Spotlight

Dean Claude Pensis built the program the first time around, in 1982, and he did it again after it was restored, adding dance, digital film, instrumental music and graphic design.

Photo project captured a wide range of events and activities in a 24-hour period in mid-March.

Story by Doug Carroll Photos by Darryl Webb GCU News Bureau As the students, faculty and staff of Grand Canyon University adjourned for Christmas break near the end of 2003, few of them had much knowledge of the financial health of the sleepy, west Phoenix campus where they studied, taught and worked. They were in the dark, and that was not a bad place to be. Like many private institutions of higher education, Grand Canyon had endured its share of struggles since its humble beginnings in 1949, after three Baptist pastors each had plunked down a silver dollar to start Grand Canyon College in Prescott. Lacking either the taxpayer support of public universities or the substantial donor base of successful private colleges, the school depended primarily on tuition-paying students, of whom there were about 1,500 on campus and a similar number taking classes online in 2003. Budgetary surgery was a way of life. “Every few years, there was a financial crisis,” recalls Dr. Charles Maxson, then in his 20th year on the faculty at Grand Canyon. “That’s how it was, and how most small colleges still are.” In 1997, the University’s lenders had pressured the governing board for a change […]

GCU’s basketball home will grow from a capacity of 4,328 to about 7,000 — and in only a few months’ time, thanks to an aggressive renovation schedule.

From wigs and Christmas hams to scholarships and mortgage payments, proceeds from the upcoming GCU Foundation Run to Fight Children’s Cancer help Phoenix Children’s Hospital and Children’s Cancer Network provide a wide range of services and support to young cancer patients and their families.

Grand Canyon University won an award for Education Leader of the Year by AZ BIG Media, the publisher of AzBusiness Magazine.

GCU’s new Learning Lounge, an after-school tutoring program staffed by University students, is aiming for excellence in math and English scores at a multicultural high school in its neighborhood.

Jesse Villegas, a GCU senior, decided to take a leap of faith and move a the low-income apartment complex down the street from GCU to better connect with the international refugees he hoped to minister to.

The year’s top 10 stories and a selection of photos from the GCU Today staff and campus photographer Darryl Webb.