Academics

Nikita Ford had several major reasons why she could have just given up trying to obtain her master’s degree, from the births of two sons to the deaths of two family members to the disappointment of failing on her first try. But she came back and tried again, and not only did she succeed — she amazed her counselor by earning the best grades of her life.

Daniel K. Owusu-Bempah had to repeat the sixth grade, but his father kept reminding him that “education is not a race” and there’s no shame in taking a little more time to reach your goals. Now Owusu-Bempah has graduated from GCU with his master’s in Public Administration with an Emphasis in Government Policy and hopes to someday work for the FBI.

Despite the pandemic, Megan Serafini couldn’t let the graduates leave or the new scholarship winners be ushered in without the traditional year-end Student Inspiring Students banquet. So the SIS Program Manager worked quickly to put a reception together on GCU’s Facebook page. The result showed just why SIS students have become a shining example of resilience in tough times.

Dr. Barry Asmus, Distinguished Professor of Economics in the Colangelo College of Business, passed away recently, but he won’t soon be forgotten by his colleagues. No one will miss him more than Krystal Slivinski, who co-taught with him. “I miss my friend. I miss being able to learn from him. I was so humbled that he wanted to learn from me,” she said.

The College of Science, Engineering and Technology Research Symposium and Honors Showcase made a quick transition to online when the COVID-19 precautions were put in place. “For a tight three-week timeline, I think our administration, faculty and students did an incredible job bringing their work to life in a virtual manner,” said Breanna Naegeli, Honors College Associate Dean.

The shift of ground classes to an online environment worked out well for the Colangelo College of Business in an unexpected way: Guest speakers had more time to talk to students and could share how they’re dealing with challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s an example of everyone learning together.

Dr. Jen Santos needed ideas to help her ground English students transition to remote learning during the pandemic. So she asked them. They came up with a great idea on how to make it work — a digital gaming platform. Its’s an example of how GCU faculty and students made it work during the final weeks of the semester.

As part of their training, nursing students spend time shadowing nurses at hospitals and other health care facilities . But COVID-19 changed all that. With students at home, where they have no access to clinical training or to the immersive simulation lab, the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions faculty came up with some distance-learning solutions, including virtual clinical simulations, training videos and even escape room activities.

For some ground classes, the transition to online seemed as though they were a perfect pair. But for others, instructors had to get a little more creative. That’s exactly what Mark Fearey did when he utilized the GCU Recording Studio to create quality audio for students doing their recitals.

A whole new set of skills are needed to teach and learn online during a crisis. GCU Online Full Time Faculty members Dr. Liesl Hecht and Dr. Kendra Stewart-Smith of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences say it takes communication and compassion — and a bit of self-care — for both students and faculty to maintain motivation and resilience during this time of stress.