Welcome to ASU History

Arizona State University was founded in 1885—27 years before statehood—as the Arizona Territorial Normal School. A modest school building was erected on donated pastureland outside Phoenix and was initially dedicated to training public school teachers. The school rapidly evolved through multiple name changes and grew to four campuses and from 33 to over 70,000 students. Currently, ASU is the largest public educational institution in the United States and is also an internationally recognized research university, offering hundreds of areas of study. This book offers a photographic narrative of the institution’s dynamic transformation with glimpses of the committed faculty, staff, students, alumni, and citizens who helped make Arizona State University what it is today. While the book released August 13, 2012, it is truly “evergreen'“ as the important history we covered will never change.

Even though the past won’t change, and even as the book is approaching 10 years of age, we reviewed the book again recently and find it is still fairly “current” too in key ways, as many of the big changes that occurred after President Crow arrived already occurred and were mentioned in the book. Of course, with ASU being #1 in Innovation for so long, there’s always more that could be said, but this book offers a solid, informative, and fun (with over 200 photos it can’t help but be fun!) journey from ASU’s humble start to its amazing modern status. It is a history that every Sun Devil can appreciate!