Expanding Capacity
The next three presidents—Harry K. Newburn (1969–71), John W. Schwada, (1971–81), J. Russell Nelson (1981–89) and Interim President Richard Peck (1989) led the university to greater academic stature in the face of increasing demand for educational services. But early in this period ASU experienced the growth pains of a maturing university when the Arizona Board of Regents dismissed the irascible Morris Starsky, a tenured professor of philosophy, for cancelling class to participate in an anti-racism protest in Tucson and other improprieties. Even though two ASU faculty committees and President Newburn acquitted Starsky, the university was later censured by the American Association of University Professors for violating Starsky’s academic freedom.
In 1984 ASU responded to explosive growth in the Phoenix metropolitan area by establishing the ASU West Campus. ASU West was originally intended to serve as an upper division university that drew its student body from the Maricopa County community college system, one of the largest in the country. As demand increased the institution expanded into a four-year program and it sought separate accreditation.
Under the leadership of Dr. Lattie F. Coor, from 1990 to 2002, ASU grew to serve the Valley of the Sun through multiple campuses and extended education sites. He established the ASU East campus (now known as the Polytechnic campus) at the former Williams Air Force Base, and he founded the ASU Downtown Center as the host for the College of Extended Education. His commitment to “four pillars” of diversity, quality in undergraduate education, research, and economic development underscored the university’s significant gains in each of these areas over his 12-year tenure. In 1994 ASU science researchers were honored by the Carnegie Center for Advancement of Teaching when they awarded Research 1 status to the university. The recognition was considered a remarkable feat for a university that is ineligible for the substantial research dollars associated with medical schools and land grant agriculture programs. Another part of Dr. Coor’s legacy was the most successful capital campaign in university history to date, raising more than $300 million primarily through private donations from the local community. Among the campaign’s achievements were the naming and endowing of the Barrett Honors College, the Katherine K. Herberger College of Fine Arts, and the Morrison School of Agribusiness and Resource Management at ASU East.
Read more about this topic: History Of Arizona State University
Famous quotes containing the words expanding and/or capacity:
“Anyone informed that the universe is expanding and contracting in pulsations of eighty billion years has a right to ask, “What’s in it for me?””
—Peter De Vries (b. 1910)
“What, then, is the basic difference between today’s computer and an intelligent being? It is that the computer can be made to see but not to perceive. What matters here is not that the computer is without consciousness but that thus far it is incapable of the spontaneous grasp of pattern—a capacity essential to perception and intelligence.”
—Rudolf Arnheim (b. 1904)