The GCU Story, A Modern, Purpose Driven University

Transcript

Okay, everybody, let’s kick this episode off by hearing first from the university’s president. Mr. Brian Mueller is a visionary and innovator in an industry slow to adapt to change. Since Mr. Mueller joined GCU about 13 years ago, the university has experienced unprecedented growth. Enrollment on the Phoenix ground campus has increased from roughly 1000 to over 22,000, while online enrollment has grown exponentially to more than 90,000. He is a force, and he is excited to share the vision of Grand Canyon University with you all. President Mueller, the floor is all yours.

– Thank you, Alex. It’s great to be here today, and thank you for your interest in Grand Canyon University. A lot of people are asking, how did this miracle in a desert happen? Really, 13 years ago, we came here with the idea that, could we create a private Christian university that would be affordable to all socioeconomic classes of Americans. It would require a whole different way to think about the economics of higher education. We came here for that purpose. We actually went to the public markets 13 years ago. The public markets actually liked our idea and they invested in it. We brought it back to Phoenix with the idea of creating a hybrid campus. To be honest with you, it worked out way better than we thought. In the fall, we’ll have 25,000 students on our campus in Phoenix, we have 90,000 students studying online. They’re leveraging a common infrastructure, and we haven’t had to raise tuition for 13 years, Grand Canyon University students now take out less debt than the average state university student. What happened then, is that we had this period of unbelievable growth. Academically, we came here with three colleges, less than a hundred academic programs, and today we have nine colleges, over 270 academic programs, including in very difficult and rigorous academic areas like engineering, computer science, information technology than natural sciences. We’ve invested almost $1.5 billion into the campus, and it’s been ranked the seventh nicest campus in the country, and the growth just isn’t stopping. All of those things then, led to the development of an incredible community. In fact, I will tell you, if I line up 10 kids today and say, why’d you choose Grand Canyon? Nine out of 10 they will say, it’s the strength of the community. We teach in very small class sizes. We hire professors based upon their ability to teach the material, but we also hire them based upon their ability to build relationships with our students. We have a very vibrant campus culture. Spiritual activities like chapel, where we have as many as 7,000 students there. We probably have the largest intermural sports club program in the country, huge outdoor rec program. We have students in music, theater, dance. Those are all ways for our students to get connected, to build relationships, to build a network of friends. The most important thing that’s happened here though, is that the university is grown up in the middle of a immigrant community that has a lot of needs. A lot of these people are asylum seekers. They’re just getting started in America. We decided that our faith expression was going to be lived out by pouring into the lives of these immigrants. And it’s our students and our faculty, and their willingness to participate in all that, that is our faith expression. And that’s what we’re trying to do here. We’re very grateful for how things have gone for us. We’ve been extremely blessed. In return, we try to bless the community, but I want you to hear it from our faculty and staff, and especially our students. And so with that, let me throw it back to Alex.

– President Mueller, you are an inspirational leader in every sense of the word. We thank you for sharing all that with everyone. You’re like a rock star here on campus, and I can see why everyone from the students, to the faculty, to the parents, all love you. Thanks again. Cheers, Brian.