College of Nursing & Health Care Professions

Move-In gets the year started off right for incoming GCU students, but it has the same effect on the volunteers who help them. Whether they’re helping for the first time or are seniors and have done it every year, they treasure the excitement. “It’s my third year, and it’s always the same energy,” said one.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Projections for 2016-2026, registered nursing is among the top occupations for job growth. Despite that growth in the field, the number of nurses emerging from higher education wont’ be enough. The bureau estimates the country will need more than 1 million registered nurses by 2024, and the outlook is even more dire for Arizona. Read how GCU and partner GCE are trying to alleviate the problem.

The new GCU Innovation Center now has a director (Robert Vera), a home (Building 66 at 27th Avenue), a slogan (“Create your purpose”) and a GCU-oriented goal — to provide opportunities for both GCU students and local start-ups. Dr. Randy Gibb, Dean of the Colangelo College of Business, calls it “a different way to approach this start-up world.” Vera certainly knows how to approach that world as well as a lot of other ventures. He’s even a best-selling author.

John Catania was close to completing his engineering degree, even landing an internship. But the deeper he dug into the program, the more he knew he didn’t feel a connection to what he was studying. He had no passion for it. So he switched his career track to nursing — a decision he hasn’t regretted. One moment comes to mind when he knew he was meant to be a nurse. It was when a patient suffered a heart attack while he was making rounds at the hospital, and he helped save the man’s life. Catania, a GCU online student from Port Charlotte, Fla., who is pursuing his master’s degree to become an acute care nurse practitioner, received the national DAISY Award this summer. The award recognizes exceptional nurses for the work they do.

For the second straight quarter, GCU’s nursing graduates have posted the highest first-time pass-rate among the state’s major universities on a national licensure examination. They exceeded a 98% first-time pass rate for each of the first two quarters of 2019 on the National Council Licensure Examination, which determines whether a student is ready to start working as a nurse. “The fact that we’ve been able to sustain those high first-time pass-rate numbers two quarters in a row shows that we’re doing the right things,” said Amy Leach, the college’s NCLEX Success Manager. “… We’re performing well compared to what the national and state standards are.”

GCU’s first academic year in its return to nonprofit status was filled with so many important stories, picking just 10 was a challenging exercise for the GCU Today staff. Here’s how we voted, with links to the many stories that are worth revisiting.

GCU’s recent nursing graduates posted an impressive 98.21% first-time pass rate for the first quarter of 2019 on a rigorous national examination nursing candidates must pass before receiving a license and working professionally in the field. Of the 112 GCU nursing students who took the standardized exam from January to March, 110 passed the test on their first go-round. “It’s really a testament to the quality of the program and the engagement of the students,” said Amy Leach, National Council Licensure Examination Success Manager.

Photos by David Kadlubowski GCU News Bureau The Saturday morning session of spring commencement at Grand Canyon University featured 1,023 graduates, from the College of Education and the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions. For a replay of the ceremony, click here.      

The most unusual scene of commencement played out Friday afternoon when a 14-man mariachi band performed for one of the graduates near the 33rd Avenue entrance to campus. It was the perfect surprise, but pulling it off was a challenge for the graduate’s fiancee as well as the Events team.

Purple and white leis and necklaces intertwined with shells are popular accessories at commencement ceremonies, but Kathy Taula was sporting the all-time champion of leis Friday afternoon: garlands of white carnations and orchids and a flower garland of yellow carnations in her hair, plus a garland of dollar bills that covered at least a third of her face.