Colangelo College of Business

For Jamaica native and now North Carolina resident Garfield Hyman, getting his bachelor’s degree in Applied Management always has been about making his journey worthwhile. He said his GCU instructors helped him on his online journey: “I found support, making the experience a really good one.”

Kirk Cameron’s Fall Commencement keynote address underlines the importance of perseverance. The former “Growing Pains” star and now prominent Christian actor addressed GCU’s most recent group of graduates with congratulations and a powerful message of overcoming fear, fulfilling their mission and finishing the race. “This was really exciting,” Cameron said. “I was a little nervous, I’ve never done it before … I knew with all these Christian families, it was just really a special blessing to be part of this day that they’ll remember for their whole life.”

You want to hear about determination? Take a listen to the Colangelo College of Business graduate who has battled head and neck cancer for 10 years. Or the one who had multiple strokes and had to learn how to walk and talk again. Or the woman who didn’t think she could have children and adopted three — but then got pregnant after she started the online program.

Photos by David Kadlubowski GCU News Bureau The Thursday afternoon ceremony at Grand Canyon University’s Fall Commencement featured online graduates of the Colangelo College of Business.        

The second One Foundation Lunch and Learn of the fall semester finished the discussion on human value and dignity and featured some excellent examples by faculty from the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions. Faculty are urged to make sure the next session, scheduled for Friday, Nov. 8, is on their calendar.

The first annual Colangelo Servant Leadership Awards, which were handed out this morning at Canyon 49 Grill, were another chance to celebrate what both Jerry Colangelo and GCU are doing in the community. “I love what’s happening at the school, so I find myself saying yes to whatever they want me to help them with,” said iHeart Media Phoenix President Linda Little, one of the award-winners.

Strategic Employer Initiatives and Internships goes to great lengths to make sure GCU students have an almost endless number of opportunities to turn their degrees into good-paying jobs, and those efforts were on display in a big way Wednesday afternoon at Meet the Agencies in the Colangelo College of Business Building courtyard. The event drew 57 companies and 633 students — easily the most students at one job fair this year.

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.

“How do you negotiate salary?” asked one student at Wednesday’s Women in Leadership Panel in the Colangelo College of Business Building. Nicole Johnson, Corporate Risk and Broking Market Leader of Willis Towers Watson, told her, “Know your self-worth,” but also be firm and aggressive, prove why you’re deserving of that salary and “be unapologetic, because that’s your value.” Johnson was one of six women business leaders who spoke to the crowd in the standing-room-only lecture hall about everything from how they balance work and life to how they reached their leadership positions and what hurdles they’ve had to overcome. The event was organized by CCOB Associate Dean Dr. Allison Mason, who said it’s important that young women learn early on how important it is to have female leaders in an organization

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.