College of Nursing & Health Care Professions

The launch of the two new programs signifies Grand Canyon University’s re-emphasis on an academic commitment to training on science, technology, engineering and mathematics — also known as the STEM disciplines.

Students in GCU’s College of Nursing and Health Care Professions had the opportunity this summer, through their new community health course, to stare poverty in the face. On Wednesday, about 85 students completed a poverty simulation in which they roleplayed fictional characters who struggled daily to eat, live, learn and survive.

Senior citizens in Scottsdale and Phoenix ate chicken quinoa lettuce wraps and dark chocolate, played brain games, learned ways to avoid or manage diabetes and hypertension and participate in other health-related activities during three health fairs organized and presented on Monday by GCU nursing students. The health fairs concluded the students’ summerlong community health course, in which they built relationships and provided care each week to residents of three communities.

GCU’s doctor of nursing practice, which was launched in the spring, begins a new session of courses this month with 90 nursing-leader students who are learning to translate their research into innovative health-care solutions.

Grand Canyon University nursing students helped hikers on Camelback Mountain and Piestewa Peak on Saturday by handing out thousands of bottles of water to promote summer hydration awareness.   

Assistant Dean Maria Quimba of GCU’s College of Nursing and Health Care Professions received awards from two organizations last week in Phoenix for her innovative leadership of faculty, staff and students and forward-thinking programs that promote nursing in the 21st century.

Ten students at GCU’s Banner Boswell campus were awarded grants worth $3,000 apiece.

College of Arts and Sciences staffers Cherissa Chacon and Helen Howard serve as pre-science coordinators, helping pre-med students and others develop the portfolios they need for graduate schools.

GCU alumna Courtney Mitchelle was at least 30,000 feet above Ireland, bound for Frankfurt, Germany, when a fellow passenger became ill with stroke-like symptoms. Mitchell, a nursing college graduate, didn’t hestitate to help out with the medical emergency.

Online faculty member Carma Erickson-Hurt earned a top honor from international nonprofit Project HOPE for teaching teams of Filipino nurses to manage hospice care for terminally ill patients in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda.