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Asher Petersen, left, and Vanessa Grace walk across the Little Mac Bridge September 5. The two first-year students met during welcome week’s class photo at Lubbers Stadium.

GVSU in photos, September 2025: Sand and sky, colorfully chalked sidewalks and a national title celebration

BY University Communications
Image credit - Top Image - Kendra Stanley Mills

Oct 1, 2025
A person lays on their back while a person with a lab coat looks at a computer.
Matthew Purtee, graduate physician assistant studies student, demonstrates a high-fidelity patient simulator during a Traverse City event celebrating a new location for classes in the Beckett Building on Northwestern Michigan College’s Front Street Campus on September 23. GVSU is among five universities that offer classes in partnership with NMC.
Image credit - Kendra Stanley-Mills
A close-up view from underneath the yellow statue outside of Mackinac Hall Building.
"Amaranth," a sculpture by Cyril Lixenberg, is seen against a blue-sky day as it sits outside of Mackinac Hall on the Valley Campus September 5.
Image credit - Kendra Stanley-Mills
A smiling person wearing a ball cap is seen through a tank as his face is reflected in the side panels.
Jeremy Watkins, an engineering graduate student, is pictured through a 180-gallon tank he built to measure the forces acting on a cantilever beam submerged in water at the Innovation Design Center in Grand Rapids on September 8. Testing the beam in water means the data could be used for harvesting energy from ocean waves or calculating the thrust of underwater vehicles.
Image credit - Cory Morse
A person wearing brightly-colored scarves laughs.
Annie Bélanger, program coordinator for Presidential Fellows Program, reacts during the Presidential Fellows Welcome Reception in downtown Grand Rapids on September 4.
Image credit - Cory Morse
College students work on colorful sidewalk chalk drawings.
(From left) Chalk artist Emily Miller, ’14 and ’20, and French and statistics major Aner Schuyler participate in the Chalk Art Symposium at the Mary Idema Pew Library plaza on September 18. Students translated research from traditional posters and oral talks onto the sidewalk. Schuyler’s project interpreted Voltaire’s "Candide" through mental health and trauma theory to encourage emotional healing and resilience.
Image credit - Cory Morse
As seen from a drone, university students work on colorful chalk art.
Students take part in the Chalk Art Symposium at the Mary Idema Pew Library plaza on September 18. Chalk artist, Emily Miller, '14 and '20, worked with students to translate research from traditional posters and oral talks to the sidewalk.
Image credit - Cory Morse
A person in a food truck waits on customers.
Cesar Ayala, a Grand Valley alumnus, waits on customers at the Casa De Los Abuelos food truck during the Global Laker Festival on the Kirkhof Center lawn September 3.
Image credit - Kendra Stanley-Mills
A person shows excitement while two artwork boards frame them.
Students react as they visit a booth at the Laker Con 2025 event in the Mary Idema Pew Library September 26. Laker Con celebrates comics literacy.
Image credit - Macayla Cramer
A college student uses a purple umbrella to shield from the rain.
First-year English student Chesson Oliver, shields the rain while waiting to make a tie-dye shirt during the Global Laker Festival on the Kirkhof lawn September 3.
Image credit - Kendra Stanley-Mills
Two people wearing business casual clothes laugh together during an event.
Engineering Dean Adebayo Bayo Ogundipe talks with Mark Staves, professor of cell and molecular biology, after speaking as part of the Laker Club Talks series in the Commons on September 9.
Image credit - Cory Morse
A silhouette of a person using a microphone stands in front of a screen showing the profile of a woman with tech symbols overlaid.
Marouane Kessentini, dean of the College of Computing, gives a talk with Laura Aikens, vice president for Institutional Advancement, not pictured, as part of "Tech Talks: AI & Human-Centered Design" at the DeVos Center's Loosemore Auditorium in Grand Rapids on September 18.
Image credit - Kendra Stanley-Mills
A detail of sand falling through a person's fingertips.
Peter Riemersma, professor of geology, talks about the sand along Lake Michigan at Hoffmaster State Park September 7 during a two-day geology retreat connecting new and recent majors with faculty and alumni. The group did some small experiments and activities along Lake Michigan before heading back to Grand Valley.
