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Past presidents


Past presidents


While Michael Crow is the 16th president of Arizona State University, 15 others have held that position going back to 1886 — almost 30 years before Arizona was granted statehood — when the Territorial Normal School, Arizona’s first higher education institution, opened its doors to 33 students in a four-classroom building in Tempe.

Hiram Bradford Farmer

First Principal
1886-1888

Robert Lindley Long

Second Principal
1888 - 1890

Dayton A. Reed

Third Principal
1890 - 1892

Edgar L. Storment

Fourth Principal
1892 - 1895

Dr. James McNaughton

Fifth Principal
1895 - 1899

Joseph Warren Smith

Sixth Principal
1899 - 1900

Arthur John Matthews

Seventh Principal / Seventh President
1900 - 1904 / 1904-1930

Ralph Waldo Swetman

Eighth President
1930 - 1933

Grady Gammage

Ninth President
1933 - 1959

Harold D. Richardson

Tenth President
1959 - 1960

Homer Durham

Eleventh President
1960 - 1969

Harry K. Newburn

Twelfth President
1969 - 1971

John W. Schwada

Thirteenth President
1971 - 1981

J. Russell Nelson

Fourteenth President
1981 - 1989

Lattie F. Coor

Fifteenth President
1990 - 2002