College of Humanities and Social Sciences

The Summer Institute isn’t quite like the traditional s’mores and campfire summer camp. Instead, the more than a dozen academic camps in various GCU colleges saw high school sophomores, juniors and seniors learning about Trojan malware, investigating the qualities of polyvinyl alcohol cryogels, writing poetry or executing mock warrants — and making friends while staying in the University’s dorms for the two- to four-day camps. The institute geared up recently with various science camps and will continue throughout the summer with humanities, business, honors camps.

Gone are the days of only having the option of earning the traditional bachelor’s degree in English or bachelor’s degree in history. Administrators want to make sure the University’s degrees lead to getting a job. So they’ve consulted with experts in the field and have reshaped many of GCU’s degree offerings, which are now “career-focused,” from a bachelor’s degree in history with an emphasis in public history, for example, to a bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis in professional writing.

“I wanted to pay it back,” GCU Enrollment supervisor Michael Rodriguez said at the GCU Volunteer Fair on Wednesday at the 27th Avenue office building as he signed up at the Big Brothers Big Sisters booth. Rodriguez himself was paired with a Big Brother when he was a kid. BBBS was just one of the 20 GCU-supported nonprofits employees were able to connect with at the fair, an event GCU Community Outreach Manager Debbie Accomazzo calls a “matchmaking opportunity.”

Alpha Chi, the national honors society, gave its Outstanding Chapter Sponsor award to Honors College Assistant Dean Breanna Naegeli at its national convention last month. Naegeli has worked hard to grow GCU’s chapter, and it sent a record number of representatives to the conference — including three who did presentations.

It wasn’t just another great year for the Speech and Debate team at Grand Canyon University — it was the team’s best year ever. GCU finished 19th and had a top-eight team in a national debate event last month, then had two top-48 finishers in a national speech event.

Time after time over three days of commencement, Grand Canyon University volunteers sought to make the experience special for the graduates. One of the ways they do it is the “tunnel walk” after each ceremony — applauding the grads as they walk out of the Arena after the ceremony. It was just one of many memorable moments.

Photos by Slaven Gujic and Travis Neely GCU News Bureau Online students from the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions, the College of Education, the Colangelo College of Business and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences received their diplomas at commencement Friday night at Grand Canyon University Arena. To view the ceremony, click here.   

Photos by Travis Neely GCU News Bureau Online students from the College of Fine Arts and Production, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the College of Theology and the College of Science, Engineering and Technology participated in commencement Friday morning in GCU Arena. To watch the ceremony, click here.      

One of the participants at commencement Friday knows the Grand Canyon University campus far better than most online students. Tatiana Parada lived on campus for her first two years but then moved to Los Angeles to get married. But she still completed her degree and raves about both the traditional and the online programs.

Dr. Charles Maxson is retiring after 34 years at GCU, and students talked at length about all the things they have learned from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences professor. Mainly, they appreciated one-on-one conversations with him.