John W. Schwada was ASU's thirteenth president, serving from 1971 to 1981. He presided over one of the largest growth periods in university history, when enrollment climbed from 26,000 to 40,000. During his tenure, 25 buildings were added to the campus, including the University Activity Center (now known as the Wells Fargo Arena), Packard Stadium, and the Sun Devil Stadium addition. In addition, the College of Public Programs was established and ASU joined the Pac-10 Conference.
Harry K. Newburn's administration provided a receptive atmosphere for those with varying degrees of opinions, attitudes and differences in regards to issues of academic freedom and student unrest. He ushered in a new sense of pride in the university's football team, which represented Arizona in the 1971 Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia. Newburn believed that both academic and athletic achievements had a place at the university and strengthened the ties of understanding and friendship between the university and the people of Arizona.
During the 1960s with the presidency of G. Homer Durham, Arizona State University began its academic maturing with the establishment of several new colleges, including the College of Fine Arts, the College of Law, the College of Nursing, the School of Social Work, and the reorganization of what became the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Perhaps most importantly, the university gained the authority to award the Doctor of Philosophy and other doctoral degrees.
On December 24, 1959, the day following President Grady Gammage's death, Harold D. Richardson was named Acting President of the university. He served in that capacity for nine months, after which he resumed his duties as Academic Vice President and Professor of Education. Despite his short tenure, Richardson continued to guide the university along a smooth course of successes and accomplishments, earning the admiration and respect of his colleagues and students.
In 1933, Grady Gammage, then president of Arizona State Teachers College at Flagstaff, became president of Arizona State Teachers College at Tempe, a tenure that lasted nearly 28 years. The Graduate division was created and the first master's program was established 1937. On March 8, 1945, the three state institutions of higher learning came under the authority of one Arizona Board of Regents, which still oversees the universities today. Substantial growth of the college began after the end of World War II. President Gammage anticipated that the G.I.
In his three years as president, Ralph W. Swetman saw the student population double, from 532 to at least 1,000. He challenged both students and faculty to set high academic standards for themselves, believing that "good thinking today is best preparation for tomorrow."
President Matthews brought 30 years of progress to the Tempe Normal School/Arizona State Teachers College at Tempe. Prior to Arizona statehood, the Normal School of Arizona enrolled high school students when no other secondary educational facilities in the state existed. It was Principal Matthews who was instrumental in changing the school to an all-college student status. He initiated a building schedule that included the state's first dormitories. Of the 18 buildings constructed under his tenure, six are still in use.
Joseph Warren Smith, an educator and superintendent of schools from Michigan, was the principal of Tempe Normal School for one year. Under his leadership music was introduced into the curriculum and academic standards were raised.
Football was emerging as a popular sport and exercise was the campus rage when Principal McNaughton came to head the Normal School of Arizona. Of the 158 students enrolled in 1896, 61, or 40%, were men, none of whom had played football. That didn't stop them from learning the game and participating in the sport. Physical education for women was soon added to the curriculum under Principal McNaughton, which brought the Normal School into the limelight.
Edgar L. Storment graduated from Southern Illinois State Normal at Carbondale in 1886, completing the equivalent of four years of secondary education and two years of collegiate studies. After teaching in an Illinois elementary school he came to Arizona to invest in a farm colony on the Gila River that failed shortly thereafter. Storment then taught school in Agua Caliente in 1887.