College of Humanities and Social Sciences

He dined with people who fashioned peace in Northern Ireland, yet when Dr. Val Martinez came to GCU to teach Government courses after a career as a diplomat, he humbly kept an open door for students. Martinez died at age 68 on Feb. 23, and one former student whom Martinez helped lead to his own career in government will miss him dearly. “I only wish I could take another class from him,” said Humberto Ramos, a 2019 graduate who works for U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz).

The first day of the Kevin McClean Research Colloquium featured nine impressive presentations, but the three by students on desert plants were the talk of the attendees. “Those kids were impressive, good gravy,” said one of the other presenters, College of Education Professor Jena Akard. The colloquium continues at 3 p.m. Thursday with eight more presentations.

There will be so many presentations at the fourth annual Kevin McClean Research Colloquium, it will take two days for them to all be shared. The colloquium will begin at 3 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, will be entirely online and will feature five GCU students as well as a wide array of faculty members. It is the fulfillment of McClean’s wish to see the event grow.

Rebecca Foy, an Online Full-Time Faculty member of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, tells a wonderful story about helping a 75-year-old man who returned to school for the first time since he was a teenager. Her patience in helping him improve his writing skills and pass the seven-week course are indicative of her passion for students.

Strategic Employer Initiatives and Internships (SEI) handed out Career Advisor of the Year awards to 12 faculty members who regularly turn their classrooms into career factories. SEI’s devotion to linking students to employers also is reflected in its ever expanding list of offerings, such as the recent Career Awareness Week. “We all know we have great students. We all know they’re going places. We’re just trying to connect the dots and support their journey in getting there,” said Haley Fagerlie, SEI’s Executive Director.

Araceli Wills delivered such a powerful talk as a student speaker at Winter Commencement, it was only natural to want to hear more from her. So we asked her to write the My LopeLife for the February issue of GCU Magazine, and she graciously agreed — and wrote an equally strong piece. “My hope is to shed light on the power of perspective and how it can serve as a testament of who God is and how He’s able to raise you out of the ashes of this broken world,” she wrote.

Dr. Mufasa Moyenda got the ball rolling in GCU’s College of Doctoral Studies, and a whole group of suddenly tech-savvy counseling professors in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences joined the team to move it forward until a new website was created that focuses on uniting counseling students and faculty in three programs and two colleges. The Counseling Community Connection, those involved said, could be a model for many academic programs to copy.

Kevin Walling saw the need in Washington state, and he saw it here. Some students who live in public housing need help with their school work. That’s why the chair of Justice Studies, Government and History rang College of Education Associate Dean Dr. Marjaneh Gilpatrick, and they devised a plan to partner with City of Phoenix Housing on a tutoring program that is expected to start by late February. “GCU students have a strong commitment to service leadership, so our students would make excellent tutors to children in need,” Walling said.

Dr. Julia Langdal-Sittu teaches psychology in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and has fun doing so. She makes it interesting and relatable for students by sharing her love of superheroes and having them do interesting exercises, such as the one that had her standing on a chair in GCBC and reciting a speech from “The Lord of the Rings” to the crowded room. And there’s more: She and her husband go on an annual excursion that is above and beyond, and she gets her kicks out of an aggressive exercise that she finds “exhilarating.”

Photos by Elizabeth Tinajero GCU News Bureau Graduates of the Colleges of Education, Fine Arts and Production, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Theology were honored Saturday morning at GCU Arena.