Qualla: Arizona State University

Arizona State University: Introduction

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Olaf2, CC BY-SA 4.0. It started with 33 students in a four-room schoolhouse on 20 acres of donated desert land. The year was 1886, Arizona was still a territory, and the Territorial Normal School at Tempe existed for one purpose: training teachers for frontier classrooms. Today, Arizona State University enrolls over 160,000 students across four campuses, holds membership in the Association of American Universities, and ranks among the nation's most innovative research institutions. No American university has undergone a more dramatic metamorphosis.

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Image: Olaf2 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Arizona State University: The Many Names of Ambition

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nick Schweitzer, CC BY-SA 2.5. The institution's name changes read like a biography of rising expectations. Territorial Normal School became Tempe Normal School, then Tempe State Teachers College, Arizona State Teachers College, Arizona State College, and finally - by a 2-to-1 margin of state voters in 1958 - ...

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Image: Nick Schweitzer | CC BY-SA 2.5

Arizona State University: The Gammage Legacy

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wars, CC BY 2.5. Grady Gammage's 28-year presidency from 1933 to 1959 transformed a teachers college into a comprehensive university. He oversaw the addition of graduate programs - the first Master of Arts in Education in 1938, the first Doctor of Education in 1954, and ten non-teaching master's ...

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Image: Wars | CC BY 2.5

Arizona State University: The New American University

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Peetlesnumber1, CC BY-SA 4.0. When Michael Crow became president in 2002, he articulated a radical vision: a 'New American University' that would be open and inclusive while achieving elite research status. The results have been staggering. ASU joined the Association of American Universities. Research expendi...

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Image: Peetlesnumber1 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Arizona State University: One University in Many Places

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit NickSchweitzer, CC BY-SA 3.0. ASU describes itself as 'one university in many places' rather than a main campus with satellites. Each campus carries a distinct mission: Tempe focuses on research and graduate studies, Polytechnic emphasizes professional and technological programs with hands-on laboratories and...

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Image: NickSchweitzer | CC BY-SA 3.0

Arizona State University: A Mountain of Spirit

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Original uploader was Joseph Plotz at en.wikipedia, CC BY 3.0. Rising above campus, 'A' Mountain - officially Hayden Butte - bears a massive letter A, a tradition dating to 1955. The mountain and the palm-lined walks below define ASU's visual identity. Traditions run deep here: the Victory Bell clangs after football wins, Lantern Walk illumi...

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Image: Original uploader was Joseph Plotz at en.wikipedia | CC BY 3.0