College of Science, Engineering and Technology

Fall semester at GCU was a time of great growth — in students, courses, programs and learning — and as GCU hosts its first winter commencement this afternoon for about 700 traditional graduates, GCU Today takes the opportunity to celebrate the University’s stellar faculty. They have gone beyond the call of duty to assist students inside their classrooms and outside of them, too, dedicating many extra hours, evenings and weekends to student success. Click here to read stories about several of them.

So many things happened at Grand Canyon University in 2014, it’s hard to pick the 10 most important.

The growth of GCU’s technology degree programs will continue in fall 2015 when the University’s first-ever engineering students arrive on campus to begin working toward degrees with biomedical, electrical and mechanical concentrations. Associate dean Dr. Michael Sheller of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology said the program design began nearly two years ago through the hard work and collaborations led by Dr. Michael Mobley and Haley Peebles, who oversee the University’s Center for Integrated Science, Engineering and Technology. GCU Today has a story about the new engineering programs and how they fit into the overall academic goal to better train young people for STEM-oriented careers.

By GCU News Bureau On a day when 530 Grand Canyon University traditional graduates were on cloud nine as they paraded up to receive their diplomas, numbers were the name of the game — and there were two ways about it. First, this was a first. GCU had never before held a winter commencement until Friday afternoon at the Arena, but the University’s ever expanding student population made it obvious a year and a half ago that it would become necessary. First-semester graduates previously had to wait until spring commencement if they wanted to participate in the ceremony. Second, there was the numerical magic of Justin Willman, who wowed the crowd in his entertaining commencement address, just as he had in the October ceremony for online graduates. His closing trick, in which the random numbers he got from four students equaled, when multiplied, the date and exact time (121,214,437, or 12/12/14 at 4:37 p.m.), is impossible to figure. But in between jokes and other tricks, Willman, host of “Cupcake Wars,” had a simple message for the graduates: “No matter how you do the math, the past and the future always wind up adding up to the present.” Three cheers for that. —Rick […]

Students in Grand Canyon University’s new “innovative Computing” club (known by its iC abbreviation) are already working with advisers to help launch academic cloud-computing technology for the first-ever GCU computer science/information technology course. The club of mostly freshmen are also looking forward to collaborating on extracurricular tech projects.

Grand Canyon University announced that it has partnered with Peoria Unified School District on the new STEM Scholars program. The initiative enables high school juniors and seniors to earn tuition-free college credits, so they have their first year of college completed before they even get to campus. Students in Peoria’s Medical, Engineering and Technology (MET) Professional Academy and Sunrise Mountain High School will be the first offered opportunities for college credit through the district and GCU.

Grand Canyon University President and CEO Brian Mueller is among national leaders of universities, businesses and other organizations invited to attend the White House College Opportunity Summit in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Dec. 4. The conference recognizes educational institutions and other community stakeholders committed to developing college graduates who can put their skills to use in the American workforce. “Grand Canyon is pleased to be part of this national discussion about how to best educate our young people, prepare them for fruitful careers that support Arizona cities and towns, and make college education as accessible as possible to a wide range of students,” Mueller said. Over the past few years, the University has intensified its efforts to ensure that a high-quality, affordable college education is available to all students, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Nearly 18 months ago, Grand Canyon and the Phoenix Union High School District announced a partnership with Alhambra High School to develop the “Learning Lounge” on the University campus, where college students mentor high school students to assist them in improving their academics and expose them to the vast possibilities of a college education. After just one year, nearly 300 Alhambra students have visited the Learning Lounge […]

The latest edition of GCU Today Magazine — featuring a comprehensive look at the University’s new plan to strengthen its west Phoenix neighborhood — is available here. The December issue also has a story about GCU nurturing its spiritual-life roots, a feature on the men’s basketball team’s debut on the national sports stage and an article about what a new name and a new dean mean for students in the Colangelo College of Business. Don’t miss our stories about alumni Gustavo Anton’s journey to medical school and Michelle Lara’s road to recovery from a near-fatal accident, plus a profile of online student Komi Lokossou, a broadly smiling goodwill ambassador on GCU’s main campus.

Story by Bob Romantic Photos by Darryl Webb GCU Today Magazine Six-year-old Gadiel walked up to Louis Falk at the dedication ceremony for his family’s new home and offered two simple words: “Thank you.” For Falk, who taught Gadiel to use a hammer on the first day of the Habitat for Humanity project to build their home in Mesa, those words resonated more than he could have imagined. “That was amazing,” Falk, a freshman at Grand Canyon University, said of his first experience as a Habitat volunteer two years ago. “It’s just heartwarming to see how grateful these people are.” Vanessa Garcia, a 27-year-old administrative assistant at GCU, had a similar encounter at her first Habitat experience five years ago. “It was for a single mom with two kids who couldn’t afford a home on her own,” Garcia said. “To see it from beginning to end, every Saturday morning, and watch her dream come true, the impact is just incredible.” Garcia and Falk have been hooked on Habitat ever since those initial experiences. So when GCU announced it was embarking on a first-of-its-kind partnership with Habitat for Humanity to revitalize an entire community of homes in its neighborhood over the […]

Grand Canyon University alumnus Gustavo Anton overcame dyslexia to excel in GCU’s premed program prior to finding his way to Midwestern University, where he is following his dream to become a pediatric surgeon.