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| https://www.asu.edu |
Arizona State University 2014 Annual Report
Arizona State University has developed a new model for the American Research University, creating an institution that is committed to excellence, access and impact. ASU measures itself by those it includes, not by those it excludes. ASU pursues research that contributes to the public good, and ASU assumes major responsibility for the economic, social and cultural vitality of the communities that surround it.The Office of the Executive Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer supports the New American University's vision of excellence, access and impact by effectively leading and managing its financial and business operations and developing ASU's human and capital resources.
Vision Statement: Business and Finance will be a preeminent provider of critical services and functions to the ASU community, offering timely, cost-effective, high-quality support to a wide range of stakeholders throughout the university's four campuses, the State of Arizona and beyond.
As president of Arizona State University, I continue to be astounded by the capabilities of the human mind and the endless opportunities we — our students, our faculty, our researchers and our community advocates — have to identify and solve the great challenges of our times.
At ASU, we pride ourselves on doing things differently than other universities. ASU isn't interested in replicating what others have done. Rather, we are innovating and adapting to redefine and transform higher education. During the past year, we pushed the boundaries of discovery and development in every classroom, every research lab, every academic endeavor.
This has been the university's most significant year, a year that included the adoption of ASU's first-ever charter.
From new technologies with the ability to change the world and the way we see it, to partnerships designed to advance health care and focused on the community good, this great university community was at the forefront. With our selection as the site for the Clinton Global Initiative University 2014, where more than 1,000 students from around the world made nearly 700 Commitments to Action, and our inclusion in a national consortium that will advance research and theater production, ASU continues to command recognition across the country and around the world.
As we look back at the year, we see fantastic academic achievement by our students and a record graduation rate that will continue to positively impact the economic health of our community, providing a workforce of people able to learn anything. Our graduating class was the largest in the 130-year history of the university and we now have more international students than ever before.
Our students proved they are ready to take their places as innovative and dynamic leaders shaped by teaching and research that is interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary. ASU's fall 2014 enrollment exceeded 82,000 students, a new record, and nearly an 8-percent increase from last year. More than half of ASU's new freshman class received academic scholarships based solely on academic excellence exhibited in high school. A record 26 students received Fulbright awards, and ASU climbed higher among the top producers of students who earn that prestigious recognition, tied with Princeton and Rutgers for third in the country. Additionally, we were proud to include among our student body 433 National Merit Scholars and 326 National Hispanic Scholars. Four of our Sun Devil student-athletes earned Academic All-American honors. The student body is more diverse than ever, with growth in the number of transfer, international, and veteran and veteran-dependent students. ASU also continues to record improvements in freshmen persistence and four-year graduation rates, with close to 90 percent of Arizona freshmen now persisting.
ASU faculty continued to distinguish themselves as one of the greatest bodies of teachers ever assembled. What ASU faculty accomplished, and what they have done for this state, this university and our students is simply remarkable.
Among the great thinkers and creative minds leading and inspiring students are nearly 1,800 tenured or tenure-track faculty members and another 1,100-plus faculty members serving as research professors, clinical professors, lecturers, professors of practice and instructors. Nearly 300 national awards of excellence were bestowed on ASU faculty, and Sethuraman Panchanathan, senior vice-president of our Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development, was honored with his selection to serve on the NSF National Science Board, a body that advises Congress and the president of the United States. Further evidence of faculty recognition in 2014 was seen in the selection of biogeochemist and President's Professor Ariel Anbar as ASU's first Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, so-honored for his pioneering research and teaching.
Among the great thinkers and creative minds leading and inspiring students are nearly 1,800 tenured or tenure-track faculty members and another 1,100-plus faculty members serving as research professors, clinical professors, lecturers, professors of practice and instructors. Nearly 300 national awards of excellence were bestowed on ASU faculty, and Sethuraman Panchanathan, senior vice-president of our Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development, was honored with his selection to serve on the NSF National Science Board, a body that advises Congress and the president of the United States. Further evidence of faculty recognition in 2014 was seen in the selection of biogeochemist and President's Professor Ariel Anbar as ASU's first Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, so-honored for his pioneering research and teaching.
On the research front, ASU students and faculty focused on advancing meaningful, purpose-based research and discovery of public value. As one of the fastest-growing research enterprises in the U.S., ASU placed in the top 10 nationally for invention disclosures, startups and licensing agreements per $10 million in research expenditures. Included in the outstanding performance in this critical area was a 32-percent increase in intellectual property revenue to $4.3 million, and a state economic impact of more than $4 billion based in part on more than 66,000 jobs created. University total research expenditures topped $426 million.
In the past year, our faculty secured prestigious new funding awards such as $20 million from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to launch the Foresight Initiative, an interdisciplinary effort to explore national security risks associated with climate change. This cross-campus collaborative effort will draw on our research strengths in security and defense, decision-making and sustainability. Faculty and students are highly engaged in research projects such as this that are focused on solutions that address grand challenges.
All these achievements — student, faculty, research — happened as the university was advancing the quality of its facilities. Technology platforms were upgraded, new courses and programs were created. Sun Devil Stadium — home of the football Sun Devils — broke ground on a $200-million transformation and Sun Devil Athletics realized milestones in competitive and academic excellence, while serving more than 6,000 hours in voluntary community work that touched more than 241,000 lives. We continued to build and expand our many clinical collaborations with such outstanding partners as Mayo Clinic, Banner Health, Barrow Neurological Center, the Translational Genomics Research Institute, as well as universities around the world, including Dublin City University; Sichuan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Harbin Institute of Technology in China; Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), universities in Japan that are cross-marketing ASU technologies, and many more.
In June, ASU announced a unique partnership with Starbucks Corporation. Through the Starbucks College Achievement Plan — the first of its kind and based on the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to pursue their dreams — Starbucks will provide tuition assistance to its partners (employees) to complete their higher education journeys and earn degrees from ASU's top-ranked programs. ASU is also a founding member of the newly established University Innovation Alliance, a coalition of 11 public universities that will share innovative educational tools and programs to boost the number of students from all economic backgrounds who earn college degrees. Students nationwide will benefit as universities share, adapt and scale up ideas proven to help students succeed.
And now, with our many accomplishments, advances and the widespread recognition we have received in mind, the university has adopted its first-ever charter. ASU has evolved from its vision of a New American University that is inclusive and responsible for the welfare of the communities it serves, to a university that is the foundational model of the New American University; a new paradigm for the public research university that transforms higher education.
I am proud of ASU's accomplishments over the past 12 months. We have one objective at Arizona State University, and that is the success of every student. We engage our students in the classroom and across our campuses. We find out what they are doing, how they are doing and where they need additional support so we can help them be successful — today and throughout their lives.
ASU looks to its past for the core values of public education: academic excellence, inclusiveness of a broad demographic and maximum societal impact. ASU looks to the future as it continues to define a new model for the American research university and emerge to national and international prominence.
(SOURCE https://annualreport.asu.edu)
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