Colangelo College of Business

This is getting to be a habit: For the third straight year, a Grand Canyon team won the University division of the Stock Market Challenge, an annual fundraiser in which teams build a fictitious portfolio by reacting to market news and fluctuations. But this time the GCU teams finished 1-2 in the event.

Job fairs at GCU have shifted toward smaller, more intimate settings with industry-specific focuses, and that worked well for the Colangelo College of Business on Monday afternoon. It staged a job fair for finance, banking and insurance professionals in the courtyard of its new building.

Jerry Colangelo visited campus yesterday for his 4th annual discussion with FOX10 sports anchor Jude LaCava. Colangelo and LaCava talked private and public funding of sports arenas in front of a too-large-to-count crowd packed into the second floor of the Student Union. Colangelo let out some insiders along the way, including how the Scorpions — scratch that — the Diamondbacks, came to be.

Graduates of the online program at Grand Canyon University always have inspirational stories to tell, and this year they were equally inspired by keynote speaker Gian-Paul Gonzalez’s talk — and by the celebration that is a GCU commencement ceremony.

If the graduates at fall commencement didn’t know about ninth-grade world history teacher and New York Giants chaplain Gian-Paul Gonzalez before they got to GCU Arena, they sure do now. Gonzalez’s keynote addresses at the five ceremonies were a hit every time, and in addition to all the standing ovations he also was descended upon by a sea of thankful listeners when he came out to watch the “tunnel walk” after the Saturday morning ceremony.

Photos by David Kadlubowski and Travis Neely GCU News Bureau The Saturday morning ceremony at Grand Canyon University fall commencement featured 858 graduates from the College of Doctoral Studies and the Colangelo College of Business.  

Increasingly, students at Grand Canyon University are adding minors. These extra concentrated courses give students deeper knowledge in a branch of their major, an increased skill set, a complement to their major, or a completely different academic area to explore.

A Colangelo College of Business degree translates well to startups — all kinds of startups. That’s the lesson learned by Susie Baklini and Catherine Zixin, who both graduated last spring and now find themselves working for Naya Energy. It’s not at all what they envisioned.

Grand Canyon University is known for its hospitality — and, more and more, its hospitality program, too. A kickoff event for the program, entering its fourth year, packed the Canyon 49 Grill, and a recent graduate shared tips about her success in the field and how the program helped her achieve it.

GCU is always evolving, with new buildings rising up and offices and colleges moving to new spaces. All the change makes for an interesting first-day of class. The GCU News team fanned out on Monday to talk to students, professors and even the Success Patrol and Academic Career Excellence Centers, who there there to make sure students found their classrooms.