Lana Sweeten-Shults
GCU Today
United States
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Past articles by Lana:
Engineering clubs get taste of projects, ice cream
Students taking UNV-112, "Success in Science, Engineering and Technology," floated fellow students' boats with a boat-float challenge. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers chapter displayed its robot obstacle course. And the newly formed SAE Aero Design team had a few remote-controlled aircraft to display. All the activities were part of National Engineers Week, or E-Week, which… → Read More
Archery phenom shoots for Athlete of Year title
Archery phenom and Grand Canyon University student Alexis Ruiz has had a phenomenal rookie year on the international circuit. She was the only archer, male or female, to medal in all four stages of the Archery World Cup and now has been nominated for World Archery's Athlete of the Year. → Read More
Winter-spring 2020 Calendar of Events
GCU News Bureau The first 10 years of the millennium have seen explosive growth at GCU. The new decade promises even more, with the debut of 2020 bringing the opening of the new Student Advising Services Building as well as the Herd Stop mini-mart in the Antelope Apartments. And then there are a slew of events on the horizon. Here are a few of them. January Jan. 3-4: Promotional tables set up… → Read More
GCU ROTC places flags to honor those lost on 9/11
For Master Sgt. Avery Cunningham, Sept. 11, 2001, was a pivotal day in his life. He remembers being in statistics class when a plane hit the second tower of the World Trade Center. "I’m from St. Louis (Mo.), so it didn’t directly hit home but seeing the aftermath -- our country as we know it changed. That’s why I decided to join and have been doing this for 16 years," said Cunningham, who is a… → Read More
Right formula: Science camp at Learning Lounge
"Is this seaweed?" asked one second-grader on Tuesday morning at the new Learning Lounge at the Milwaukee Brewers' baseball complex before diving into the other items nestled in a bucket before her: feathers, seashells, a crab leg. It was just one of the science activities that kept second- through fifth-graders busy at the Learning Lounge Science Camp. It's one of two one-week camps at the new… → Read More
Salute Our Troops changes lives of vets, volunteers
Vanessa Romeo volunteered at Salute Our Troops for the first time on the Wednesday before Memorial Day. "This is everything to me," said Romeo, a university counselor in the military division, of the GCU signature event as she spoke with one veteran at the Arizona State Veteran Home about family, his hometown in Mississippi and a favorite topic of his -- cookies. This year marked the ninth year… → Read More
GCU/Habitat volunteers get to know their neighbors
David and Bonnie Wincentsen remember when they first moved into their home on North 40th Drive. They would look out the window and see nothing but farmland -- and a one- or two-building Grand Canyon University. Almost 60 years later and the couple, whose house was painted recently as part of the GCU-Habitat for Humanity neighborhood revitalization project, are now surrounded by apartment… → Read More
First graduates complete the engineering circuit
Isaiah Slemons spent much of his childhood in and out of hospitals, so he knew what he wanted to do with his life -- help others as others helped him through his medical challenges. He graduated Thursday with his Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Engineering and is one of about 40 biomedical, electrical and mechanical engineering scholars who became GCU's first engineering graduating class. → Read More
Students surprised with full-tuition SIS scholarships
Washington High School senior Juan Ballez has watched his father struggle with mobility in his hand and, for years, wished there was a way he could help. Now, on the cusp of graduating, he thinks he knows a way -- by becoming a biomedical engineer. His dream of helping people, like his father, came closer to fruition Tuesday at GCU, when he found out he was one of 43 students in the neighborhood… → Read More
She's a 7-year-old gymnast ... and cancer survivor
Gwyn Satterlee, 7, cartwheels along the mat -- and cartwheels and cartwheels -- at her Chandler gymnastics studio. But it wasn’t long ago when the young gymnast didn’t have enough energy to do even one cartwheel. She was just 4 years old when she was diagnosed with leukemia. This year, she will serve as the honorary race starter for the 2019 Children’s Cancer Network Run to Fight Children’s… → Read More
Java boot camp helps students launch new careers
Bill Palowski served in the Air Force for 23 years. Christina Herman was a GCU student who changed her major three times and wasn't sure what she wanted to do as a career. But after immersing themselves in four months in GCU's Java Certificate Program, the new coders both were hired, before graduation, by a large technology consulting firm. They are examples of the success of the program, which… → Read More
Team lands $5,000 contract at Opportunity Hack
A GCU technology team spent two days at Opportunity Hack 2018 developing an app to help three nonprofits with a pressing tech problem. They also brought home a big prize -- a Statement of Work contract sponsored by Repay for a combined award of $5,000. GCU Computer Science program lead Dr. Isac Artzi said the win is "another validation of the strength of our Computer Science with Big Data and… → Read More
Professor talks nanotechnology, power of Scripture
Rice University synthetic organic chemist Dr. James Tour's research spans from nanomachines that can drill into cells, such as cancer cells and super bacteria, and kill them, to graphene nanoribbons used in spinal cord repair. But his College of Science, Engineering and Technology One Foundation talk on Friday also focused on his faith and how it has played the biggest role in his life and his… → Read More
Grand Canyon University ranked No. 7 on Best College Campus list
Grand Canyon University's Thunder: It was ranked by Niche as the No. 7 Best College Campus in America, and that wasn't the only accolade. It's also ranked No. 6 for Best Dorms and No. 7 on the Best Online Colleges list. → Read More
Great stories, great memories as GCU salutes vets
About 50 GCU employees loaded up four passenger vans and headed to the Arizona State Veteran Home on Wednesday for Salute Our Troops. It was where they played Texas Hold 'Em with the veterans at the nursing care facility, joined in games of bean bag toss and sang in the military branch singalong. But more importantly, it was where they spent time visiting with some deserving military heroes. → Read More
GCU Volunteer Fair a 'matchmaking opportunity'
"I wanted to pay it back," GCU Enrollment supervisor Michael Rodriguez said at the GCU Volunteer Fair on Wednesday at the 27th Avenue office building as he signed up at the Big Brothers Big Sisters booth. Rodriguez himself was paired with a Big Brother when he was a kid. BBBS was just one of the 20 GCU-supported nonprofits employees were able to connect with at the fair, an event GCU Community… → Read More
Reaching out with 3D-printed bandage, prosthetic
When a team of undergraduate biotechnology researchers in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology heard about the high number of amputees in Rwanda, they wondered if they could improve on the design of those prosthetics so are working on creating a low-cost, 3D-printed arm. They also are using 3D printing technology to create a bandage to treat wound infections that might prevent… → Read More
Photography a focus for forensic science students
It was like a scene out of “CSI" on Thursday on the fourth floor of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, when multiple crime scenes came to life as six theater students from the College of Fine Arts and Production turned in unusual performances – as fatal crime victims – so forensic science students could photographically document the bodies for a class project. → Read More
'Big Dog' Abell cowboys up, earns master's degree
Mike "Big Dog" Abell entered GCU Arena for fall commencement, not with a graduation cap, but with his signature cowboy hat. Abell, a fixture at the University, earned his master's degree in professional counseling -- something that will help him in his work counseling visually impaired clients at Family Ministry Counseling and Psychotherapy Services. Abell, himself, is blind. → Read More
'Hacktivists' boot up at GCU with cyber warfare range
Cyber warriors will have a new home on the GCU campus with the debut of the new Arizona Cyber Warfare Range - Metro Phoenix. It's where anyone interested in cyber security can learn to break into computer networks, clone key cards and crack passwords to better fight cyber criminals. It's also the latest feather in the cap of the University, which is positioning itself as a premier institution… → Read More