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On Monday I had a chance to share some very good news with an ASU student.
Devin Mauney, an economics major from Tucson, was named a 2008 Truman Scholar and I was asked to surprise Devin in his economics class with the news. It was a real pleasure.
For anyone unfamiliar with the Truman Scholarship, it is a rigorously competitive and highly prized award presented to high-achieving undergraduate scholars interested in pursuing careers in public service. Hundreds of students apply, but only 80 are selected annually to receive the honor. ASU is recognized as a Truman Honor Institution.
Devin also received a National Security Education Program (NSEP) award last year to study abroad and recently served as Chairman of the Arizona Students’ Association.
If you see Devin around, I hope you’ll join me in congratulating him on this important achievement and his contribution to ASU’s growing tradition of excellence.
Arizona State University is an institution of higher learning with a primary mission to educate Arizona high school graduates. Through initiatives like the “Sun Devil Promise,” ASU has advanced its mission and made good on its commitment by increasing student need-based gift aid by 350% in the last 5 years, while developing four high-quality campuses to help ensure that every Arizona high school grad capable of performing university-level work has access to the programs, facilities, faculty and resources they need to succeed. Information about ASU’s many financial aid and scholarship options is readily available online.
In 2006, Arizona voters passed Proposition 300 and ASU has complied fully with the new statute.
At the end of the day, ASU takes its responsibility to educate Arizona’s high school graduates very seriously. This has always been, and will continue to be, the university’s focus.
I’m just back from the Holiday Bowl and, although last night’s unfortunate loss was a real heartbreaker, I want to thank our Sun Devil football team, Coach Erickson, his staff, and the fans for the exciting season enjoyed by our extended university community. Sun Devil alumni and fans from around the world came together many times over the last four months to watch the games, celebrate their school spirit, and to cheer the team on to victory. Sharing this experience, honoring our university traditions, and making new memories are all important in terms of what it means to be a Sun Devil and I’m glad we could take this ride together. Go Devils!
It’s been about two weeks since the Arizona Board of Regents approved ASU’s tuition proposal for the coming year and even though the rationale behind our requests has always been consistent, there are some who continue to voice their uncertainty about why an increase is necessary and for what purposes tuition is used. I’ve addressed this issue here before and our simple tuition objectives remain unchanged.
Additional resources are needed in order 1) to enhance ASU in terms of excellence and to advance the institution by providing students with the highest quality education, more specifically the best programs, faculty, facilities, and support services possible; and 2) to increase access to higher education in Arizona as necessitated by our rapidly growing state and the increasing demand for service.
As I mentioned at the ABOR tuition hearing earlier this month, any ASU student who requires tuition assistance will receive it as we continue to work together to move the university forward. Tens of thousands of students have taken advantage of this articulated commitment over the last several years and . One of the sources of revenue we have for this assistance is tuition revenue and many students have conveyed their support.
It is also important to understand that ASU is advancing a tuition philosophy that does not categorize tuition as an expense, but as an investment that provides tangible returns to the individual and to society. As a function of that, we believe in a “co-investment model” whereby the student (and/or the student’s family), and the university all make investments in the student’s education as a means of preparing him/her for future success. This means investing in the quality faculty, leading-edge programs of study, state-of-the art facilities and technology, and the kind of customized services that help to facilitate student success. We are serious about providing this kind of living and learning environment at a good value to our students and we are making meaningful progress everyday.
State investment in higher education and the importance of student financial aid are two topics that I discuss often with students and others alike. People are sometimes surprised to learn how the level of state investment directly affects the student experience, as well as how efforts are being made to address and improve financial assistance for students at Arizona universities. Recent articles in both The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star focus on these issues, and I wanted to pass them along. Gaining a grasp on these subjects is a critical part of truly understanding ASU’s complex financial operations and challenges.
Dates for this year’s Student Office Hours at all four campuses are now posted on my Student Connection page. The first session will be on Wednesday, September 26 on the Tempe campus. I invite you to register, and I look forward to responding to your questions and concerns related to ASU.
We’re a few games into the football season and if you haven’t been to a game, I hope you will. Not only is our team off to a strong start, but our Sun Devil marching band is outstanding this year. The band (the largest at ASU since 2000) and its director, Jim Hudson, have worked hard to ready for the season and it shows. While you cheer on the players, pay special attention to the band. They are doing a great job in building our Sun Devil spirit.
A recent international issue has placed a renewed spotlight on academic freedom in higher education. As an active member of the global education community, and as a university that promotes learning environments based in the free expression and exchange of ideas, ASU articulated its stance.
With a diverse population that includes students from 147 countries, ASU is a microcosm of our world. In our Sun Devil community, we welcome and encourage varied perspectives, ideas, cultures, and experiences as the foundation of learning and knowledge creation. Consistent with the atmosphere we strive for, each ASU campus has a Campus Environment Team (CET) that advises me on issues pertaining to the protection of free speech and academic freedom, as well as the development and understanding of diversity and respect across the University. In addition, the Intergroup Relations Center at ASU is also responsible for building awareness and appreciation for diversity, and helping to foster a climate of inclusion, on our campuses and in the surrounding community. Within the scope of the Academic Senate, the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure (CAFT) also examines and makes recommendations on related issues.
These efforts, plus our institutional Global Engagement initiative, underscore ASU’s commitment to advancing higher education in an international context and to empowering the members of our university community to evolve their intellectual curiosity as engaged citizens of the world.
Recent days have been dedicated to meetings with higher education leaders in London, Galway, and Dublin. I had the opportunity to visit with the Chancellor and President, and the Chancellor Emeritus of University College London (UCL) to discuss ASU’s ongoing development and challenges, as well as areas of common research between our institutions. I also made a visit to Dublin City University (DCU), a brand new and rapidly evolving university that is a comprehensive partner for many ASU linkages, to meet with its deans and offer remarks regarding ASU’s trajectory. I learned a great deal from these conversations and found incredible support for our efforts at ASU.
In addition, I’m proud to add that ASU was featured as the American university model for excellence and access to the all European Access Network (EAN) for higher education at a meeting at the National Irish University in Galway, Ireland. The EAN is the only non-governmental, continent-wide European organization advocating for access and expanded participation in higher education, particularly for historically underrepresented students. I was honored to be invited to serve as the guest plenary speaker for its annual conference and I’m glad to share that the ideas, goals and strategies that we are advancing as a university were well received by individuals heavily involved in the redesign of the EU university system. Over the past few years, under the Bologna Agreement, the universities of 46 countries are re-thinking their structure and relationship with each other, as well as the issue of educational access. The information we conveyed about ASU presented an alternative to much of this thinking.
As a guest speaker before the Royal Irish Academy, I had an opportunity to discuss ASU’s trajectory with a group of policy leaders engaged in the development of the next phase of Ireland’s scientific and economic success, as well as how the nation’s innovative policy designs have been applied in Arizona. Mostly notably, the establishment of the Science Foundation Arizona (SFA), which is modeled after the Science Foundation Ireland, and will be a new funding source for new research and teaching efforts at ASU.
Although brief, these visits were both insightful and fruitful. ASU has reason to be enthusiastic about about its engagement with the EU.
