College of Doctoral Studies

Spring commencement set a record for the number of doctoral graduates (140), and there’s a reason for that: The reputation of the GCU program continues to grow. Talk to the newly minted doctors who just went through it, and you find out why.

Photos by David Kadlubowski GCU News Bureau The Friday evening ceremony at Grand Canyon University spring commencement featured 1,074 graduates from the College of Doctoral Studies and Colangelo College of Business. To watch the entire ceremony, click here.   

Five years, 13 operations and yet another leg amputation later, and Eric Gabriel has reached the finish line on his journey to earning his doctoral degree. After living with one leg for the past 25 years, Gabriel learned in November to adjust to life with no legs, all while finishing up his doctoral studies. “If I didn’t have GCU and my schoolwork to do, I would have gone crazy. You know I don’t even know where I would be today,” he said.

The idea for the April issue of GCU Magazine actually was hatched in 2015, when we told the stories of some of the incoming students in the Class of 2019. Now they’re graduating, and it was time to see what their four years were like. The answer: It was a head-spinning time of growth, both on campus and for the students themselves. This issue also features the University’s first graduates from its engineering program and its Students Inspiring Students initiative, a look at how GCU teaches computer programming differently, the heartwarming story of Jesse Dalla Riva‘s transformation from drug addict to graduate, and a My LopeLife piece by another 2019 grad. There’s more: what’s ahead for the GCU men’s basketball program, the increasingly important communication tool utilized by online instructors and students, and yet another heartwarming story — this one on recent GCU Hall of Fame inductee Sharky Baker. To read the digital version, click here.  

Washington High School senior Juan Ballez has watched his father struggle with mobility in his hand and, for years, wished there was a way he could help. Now, on the cusp of graduating, he thinks he knows a way — by becoming a biomedical engineer. His dream of helping people, like his father, came closer to fruition Tuesday at GCU, when he found out he was one of 43 students in the neighborhood surrounding GCU to receive the Students Inspiring Students scholarship. “It feels like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders,” said Juan after receiving the scholarship, which covers four years of tuition and books. “… I was determined. I was like, I can’t have my parents pay for it (college). I don’t want that burden on them.”

It’s a legacy as big as the state of Texas: Kelly Taylor and five other members of her family have been online students at GCU since 2011. “I think the support system with GCU makes working on a degree much easier,” said Tammy Jones, one family member, who encouraged her mother, then 75 years old, and daughter to also become Lopes.

It’s been a big year so far, but there’s more to come in 2018-19. The spring semester will kick off with the grand opening of the new 150,000-plus-square foot Colangelo College of Business Building on Jan. 9 and will barrel forward through April and May with signature events such as the Canyon Challenge, Mr. GCU, the Theatre Department’s presentation of Holocaust drama “Who Will Carry the Word,” Serve the City in February, the Roadshow Tour at GCU Arena, basketball and much more. Check out some highlights from GCU Today’s 2019 Winter-Spring Calendar.

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.