College of Humanities and Social Sciences

GCU’s Speech and Debate team will hit the tournament season running this year with 11 returnees and a new director, Michael Dvorak, who has coached GCU speech competitors for two years. Dvorak, a College of Humanities and Social Sciences faculty member, brings 10 years of expertise and a history of winning to GCU’s four-year-old team.

Welcome Week 2017 promises to be another busy and festive time for students as they return to campus. But it’s extremely important, too. “The week says to all, ‘You belong here,’” said Charity Norman, manager of GCU’s Student and Family Program.

Michael ‘‘Big Dog’’ Abell wasn’t always blind, but he started losing his sight at age 9 as the result of a firecracker accident. It took nearly three decades for him to lose his vision completely. Heeding a calling from God, Abell completed his master’s degree in Professional Counseling from GCU this month and now leads the “Visionaries” support group for the visually impaired.

Summer vacation or not, GCU College of Humanities and Social Sciences counseling professors and students continue to bring group therapy sessions to sex-trade survivors sheltered at the Phoenix Dream Center. “The students benefit from the service work,” said CHSS counseling lead Denise Krupp. “I want them to have a good, wonderful feeling when they leave.” And the survivors benefit by bonding, learning about themselves and gaining self-esteem.

One of the most successful teams at GCU the last couple of years has been Speech and Debate, which has an interesting collection of personalities and an impression collection of results. How did they become such a tight-knit and talented group, and what makes them tick?

Photos by Slaven Gujic  GCU News Bureau Online students in the College of Doctoral Studies, College of Humanities and Social Sciences and College of Nursing and Health Care Professions received their degrees Friday in two separate ceremonies at GCU Arena. Classic pianist Jade Simmons delivered the keynote address for each ceremony, and Dr. Tim Griffin, GCU’s pastor and dean of students, and GCU President Brian Mueller were among the speakers.  

Online students have many amazing stories of overcoming obstacles to earn their degrees. Some of them make you wonder how they ever did it — until you talk with them and listen to their determination.

Twenty-one students in the Honors College inaugural group, which began in 2013, were awarded their degrees Thursday. Breanna Naegeli, Honors College assistant dean, described the moment as “bittersweet” but added, “We’ve been really blessed because without them we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

Cathy Hocking accepted a Bachelor of Arts in Communications degree Thursday at Grand Canyon University on behalf of her daughter, Karli Richardson, one of three people killed in a car accident April 14. Hocking believes that God has a plan and a purpose for taking the lives of her only children. “People are coming to know the Lord through them,” she said.

Among the College of Humanities and Social Sciences students who are graduating Thursday is Ashlienne Newsome, an English major who has penned and published two novels as part of her “A Tainted Age” trilogy. Newsome has always loved reading and writing, earned a 3.9 grade point average at GCU and is close to her mother and to God, “who has never let me fall farther than His arms can reach.”