Colleges

The Ken Blanchard College of Business Eta Chi Chapter of Delta Mu Delta invites all students, staff, faculty and alumni of GCU to submit a paper addressing “Social Responsibility and the Morality of Profits.”  Submissions will be considered for recognition and presentation at the KBCOB Honors Symposium in December 2010. The deadline for submissions is Oct. 15. Notification to those selected for formal presentation at the symposium will be made by Oct. 30. The symposium will be held at the KBCOB building the week of Dec. 6. (The exact date will be selected and announced after the start of the fall semester.) Guidelines: The paper should be no more than 20 pages (including cover, index, exhibits, references and attachments). APA formatting. Submissions should be made electronically to Dr. R. Kevin McClean, Professor of Marketing and Moderator, Eta Chi Chapter, Delta Mu Delta. Email: [email protected] Delta Mu Delta is a national honor society dedicated to the recognition of students who have distinguished themselves academically and others who have experienced measurable success in their professions.  This symposium is intended to provide a forum for all interested students, staff, faculty and alumni to express their positions regarding the theme of the symposium, social […]

GCU is bringing back its popular fine-arts program for the fall of 2010 with enhancements to make the degree especially relevant in today’s marketplace. Auditions will be held for students who may be eligible for $150,000 in scholarships that the University has allocated for the new College of Fine Arts and Production. “What will set our program apart is the complete integration of all of these areas, which happens in the real world,” said Claude Pensis, the dean of the new college. “Considering my history with the University, the return of fine arts to GCU has very special meaning for me.” Pensis has been with the University for 28 years and knows many of the program’s graduates. He has kept in contact with alumni, reaching out to them in recent months for their insights on what would make the college appealing to today’s student. GCU will hold auditions on Saturday, March 6 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Interested student candidates will perform live for select music faculty. Prospects also will be given a theory and musicianship placement exam. Scales and sight-reading also may be assessed. At its peak in the mid-1980s, GCU’s fine-arts program had 120 to 140 music […]

GCU will be implementing a progressive approach to the use of APA writing style for the benefit of all students. Lower-division courses will use a modified set of APA requirements called “GCU Style” that enables students to focus their attention on content development and proper citations. Upper-division courses will incorporate additional elements to support the more advanced work that is reflective of the discipline and will generally follow the 5th edition of APA style, eventually transitioning to the 6th. Upper division English courses will use MLA style.  Both the APA and MLA manuals have recently updated. GCU will be transitioning its resources to the new materials in Fall of 2010. Until then, GCU will be using: APA 5th edition MLA 6th edition GCU has provided students and faculty with electronic resources for these styles in the Student Success Center tab of ANGEL. Purchase of the APA or MLA manuals is optional. However, students in the doctoral programs and students entering the graduate Nursing programs as of 2010 will need the level of detail presented in the APA manual and should purchase the 6th edition. These programs will be using the 6th edition immediately. For reference, the tutorials and templates available […]

On Friday, December 18 at First Southern Baptist Church, 60 graduating nurses walked across the stage as part of GCU’s College of Nursing Convocation and Pinning Ceremony. These nurses have completed their BSN degrees in pre-licensure as well as RN-BSN. This unique ceremony dates back centuries. The modern tradition followed today began in the 1860s when Queen Victoria awarded the Red Cross of St. George to Florence Nightingale for her work with British soldiers. In turn, Nightingale extended her honor to outstanding nursing graduates at the Nightingale School of Nursing at St. Thomas Hospital in London. The ceremony is considered the symbolic beginning of a graduate’s nursing career. The pin itself is a symbol of the tradition shared by nurses around the world. It is worn prominently on the nurse’s uniform throughout their career. “Every school has a unique pin,” says CON Dean Dr. Anne McNamara. “If you look at the Grand Canyon College of Nursing pin, it reflects the logo of GCU with the cross of Jesus Christ and the saguaro cactus.” The ceremony also honored ROTC nursing graduates who have achieved the standards necessary to not only graduate as nurses but also earn commissions as a second lieutenant […]

