Colleges

Student’s choreography is taking the stage within Thunderground to showcase their talent and hard work for their peers to see. The Fall Student Spotlight Concert is a student choreographed and performed show and will showcase a number of different styles of dance. “It definitely gives students a vehicle to experiment with what they’re interested in and grow their choreography skills with the help of the faculty,” Senior Jessica Symmes said. The concert will take place on October 15 and 16.

The first annual Colangelo Servant Leadership Awards, which were handed out this morning at Canyon 49 Grill, were another chance to celebrate what both Jerry Colangelo and GCU are doing in the community. “I love what’s happening at the school, so I find myself saying yes to whatever they want me to help them with,” said iHeart Media Phoenix President Linda Little, one of the award-winners.

Denise Matus, Immersive Simulation Facilitator in the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions, is known for her sense of humor and the way she says things. She loves it when students come back after graduation and remember how she taught them a particular concept. Her outside interests include kickboxing, and she dreams of trying something that has a punchline.

Stephanie Herrick Kays, Graduate Simulation Manager in the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions, has strong feelings about access to medical care and, as a result, wants to create nurse practitioners who will be change agents.

The ongoing cybersecurity battle is such a fascinating topic, a panel of experts — including Dr. Heather Monthie, Associate Dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology — talked about it for an hour and a half Thursday morning in the Library and could have gone on much longer. As one student noted, everything they said aligned with what GCU teaches.

Women can be leaders too, if they set their mind to it. That is why Miss Arizona and Honors College Alumna Jacqueline Thomas’ LLC and blog Lady Leaders partnered with GCU’s Honors college to host the Empowering Female Leaders Panel. Thomas brought several strong GCU women in leadership positions, such as the College of Nursing and Health Care professions Dean Dr. Lisa Smith, Executive Vice President of GCU Sarah Boeder and Vice President of Faculty Operations Kelly Palese, to help empower young women on campus to unlock their leadership potential. “Lady Leaders is committed to providing tangible resources, tools and mentors for women,” Thomas said. “Now that I have been blessed with this network and resources, I want to be able to give it back. That’s the soul purpose for these lady leader panels.”

Strategic Employer Initiatives and Internships goes to great lengths to make sure GCU students have an almost endless number of opportunities to turn their degrees into good-paying jobs, and those efforts were on display in a big way Wednesday afternoon at Meet the Agencies in the Colangelo College of Business Building courtyard. The event drew 57 companies and 633 students — easily the most students at one job fair this year.

Dr. Bob Staples, an instructor in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, has published writing manuals and articles. He has done research. Nothing unusual there. But when you find out the names of his two horses, you’ll have no doubts about which football team he likes.

“I really do believe the big gap between engineers – male and female – is that girls are told it’s a boy’s job,” said sophomore psychology major Madi Abercrombie, a member of the GCU Robotics Club, at Saturday’s Girl Powered STEM Workshop. “We’re empowering girls at a younger age and helping them to have confidence.” About 40 fourth through eighth grade girls spent the morning programming robots, making a slime-like non-Newtonian fluid called gooey gak and making simple battery-powered motors. They also listened to a panel of women, including GCU Associate Dean of Engineering Dr. Janet Brelin-Fornari, speak about their careers in STEM fields. The workshop was a collaboration between the Robotics Club and K12 Educational Development, as well as VEX Robotics and the Robotics Education Competition Foundation.

Jennifer Elfenbein, the new hospitality management instructor in the Colangelo College of Business, has extensive experience in the tourism industry and is passionate about “the practice of loving the stranger.” But there are plenty of other things she’s passionate about, including what she eats and all the healthy pursuits she does in her spare time.