Joseph Veres to Spearhead Grand Canyon University's New K-12 Outreach Program

Learning Lounge brings high school students, GCU tutors together

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Aug 12, 2013, 12:00 ET

PHOENIX, Aug. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Joseph Veres has been named Director of K-12 Outreach at Grand Canyon University and will oversee a new tutoring center on campus for high school students called Learning Lounge.

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The Learning Lounge will pair GCU student tutors with high school students from the Phoenix area in one-on-one and small-group situations.

"A lot of students are very interested in doing this," said Veres, a former principal at Desert Wind Middle School in Maricopa, Ariz., who has also been an adjunct professor at GCU since 2012. "It's going to be good for the community, it will be good for the students, it will be good for the university. Our long-term vision is that this will become a national model that every university looks to emulate."

The name of the program is derived from the campus setting GCU wants to create for the tutoring sessions.

"It's going to have a very lounge-type feel with big comfy chairs," Veres said. "And there will also be places where students can get one-on-one tutoring."

The project, which begins in September, will eventually be located on the first floor of a new classroom building that is expected to open by the end of the year. It will also include a development program to help increase the number of teachers who are certified to teach dual-enrollment classes in high school.

Alhambra High School in Phoenix has already partnered with GCU on the project, and Veres said several other high schools have also expressed interest. He expects to hire 30-50 student tutors from GCU.

Veres received his bachelor's degree from Ashland University, where he was also a three-time All-American wrestler at the NCAA Division II level and a four-time Academic All-American. He later received his doctorate in Organizational Leadership with an Emphasis in Effective Schools from Grand Canyon University. His dissertation was on "Blended Learning: A Case Study on Teacher Effectiveness."

The K-12 Outreach Director's position at GCU appealed to Veres because he said he could "continue to have an impact on students and the community and have it centered on that faith" that is prevalent at Grand Canyon University.

"To have that calling, that's the most rewarding opportunity I could hope to find."

Grand Canyon University was founded in 1949 and is Arizona's premier private Christian university. GCU is regionally accredited and emphasizes individual attention for both traditional undergraduate students and the working professional in seven colleges: the Ken Blanchard College of Business, the College of Education, the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Theology, the College of Fine Arts and Production, and the College of Doctoral Studies. GCU offers traditional programs on its growing campus, as well as online bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs. The University's curriculum fuses academic and clinical rigor with Christian values to prepare its students to be skilled, caring professionals. For more information about GCU, visit www.gcu.edu.

SOURCE Grand Canyon University