GCU’s business honors society – the Eta Chi chapter of Delta Mu Delta – held its annual symposium on December 10, 2009, to a capacity crowd in the Williams Lecture Hall. Dr. Kevin McClean, moderator of the business honors society, initiated the event in 2006 to encourage a sharing of research results on topics selected by KBCOB faculty. The event provides a platform for students, faculty and staff to showcase their research work. This year’s topics fell under the heading Maintaining ethical standards in challenging economic times. Presenters included Drs. Cindy Knott, Kim LaPrade and Lisa Aaroe from the College of Education, as well as Dr. Ronke Oke from the KBCOB. Drs. Knott and LaPrade presented Action Inquiry to Solve Education Ethical Dilemmas. Action research is a reflective process used by school leaders to identity and solve problems on a campus. They tailored the presentation for future educators and business managers. Dr. Aaroe presented Funding Special Education and shared her research on federal stimulus funds allocated for special education, but ultimately misappropriated. Dr. Ronke Oke presented Ethical Leadership Challenges in Challenging Times. The discussion covered roles and actions of ethical leaders, as well as how ethical leaders respond to a […]

Congratulations to GCU KBCOB professor Dr. Kevin McClean and senior KBCOB student Mark Hardy on receiving Excellence in Education Awards. The awards were presented in pre-game festivities at the Phoenix Suns game on November 25. Excellence in Education Awards recognize outstanding students and faculty who display overall excellence in the classroom and the community. The winners are selected by GCU college deans, and awards are presented at select Suns and Mercury games throughout the season. Mark Hardy is pursuing his bachelor of science degree in Accounting. He is the president of the KBCOB Business Club. According to KBCOB Assistant Dean Olivier Bouclier, Mark does an outstanding job at promoting the club and reaching out to the community. He exemplifies what GCU students and servant leaders can do. Dr. Kevin McClean is the most senior faculty in KBCOB, and is highly regarded for his devotion to students and passion in the classroom. He is the mentor for the Delta Mu Delta society. According to Bouclier, Dr. McClean is involved in the life of the College, and his insights and collaborative spirit are prevalent throughout. In addition to the awards presentation, at the same Suns game GCU presented an in-game promotion, Are […]

COLA English and writing instructor Kristi Perkins grew up serving others. In grade school, when she was short on humans to serve, her parents noted she brought home every injured animal she could find. She would feed and nurse all the wounded birds, bunnies, dogs and cats back to health. The urge continued through college, where she proposed projects that involved large-scale homeless housing plans and other “enormous efforts to save the world,” she says. “I was a bit of a dreamer,” says Kristi. “But I was always directed toward making the world better and helping others in the process. I believe that serving others is the most natural thing about me and it feels more like instinct than work or effort.” Kristi also found that she had a gift and a love for writing. Kristi earned her bachelor’s degree in English Literature at Arizona State University before returning for a master’s in English with a specialization in Rhetoric and Composition. Today, Kristi most frequently teaches English 101 and 102, at GCU, as well as developmental writing courses. She recently began teach UNV 101, the new University Success course, which is aimed at providing new GCU students with the writing […]

The 2009 ANGEL IMPACT Awards recognize universities and colleges that take the ANGEL online classroom environment…

In answer to student demand and a growing interest in criminal justice, Grand Canyon University (GCU) will begin offering a master of science degree in the subject beginning in spring 2010. “Criminal justice is one of our more popular programs for incoming students, and has been a growing area of interest over the past decade,” said GCU Dean of College of Liberal Arts Lisa St. Louis. “A master’s program enables us to offer our students – many whom are working professionals wishing to advance their career and education – a way to do this through rich online curricula.” Like many higher education institutions, Grand Canyon University has seen a tremendous increase of students enrolling in its criminal justice programs – likely due to the growing popularity of network programs such as “Law and Order” and “CSI” as well as the growth of public safety and homeland security sectors. Many of GCU’s online classes utilize supplemental learning tools such as 3D models, simulations, flash movies and audio lecture recordings lending to a fresh, visually appealing online learning environment. “It’s a very interesting professional pursuit – and an advanced degree in criminal justice can help those who are in government or public […]

A few years ago, GCU had a major in Martial Arts. Dr. Jim Helfers taught a few courses, including one on traditional Okinawan weapons. Today he sticks with literature and humanities courses. That range in itself is a testament to what a good liberal arts education can do for a person. Dr. Helfers graduated from college with intentions to become a journalist. Working to break into newspapers in San Francisco, he ended up working as a technical writer. “All of my coworkers were checking off their calendars for vacation and retirement,” he says. “I could do the work, but it was not exciting work.” Inspiration for a change came from Harper’s magazine. After another day of technical writing, Dr. Helfers sat down to a story about a group of scholars translating the works of philosopher Thomas Aquinas. The project was decades in the making. “I was reading this and thinking, ‘This is exactly what I want to do,’” says Dr. Helfers. “I applied to graduate school and was accepted at the University of Michigan. That is how I got into teaching.” Dr. Helfers came to Arizona in 1990 as an instructor at ASU. In 1992, he responded to an opening […]