Campus Life

Dr. Tim Griffin learned about the importance of margins when, as a youngster new to life on a farm, he invaded the personal space of a chicken. As the Vice President of Student Affairs, Dean of Students and University Pastor has watched the world’s challenges peck away at all of us, even online, in the last year, he has become increasingly aware of how we must manage those margins. And it starts, he told Chapel on Monday, with making the Bible our manager.

Terry Mackey is such a powerful speaker, his forcefulness practically burst through the computer screen in his livestreamed Chapel talk, released Monday. The Pastor of Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church had a lot to say about the danger of pride and the importance of continuous prayer, and he brought the whole message together with the biblical story of King Uzziah.

The list of Chapel speakers for the spring semester is an interesting mix of dynamic voices who haven’t visited for a few years and newcomers who will offer new perspectives. Among the returnees is Chris Brown of North Coast Church in Vista, California, and one of the first-timers is Donald Glenn, GCU’s Director of Multicultural, Diversity and Inclusion.

“Graduating during a pandemic! We all have something to be thankful for!” said Araceli Wills, who was among the University’s 2020 graduates, in a social media post. See what else students and their families had to say on social media.

Winter 2020 graduates would have been satisfied with their in-person ceremony Saturday, but GCU President Brian Mueller wanted to go one step further. He announced four ways in which the University will seek to ensure that every graduate has a job despite the pandemic — and one of those ways will be for GCU to hire 125 of them. “The pandemic has hit recent college grads almost as hard as anybody,” he said.

If you have a goal, then work to reach it. That is what Peggy Shively did when she decided to go back to college after more than 40 years away from the classroom, and on Saturday — with her 72nd birthday coming up — she will graduate from GCU with her Bachelor of Arts degree in Piano Performance.

Chalk up another GCU event that worked out just fine even though the pandemic forced it to be virtual. The Songwriters Showcase, normally staged before a packed crowd on Canyon 49 Grill’s outdoor patio, was livestreamed Monday night and featured some of the songs that no doubt will find their way onto the next Canyon Worship album.

Dancers in the College of Fine Arts and Productions return to the stage tonight through Sunday at the “Rooted” Winter Dance Concert. The outdoor production, also available on livestream, will explore a multitude of emotions. “They (the audience) are going to be taken on a ride for sure, highs and lows,” Dance Director Susannah Keita said. “I’d say that this is a concert that takes on the discomfort, the sense of confusion sometimes, the desire to find your roots and an escapist approach.”

The Honors College wanted to make sure students who participated in the PAC Professional Development Program this year were properly celebrated. They gathered Wednesday night on Canyon 49 Grill’s outdoor patio for a socially distanced dinner and PAC (Professional, Academic and Career) awards ceremony. The top three were Andrew Jennings, Ethan Connery and Ashley Larson.

When the pandemic forced GCU’s Eta Chi chapter of Delta Mu Delta to conduct its induction ceremony via video conferencing, it turned into a blessing. It opened the way for more inductees to participate. “I don’t believe we’re ever going to go back to the inductions we had in the past,” said Dr. Moronke Oke, one of the chapter’s advisors.