What is the New American University?

The New American University is ASU President Michael Crow’s vision for what a public university in the 21st century should be. These ideas are built upon the writing and research of historians, economists, social theorists, business and political leaders, and university administrators from all over the country. They are embodied in eight design aspirations.

This vision outlines a university whose major goals are excellence, access and impact. Excellence in education, programming, research and personnel. Access to as many educational resources for as many residents of Arizona as possible. And impact meaning that the work done at the university makes a tangible, noticeable and positive difference in the world. The eight design aspirations elaborate on these goals in order to provide everyone at ASU with a common mission to pursue. They create common ground among disparate departments and individuals. Their aim is to unite, to motivate, and to inspire.

Why is ASU talking about it?

ASU is transforming physically, intellectually, and pragmatically. Part of that transformation is unavoidable—this state is growing incredibly fast, and as it grows its public institutions have to keep up. And we want to do more than keep up. We want to lead. ASU needs to be able to educate a student population of 90,000 within the next thirty years just to fulfill its state mandate—that means it has to radically enlarge its services, its physical plant and its internal operations. We need to re-think how we educate students, what we educate them in, and what the purpose of that education is. It’s really about changing not just ASU, but universities as a whole. Under President Crow’s leadership, we think ASU can be a model for a New American University.

What is ASU doing about it?

American society is changing a great deal. The old university paradigm, focused on learning the classics and preparing for the world by separating from it for a time, no longer fits the needs of this era or this place. So ASU is becoming a New American University, where students learn about the world by engaging with it; where a university and the community around it are closely connected to each other; where traditional disciplines merge, collaborate, and redefine themselves; where ideas are pushed to become immediately applicable to the contemporary landscape. In practical terms, this means ASU has restructured its leadership and academic departments. It is building new buildings that foster collaboration and innovation. It is pouring resources into its four campuses, to expand the range of education it can offer and the range of students it can offer that education to. ASU is communicating these ideas so that students, faculty and staff can work together to meet the educational needs of the future. And ASU is pursuing university-wide initiatives that create educational opportunities with non-traditional emphases, like entrepreneurship.

Why is UI involved?

UI has a couple of key roles in ASU’s transformation. We are the keepers of the design aspirations. We make sure they are being communicated clearly and effectively; we hone them; we try to make sure people don’t forget about them, because really, everything ASU is doing comes back to these design aspirations.

We help to bring in leaders who are passionate about engaging with communities and about changing the culture of institutions. We help to come up with strategies for how to push these ideas forward and turn them into action, and we communicate what’s happening as the university transforms.

Communication in this arena is tricky. An institution this large in the midst of this many changes needs a lot of it, but that communication has to change as the university changes. So we have to figure out what to communicate when, and how, and why. And then try to actually do that. So far, that has meant that we helped draft President Crow’s inaugural speech, which outlined the general concepts of the New American University. Then, we put out a booklet about the New American University, highlighting examples of the New American University ideas made manifest on our campuses. Most recently we helped produce a web site on which the people who make up the New American University—ASU right now—tell their stories: mynew.asu.edu. We’re also working with students directly, to get their perspectives on what the New American University is. If you have ideas about how to communicate ideas about the New American University right now, let us know!

New American University web site
A web site features videos of ASU students, facult and staff talking about the New American University.

New American University booklet
Produced in July 2005

(PDF document / 2.4 MB)

An ASU Index
Working document on Our Contemporary Landscape: An ASU Index. Produced in September 2007

(PDF document / 0.1 MB)

The Tradition of Change in the American University
Working paper on a historical case for a New American University. Produced in August 2007 (PDF document / 0.1 MB)