On July 1, 2002, Michael M. Crow became the 16th president of Arizona State University, and soon introduced his vision for the New American University –an institution focused on who it includes, not who it excludes, and committed to use-inspired research and assuming fundamental responsibility for the communities it serves. Two decades later, and with the support of many people and partners, ASU has established itself as the model for the New American University, and continues its perpetual evolution as an emerging national service university.
20th Anniversary Video
A look at the past 20 years of Arizona State University’s transformation into the New American University - a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves.
ABOR Celebration
On August 25, 2022, the Arizona Board of Regents hosted a special celebratory dinner to recognize Michael Crow for his twenty years of service to ASU and his thought-leadership in Arizona. The evening included several tributes by the Regents, university faculty and esteemed colleagues, and the presentation of several gifts. President Crow was also the recipient of a newly created title, "Regents Distinguished President."
Videos
Michael Crow's speech
Event Photos
Commemorative Poem by Albert Rios
Date: Aug 25, 2020
In the Wake of a Thousand Occupations
Alberto Rios
We can’t explain our work very well, even after so many years.
That we’ve added numbers together.
Put words in particular orders.
Placed drops into test tubes.
Dug holes neatly in the ground.
Cut wood to change its shape from tree to what we want.
That in our work, we have tried not to hurt ourselves…
not to hurt others…
not to hurt the world we stand on,
but to help.
These are the first measures of what you have done,
but they are not all.
You’ve taken this work to include unbounded imaginations as well.
Creating an illusion of remarkable radicals living the need to do.
Making of us all champions of an unfinished business called “learning.”
Happy when people arrive.
Proud when they go confidently forward.
Your job,
your work, we find in the middle of all this.
The middle of us.
Part of a great rhythm.
You, singer of the song made in the most surprising of places,
our work.
One line has connected to another making a longer line.
It then connected to another making lines long enough now to connect us to the planets,
to the stars.
Embracing the Moon and the Sun, but most importantly,
each other.
You have composed and sung, after so many years, a surprising song of service.
Electric guitars sometimes.
Sometimes humming.
Music,
but a music of everything and everywhere so clearly evident now in the first dance step of so many.
Thank you, Michael
ASU News
November 23, 2022
After taking helm in 2002, president tackled inequities in higher education
As a child in the late 1960s, Michael Crow grasped the deep divide between the TV images of men bouncing on the moon and the struggles of the working-class families in his community.
“And my brain, even as a middle school and early high school student at that time, clicked and it basically said, ‘There’s something wrong,’” he said.
The realization at a young age that everyone needed to benefit from the new and dazzling technology was a driver for Crow.
“I was watching ‘Star Trek’ all the time and that was from 1966 to 1969, and the ‘Star Trek’ stuff was very utopian. I realized that everyone in ‘Star Trek’ was highly educated,” he said.
August 29, 2022
Event fetes president with accolades, testimonials and a new title
A special celebration Thursday night honored the 20th anniversary of Arizona State University President Michael M. Crow’s leadership with touching moments, humor — and a new title.
The Arizona Board of Regents recognized Crow’s contributions and service to the university, honoring him with the distinction of Regents Distinguished President.
The distinction, conferred for the first time, was presented along with a unique medallion that can be worn as part of his official university regalia.
Lyndel Manson, chair of the Board of Regents, said the medallion made of turquoise, silver and petrified wood represents the legacy, prosperity and transformation of Arizona, as well as Crow’s commitment and leadership in the continued success of the university and the state.