Doctoral

GCU doctoral learners took a break from the intensity of residency for a taste of campus life on Wednesday. The Kachina Ballroom at the Squaw Peak Pointe Hilton in Phoenix became GCU Arena for an hour as learners were treated to a midweek Chapel. Ryan Maguire, GCU’s online ministry coordinator and staff chaplain, provided the message and a smaller Chapel band — consisting only of Campus Music Minister Gabe Salazar and band members Jeannette Montenegro and Jason Richard — provided the music.

It was in his previous position at the University of Phoenix that Dr. Henry Radda found himself taking note of GCU. Radda, who launched and oversaw the school’s doctoral programs, knew something about growth, having taken the School of Advanced Studies to an enrollment of 7,000. “I wasn’t necessarily looking to make a change,” he said Wednesday while settling into his office as GCU’s new senior vice president and dean of the College of Doctoral Studies.

Little more than two years ago, she was a ninth-grade English teacher in suburban Philadelphia, shopping for a doctoral degree program. Today, she’s a 10th-grade English teacher in suburban Phoenix, enrolled in that program at GCU. The biggest difference for Jo Markette? That would be Nick Markette, her husband, whom she met in 2008 in the first cohort group of students pursuing doctoral degrees in organizational leadership.