Image credit - Kendra Stanley-Mills
A group of women's basketball players show off their championship rings.
Grand Valley's Paige Vanstee shows off her national championship ring during the women’s basketball ring ceremony at the football game against Black Hills State on September 6.
Image credit - Emily Riddle
A group of students with happy faces raise their hands in the air.
Finance and accounting major Joy Murerwa, center, works to pump up her classmates before the REP4ⓇFinLit Launch at the John G Russell Leadership Center in Grand Rapids on September 23. Also pictured is film and video major Avary Marshall, far left, and applied computer science masters student Pushpa Pandey, far right.
Image credit - Cory Morse
Students walk through a glass vestibule on their way out of a campus academic building.
Students are seen leaving the Seidman Center after class on the afternoon of September 10 on Grand Valley’s City Campus.
Image credit - Kendra Stanley-Mills
Left: Two people embrace while smiling. | Right: Students wearing blue cheer in the stands.
Left: Assistant coach Amanda Parker embraces Tera Bisballe during the women’s basketball national championship ring ceremony at the Grand Valley State football game against Black Hills State on September 6. Bisballe’s daughters, Mckenzie and Rylie, are members of the team. | Right: Students rally in the student section as the GVSU Football team scores an extra point by another field goal on September 6.
Image credit - Left: Emily Riddle | Right: Lauren Roth
A group of faculty and students are silhouetted against a blue and cloud-filled sky as they walk along a beach.
Peter Riemersma and Ian Winkelstern, professors of geology, right, lead a group of geology students at Hoffmaster State Park September 7 during a geology retreat connecting new and recent majors with faculty and alumni. The group did some small experiments and activities along Lake Michigan before heading back to Grand Valley.
Image credit - Kendra Stanley-Mills
A group of people huddle around food as they shake hands.
Students and faculty take part in the College of Computing and Modern Languages Mixer at the International House on the Valley Campus on September 12.
Image credit - Cory Morse
President Philomena V. Mantella shakes hands with an inmate while smiling.
Student Johnny Adams shakes hands with President Philomena V. Mantella during a tour of the Bellamy Creek Program in Ionia on September 10. The program confers a Bachelor of Science degree in Public and Nonprofit Administration through the School of Community Leadership and Development. Also pictured are Robert Shorty, Vice President for People, Equity, and Culture, and the prison’s college coordinator, Jennifer Peska.
Image credit - Cory Morse
A silhouetted person looks at a piece of art on the wall. Text can be seen on a wall in the right foreground.
Stafford Smith, associate professor of photography, explores the exhibit, "Stories Reimagined: Artistic Narrative in the Digital Age," during the opening reception in the Haas Center for the Performing Arts gallery September 17.
Image credit - Kendra Stanley-Mills
Players exchange shouts face-to-face after a touchdown during the Grand Valley State football game against Black Hills State on September 6 on the Valley Campus.
Players exchange shouts face-to-face after a touchdown during the Grand Valley State football game against Black Hills State on September 6 on the Valley Campus.
Image credit - Emily Riddle
A study group of college students are seen through a blue circular shape.
Students Daniel Mendez, Omar Blanco, Alex Martinez and Lucero Arizaga laugh together during a Laker Familia study table at the Knowledge Market inside the Mary Idema Pew Library on the Valley Campus September 25. Laker Familia study tables are held every Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m.
Image credit - Emily Riddle
A person gives the anchor up sign while posing for a photo in a circular shape showing the GV logo.
Nursing student Dai’Shaun, center, poses for a photo during the gvsYOU debut brand launch event at the Cook Carillon Tower September 30.
Image credit - Kendra Stanley-Mills
College students place small American flags in the group at dawn.
Student Senate members placed flags on the Kirkhof Center lawn to honor and remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
Image credit - Kendra Stanley-Mills

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