Arizona State University (commonly referred to as ASU or Arizona State) is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the U.S. state of Arizona. With a 2011 enrollment of 72,254, ASU is one of the largest universities in the United States by enrollment.b
Founded in 1885 as the Tempe Normal School for the Arizona Territory, the school came under control of the Arizona Board of Regents in 1945 and was renamed Arizona State College. A 1958 statewide ballot measure gave the university its present name.
ASU awards bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees, and is broadly organized into 15 divisions and various institutes spread across four campuses: the original Tempe campus, the West campus in northwest Phoenix, the Polytechnic campus in eastern Mesa, and the Downtown Phoenix campus. All four campuses are accredited as a single institution by the Higher Learning Commission. The University is categorized as a Research University with very high research activity (RU/VH) as reported by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, and with a research expenditure of $310 million annually which has doubled since the fiscal year of 2003.
ASU's athletic teams compete in Division I of the NCAA and are collectively known as the Arizona State Sun Devils. They are members of the Pacific-12 Conference and have won 23 national championships.
Read more about Arizona State University: Organization and Administration, Campuses and Locations, Athletics
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