Alumni

On May 9, GCU will host a commencement ceremony and team-building event for about 180 fifth-graders in Arizona who are junior coaches in Playworks, a national nonprofit that trains adults and children to bring respect, inclusion and peace to school playgrounds.

Story by Doug Carroll Photos by Darryl Webb GCU News Bureau As the students, faculty and staff of Grand Canyon University adjourned for Christmas break near the end of 2003, few of them had much knowledge of the financial health of the sleepy, west Phoenix campus where they studied, taught and worked. They were in the dark, and that was not a bad place to be. Like many private institutions of higher education, Grand Canyon had endured its share of struggles since its humble beginnings in 1949, after three Baptist pastors each had plunked down a silver dollar to start Grand Canyon College in Prescott. Lacking either the taxpayer support of public universities or the substantial donor base of successful private colleges, the school depended primarily on tuition-paying students, of whom there were about 1,500 on campus and a similar number taking classes online in 2003. Budgetary surgery was a way of life. “Every few years, there was a financial crisis,” recalls Dr. Charles Maxson, then in his 20th year on the faculty at Grand Canyon. “That’s how it was, and how most small colleges still are.” In 1997, the University’s lenders had pressured the governing board for a change […]

Members of the cast of the 1999 production of “into the Woods” returned to Ethington Theatre for the 2014 version of the Stephen Sondheim musical — and liked what they heard and saw.

The popular Stephen Sondheim musical will close out the Ethington Theatre Series, just as it did 15 years ago, and sold out its six performances in advance.

Highlights from Saturday’s graduation in GCU’s largest colleges: Education and Nursing and Health Care Professions.

Highlights from GCU’s commencement ceremonies for nontraditional students, held at Comerica Theatre in downtown Phoenix on March 14 and 15.

Highlights from Friday’s graduation of nearly 900 students in four of GCU’s colleges: Arts and Sciences, Theology, Doctoral Studies and Business.

Samantha Murphy, who redefined “student-athlete” at the University on the basketball court and in the classroom, and six others were honored at Ethington Theatre on campus.

Former Diamondbacks pitcher acknowledges his role in Major League Baseball’s biggest brawl of the 2013 season — and says it helped him focus his faith.

Any actor can dream of Broadway. Mike Hegeman dreams of a small, 300-seat theatre in west Phoenix — more than 20 years after he performed there as a college student. Forgive him, then, for pinching himself when the curtain is raised Friday on “You Can’t Take It With You,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy that opens the Ethington Theatre Series for 2011-12 at GCU.