Alumni

One of the impressive early graduates at winter commencement Friday morning was Payton Kuhnel, who needed just 2 1/2 years of college to get his Sports Management degree. But that’s only part of the story. Not only was he summa cum laude; he also worked the whole time he was on campus and already has a job in Major League Baseball.

The Canyon Worship Songwriters Showcase drew a large crowd to the Canyon 49 Grill on Monday night, and with good reason. The 13 songs featured a lot of new faces, a lot of different genres, a lot of worship and, notably, a lot of engagement by those in attendance. It evoked reminders of how much the program has grown in four years and how it continues to evolve.

To call Kevin Warren accomplished might be an understatement. The GCU Athletics Hall of Famer played college basketball at an Ivy League School before transferring to GCU to finish his undergraduate degree — his 23.3 points per game average during the 1985-86 season is fourth best in GCU basketball history. He went on to become a lawyer and run his own firm and now is the only black chief operating officer in the NFL. But Warren’s accomplishments should hardly be a surprise. He is carrying on the legacy of his parents.

Jeff Barton, a university development counselor in Gilroy, Calif., took his family to a Lopes on the Road event at San Jose State this fall and was amazed by the big turnout of Lopes fans. “None of us knew each other,” he said, “but it was really neat school spirit.”

Cancer has challenged the family of former ASGCU President Slate Herman in ways that defy belief. Not only did he lose his father and an older sister to the disease; he was diagnosed with leukemia in September — and then his sister Isabelle was, too. The news was shocking to the many people on campus who fondly recall his time at GCU.

Brian Smith was a junior at Alhambra High School when he applied to then-Grand Canyon College. He was elated to be accepted. Unfortunately, his family moved back to Ohio and he was unable to attend. He held onto his admissions letter from 1975 for more than 40 years before he decided to pursue a master’s degree in Nursing at GCU. He will carry the letter across the stage with him at Online Commencement.

In 1999, the political situation in Venezuela declined to the point where Carlos Macias and his family knew they had to get out. Most of his family fled to Spain, but Macias had a different path out through soccer. He landed in Arizona, bounced around through a vastly different culture and finally found his solitude at GCU. Macias strongly believes that God opens doors to blessings, and now he spreads that message to his high school soccer team and the Major League Baseball players who call him pastor.

Like the laces of a tightly wound baseball, a powerful bond has developed between GCU baseball and the firefighting community in the Valley. More than a dozen former Lopes baseball players have transitioned into local firefighting. The lessons they learned as student-athletes have transferred exceptionally well to their service-oriented and challenging careers, and they are drawn to the plethora of similarities between baseball and firefighting. Reprinted from the August issue of GCU Magazine.

Like the laces of a tightly-wound baseball, a powerful bond has developed between GCU baseball and the firefighting community in the Valley. More than a dozen former Lopes baseball players have transitioned into local firefighting. The lessons they learned as student-athletes have transferred exceptionally well to their service-oriented and challenging careers. They are drawn to the plethora of similarities between baseball and firefighting. Reprinted from the August issue of GCU Magazine.

The August issue of GCU Magazine, available here, features two in-depth looks into two important issues at Grand Canyon University: the recently completed transition back to nonprofit status, and the importance of diversity on campus. Also featured are stories on women’s basketball coach Nicole Powell, who recently was inducted into the National Federation of State High School Associations Hall of Fame, and on a group of Phoenix-area firefighters who are former Grand Canyon baseball players. And you can get an inside look at campus trends and developments with the annual GCU INsider.    

Members of the GCU community — a student, a faculty member, an online staff member, a campus staff member and an academic leader — reflect on the meaning of Independence Day and describe how they will celebrate with family and friends.