurity bachelor’s degree program just received a prestigious designation, being named a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education. The award is given by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security after a program meets stringent criteria. “This is a big deal,” said Dr. Heather Monthie, Associate Dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology. “This is essentially their stamp of approval on our cybersecurity program.” What that means for students: They’ll have even more access to government jobs and scholarships.

The power is in the discussion for Katy Long. That’s her motto, and her College of Education students hear it over and over — and then regularly get to see just how powerful that talking can be. But Long is passionate about lots of other things in education and beyond, particularly the opportunity to pass on her knowledge. She also is quite the sports fan and was on a national championship team in college.

Brian Clark loves sharing knowledge, so much so that his high school students used to have a funny little saying about what makes him tick. Now that he’s a member of the Online Full Time Faculty for the College of Education, he shares knowledge in a new way — through Loom videos. Check out how many he has done … and all the other interesting things in his background and his life.

Jerry Perkins emerged from a challenging childhood to become a foremost authority on radiation exposure as it relates to X-ray machines, medical lasers, etc. His students benefit greatly from that knowledge, but equally impressive is his hard work in battling a major community issue. And besides all that, he also is a triathlete.