Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow
Grand Canyon University advisory board members were among the most curious and delighted to hear student projects at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Spring 2025 Senior Showcase on Wednesday morning.
Amelia Miller, a professional writing for new media student, was not just displaying a paper to get to graduation. She showed how her writing project landed a grant from the YWCA for the GCU student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers. She also helped win a large grant for a nonprofit.
“I want to do this professionally,” Miller said. “It’s storytelling.”
Among the impressed listening to her projects was Paula Pedene, an advisory board member for the college, public relations strategist and speaker from Scottsdale. She also talked with professional writing senior Emily Cooper, who already has self-published nine books.
“You have published authors, you have grant writers who have gotten $300,000 for nonprofits they interned with, you have journalists learning about writing. As a former broadcaster and a public relations professional, it’s wonderful to see the blend of abilities that the school is bringing to these students and setting them up for a path to the future," Pedene said.
She added, "And, as a Christian, the fact that (faith) is implanted in their presentations and what they do and the morals that play a role in how we help others is just needed in our country. It’s needed in the world, and I think (GCU) is making a difference here.”
Twenty members of the college's advisory board, who are experts in the fields of humanities and social sciences, were there not only to be impressed. They have helped establish what the students need to be successful in their fields. And many of them hire GCU graduates, said Dean Dr. Sherman Elliott.
At many universities, "curriculum is determined by faculty and deans in the ivory tower. We flip that upside down. We go to employers and ask, what do you want our graduates to look like? What do you want them to know, and what do you want them to be able to do? So in the meetings with (advisory board) members, they are able to drive the curriculum and pass it on to the faculty and students as they prepare for their final presentation.”
Another role they play is in feedback to students, which played out at the showcase.
Four students presented at the advisory board's morning breakfast and were among the dozens of seniors later showing their work throughout the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Building in psychology and social work, math and Spanish, communications and government, and other fields.
Alexa McCoy, Mireya Ramirez, Grace Clapp and Sam Barry showed how food deserts – typically urban areas where it is difficult to afford and buy quality fresh food – negatively impact economic mobility.
In its study of the Maryvale and Alhambra neighborhoods near GCU, the group found that nutritional food is hard to come by. Economic factors and policies have led to the growth of large grocery chains moving a significant distance from people in the neighborhood. That means less nutritious food is consumed.
“If you don’t start with a healthy diet from when you’re a child, your early development is hindered,” Barry said later in the morning. “And what we found in the research is that educational attainment was lowered in the areas with food deserts.”
Medical bills also rise, with poor nutrition contributing to the cycle of poverty.
One solution is providing a grocery delivery service to increase access to quality foods, an idea they will present at the International City County Management Association's conference in Baltimore in May on economic mobility and opportunity, which was also the focus of many GCU government students’ presentations at the showcase.
Advisory board member Bill Stipp said it’s important that students talk with someone in the industry.
“How does this study meet the real world? I think having that interaction, those discussions, is really important,” said the Leading Edge Consulting Group president who consults on many public sector projects nationwide. “Your study may have shown this but, in reality, where does the rubber meet the road? … How does the private sector capital market fit into this?”
Stipp also said he gets a lot back from these interactions.
“Our world is so negative, and I look today at these groups of graduates and they are saying, ‘Hey, we care. No, this world isn’t such a horrible place,’” he said. “I think that part is important, and we forget about thinking of it kind of holistically – how we care and how we care for each other. We’ve forgotten how to do that.”
Advisory board members also were keen to connect with GCU students at the showcase’s job fair.
“The city of Tucson has 450 vacancies through all departments,” said Teri Traaen, advisory board member and human resources director for the city of Tucson.
GCU students “are not only prepared academically and technically, but clearly prepared in the call to serve,” she said. “For us in public service, particularly now, the challenge is huge, so we are looking for people with that emotional commitment. Because we are servants.”
Speech and debate shows out
The showcase also featured the final round of a campuswide debate tournament open to all, featuring the pair who made the final round – freshman Josh Carter and junior Terry Liddell.
The winner earned a scholarship on next year’s GCU Speech and Debate team, which Director of Forensics Michael Dvorak said had its best year ever, finishing fifth in the national rankings by the International Public Debate Association, as well as seven individual national champions.
“We have some really dedicated students,” Dvorak said. “They really put in the work to make sure that they can succeed, and then we were able to focus on tournaments that would give them the best exposure to different judges.”
Ethan White was last year’s runner-up in the campus tournament, which Dvorak says allows any student to debate outside the classroom, exploring their personal beliefs and knowledge. White had no prior debate experience and ended up being a place-winner in a national contest this year.
Wednesday’s competition final centered on the question: Are American churches too political?
Carter laid out examples on why they are, listing examples of political issues such as wage gaps, nuclear policy and embargoes on countries that are part of some churches' positions, though surveys show most Christians disagree with political endorsements in churches, which are losing membership because of it. “I would like to argue to ‘render onto Caesar what is Caesar’s,” he said, quoting the Bible.
Liddell countered that the church always has been political and played a large part in important aspects of American history, such as Black churches' support of the Civil Rights Movement. “It gave them a place to be outside the white power structure that was keeping them down,” he said, adding that churches’ moral issues are not political but adjacent to it, and that the Internal Revenue Service already limits what churches can do politically.
Three judges unanimously picked Carter the winner.
The former high school debate team member was handed a GCU Speech and Debate polo.
“I would say part of it is confidence,” Carter said. “I remember when I was trying out my freshman year. A judge told me I had a good case, but you were never confident, so I couldn’t vote for you.
“You can say whatever you want, but if you’re confident, that’s what makes it stick, right?”
Grand Canyon University senior writer Mike Kilen can be reached at mike.kilen@gcu.edu
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