Dr. William and Penne McKee gift to found Theological Interdisciplinary Center
Grand Canyon University’s academic commitment to integrating Christian faith into every facet of the university continues to grow stronger, thanks to a $1 million grant by Dr. William and Penne McKee of Scottsdale that will support One Foundation, GCU's bedrock of faith integration.
The gift will create the Theological Interdisciplinary Center (ThInC, pronounced "think") in GCU’s College of Theology, an institutional hub committed to advancing the university's One Foundation initiative. One Foundation is the core framework that weaves Christian faith, a Christ-focused curriculum and faith-based service into the campus's daily academic and community experience.
ThinC will be led by longtime Phoenix-area pastor Dr. David Joynt, who was recently named the center's executive director.
“ThInC represents a transition from mission as statement to mission as an infrastructure,” Dr. Jason Hiles, the college's dean, said in a statement. “By embedding theology into both pedagogy and architecture, GCU ensures that One Foundation is not episodic but perpetuated across generations. We are deeply grateful to Bill and Penne McKee for their vision and partnership in helping GCU continue to lead Christian higher education.”
For decades, GCU has stressed a unified Christian worldview across its curriculum and campus culture.
It established the Canyon Center for Character Education in 2022, funded by a $2.3 million grant from the Kern Family Foundation. Those efforts were multiplied in November with a $10.7 million commitment that built on the initial grant, enabling GCU to carry out a five-year program to cultivate Christian character education in its 10 colleges, student life and athletics.
“It’s an opportunity for us to fulfill our mission,” Dr. Peter Anderson, the center’s executive director, said last winter. “We have an institutional call because of the gift we’ve been given by God to steward the students we have, the mission we have, the faculty we have. So I hope the next few years of the center can be an opportunity for us to make plain what kind of character we are talking about when we talk about character. It’s got to be Christlike character.”
Also, last winter, the Lilly Endowment provided a $9.9 million grant to support GCU’s Flourishing Pastor Network, led by Grand Canyon Theological Seminary. The grant is making it possible for the university to significantly increase the number of churches and partner organizations that host high-impact pastoral residencies. That kind of hands-on experience that students will have in those churches is important in cultivating emerging pastors.
Clint Leavitt, who teaches in the College of Theology, said earlier this year that the students in these residencies won't be like the stereotypical intern who gets coffee for the staff, "but a real responsibility in learning, stewarding and facilitating meetings, and all the ins and outs of ministry."
ThInC marks the next step of the university's commitment to faith integration on campus by establishing the infrastructure necessary to sustain and expand theological incorporation throughout the university.
The four-year grant will allow operational support to build the center and begin strategic initiatives that will bolster GCU’s Christ-centered mission. In addition, the gift provides seed funding for a permanent endowment, with a goal of raising $5 million over three years to maintain ThInC and One Foundation operations for future generations.
“Penne and I are deeply grateful for the opportunity to partner with Grand Canyon University through ThInC to help institutionalize the One Foundation Christian worldview across every college on campus,” Dr. William McKee said in a statement. “We are convinced that this effort will not only affirm students as they discover their God-given purpose but will continue to shape them long after graduation – making them more productive in their vocations, strengthening their families and creating servant leaders to flourish in their communities.
“The ThInC Fellows Program will extend that same vision beyond the campus by bringing Christian leaders and professionals into reflective engagement with the university, its faculty and students. Our prayer is that, by embedding this work into the life of GCU, ThInC will have a generational impact on graduates and their communities for decades to come.”
Shortly after the announcement, ThInC hired Joynt as executive director. Joynt, who served as senior pastor of Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley for the last 12 years before his retirement, will direct an advisory board of Christian leaders from various backgrounds who exemplify faith.
The board's role will be to encourage students to embody faith in their work and in their lives outside of work – to display professional excellence and Christian conviction.
The board also will ensure that ThInC’s work stays current to real-world institutional and market contexts by supplying strategic guidance and fundraising.
Joynt is no stranger to GCU, having served on the COT's advisory board for several years. He also has hosted the College of Arts and Media’s Critical Mass at Valley Presbyterian on multiple occasions.
ThInC will work with faculty, curriculum designers, the One Foundation committee, the Canyon Center for Character Education and GCU academic leaders to bolster faith integration in teaching, curriculum development and faculty formation.
ThInC also will engage Christian scholars, business leaders, ministry partners and donors through research, lectures, conferences and organized efforts that place GCU as a national leader in interdisciplinary Christian higher education.
GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
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