page_title: Arizona State University
section_title: 1990–present
hierarchical_section_title: Arizona State University / History / 1990–present
caption_attribution_description: English: Biodesign buildings at Arizona State University. Photo by Nick Schweitzer.
context_page_description: Arizona State University is a public metropolitan research university on five campuses across the Phoenix metropolitan area, and four regional learning centers throughout Arizona.
  ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the U.S. As of fall 2019, the university had nearly 90,000 students attending classes across its metro campuses, more than 38,000 students attending online, including 83,000-plus undergraduates and more nearly 20,000 postgraduates. The university is organized into 17 colleges, featuring more than 170 cross-discipline centers and institutes. ASU offers 350 degree options for undergraduates students, as well as more than 400 graduate degree and certificate programs.
  ASU has nearly 600 ASU scholar-athletes across 26 varsity-level sports. The Arizona State Sun Devils compete in the Pac-12 Conference and have won 59 Pac-10/Pac-12 championships dating back to 1979, and have captured 24 NCAA championships dating to its first title in 1965. In addition to its athletic program, the university is home to over 1,100 registered student organizations.
context_section_description: Under the leadership of Lattie F. Coor, president from 1990 to 2002, ASU grew through the creation of the Polytechnic campus and extended education sites. Increased commitment to diversity, quality in undergraduate education, research, and economic development occurred over his 12-year tenure. Part of Coor's legacy to the university was a successful fundraising campaign: through private donations, more than $500 million was invested in areas that would significantly impact the future of ASU. Among the campaign's achievements were the naming and endowing of Barrett, The Honors College, and the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts; the creation of many new endowed faculty positions; and hundreds of new scholarships and fellowships.
  In 2002, Michael M. Crow became the university's 16th president. At his inauguration, he outlined his vision for transforming ASU into a "New American University"—one that would be open and inclusive, and set a goal for the university to meet Association of American Universities criteria and to become a member. Crow initiated the idea of transforming ASU into "One university in many places"—a single institution comprising several campuses, sharing students, faculty, staff and accreditation. Subsequent reorganizations combined academic departments, consolidated colleges and schools, and reduced staff and administration as the university expanded its West and Polytechnic campuses. ASU's Downtown Phoenix campus was also expanded, with several colleges and schools relocating there. The university established learning centers throughout the state, including the ASU Colleges at Lake Havasu City and programs in Thatcher, Yuma, and Tucson. Students at these centers can choose from several ASU degree and certificate programs.
  During Crow's tenure, and aided by hundreds of millions of dollars in donations, ASU began a years-long research facility capital building effort that led to the establishment of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, and several large interdisciplinary research buildings. Along with the research facilities, the university faculty was expanded, including the addition of five Nobel Laureates. Since 2002, the university's research expenditures have tripled and more than 1.5 million square feet of space has been added to the university's research facilities.
  The economic downturn that began in 2008 took a particularly hard toll on Arizona, resulting in large cuts to ASU's budget. In response to these cuts, ASU capped enrollment, closed some four dozen academic programs, combined academic departments, consolidated colleges and schools, and reduced university faculty, staff and administrators; however, with an economic recovery underway in 2011, the university continued its campaign to expand the West and Polytechnic Campuses, and establish a low-cost, teaching-focused extension campus in Lake Havasu City.
  
  As of 2011, an article in Slate reported that, "the bottom line looks good," noting that: 
  Since Crow's arrival, ASU's research funding has almost tripled to nearly $350 million. Degree production has increased by 45 percent. And thanks to an ambitious aid program, enrollment of students from Arizona families below poverty is up 647 percent.
  In 2015, the Thunderbird School of Global Management became the fifth ASU campus, as the Thunderbird School of Global Management at ASU. Partnerships for education and research with Mayo Clinic established collaborative degree programs in health care and law, and shared administrator positions, laboratories and classes at the Mayo Clinic Arizona campus.
  The Beus Center for Law and Society, the new home of ASU's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, opened in fall 2016 on the Downtown Phoenix campus, relocating faculty and students from the Tempe campus to the state capital.
caption: ASU's Biodesign Institute on Tempe campus
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