Grand Canyon University

Paul Danuser is widely known on campus as an exuberant public address announcer for GCU Athletics. But in his other life as an Assistant Professor and student, he was playing the long game of completing his doctoral degree. In August, he finally won. Dr. Paul Danuser shared what the experience was like, the importance of being a lifelong learner and what he hopes to do next.

In just one year, the College of Science, Engineering and Technology’s new Nutritional Sciences program has grown to include almost 100 students, and the college is anticipating that growth to continue. It will open a new Nutritional Sciences Lab this fall and added a new faculty lead in Courtney Baker, who worked for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health before starting her new job at GCU.

GCU wanted to go where the jobs were, which is why it opened the College of Science, Engineering and Technology in 2014. Today, the college is announcing that four of its programs have been accredited by ABET, including the bachelor’s degree program in Computer Science and the bachelor’s degree programs in Biomedical, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. It’s a prestigious distinction that assures employers that GCU’s students are meeting a quality standard. “They know that these students are prepared for industry,” said Dr. Janet Brelin-Fornari, Associate Dean of Engineering. Fifth in a nine-part series spotlighting each GCU college as the fall semester begins.

To say the new Assistant Dean in the College of Education is driven may be an understatement. Emily Pottinger has taken on the leadership role while producing an education podcast, studying for her doctorate and preparing for the birth of her second child. Part of her drive comes from wanting to train teachers to love and care for students — a positive education she wants for her own children one day.

There’s a national teacher shortage, a numbers problem GCU is helping address. GCU’s K12 Educational Development hopes its webinar training on teacher certification tests adds up to a solution. Wednesday’s training was the first virtual session on a subject tough to so many across the country trying to pass the certification — math.

The stresses are adding up. A pandemic, social unrest, working from home, loss of income and freedoms. Now think of the mental health professionals trying to help the public deal with all that. It can lead to stressed-out counselors, too. “It’s easy to forget that they have a burden because they carry everyone else’s burden,” said Dr. Chis McBride, fulltime faculty in Behavioral Health Sciences who produced a Loom presentation on stress as part of GCU’s partnership with Southwest Network, a mental health provider in Maricopa County.

GCU was ahead of the game. When new students start the year with online instruction in September, they already will be familiar with GCU through a student-led webinar called Walk to Class, which was launched long before anyone had heard of COVID-19. The First Year Experience program not only teaches them the technology but calms incoming students’ fears with a supportive and caring approach — just what’s needed in this unusual year.

Mental health counseling and religious faith haven’t always been on the same page. Today, that is changing. Dr. Laurie Tone, adjunct counseling instructor in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, led a webinar Thursday that described how the integration of faith and counseling can give people hope, especially in these uncertain times.

Beakers, goggles and graduated cylinders have long made their homes in countless chemistry labs. But not this summer, at least not in Dr. Kimberly Horsley’s introductory chemistry class. She wanted to find out if some lab activities could be done at home, and COVID-19 presented a unique opportunity to test the at-home-lab-experiment waters. Her CHM-113 students received lab kits in the mail, assembled by the College of Science, Engineering and Technology’s lab team, and the remote chemistry opportunity was on.

GCU students in School Counseling practicums across the country found a way to make the best of the bad situations caused by the pandemic. Facing emptied schools, they fashioned creative ways to be of service to their communities. “It reflects GCU’s mission, which is to help the best way we can,” said Angelica Corona.