February 14, 2019
ASU Empire
" . . . Early on in his tenure (which began in 2002), Crow set out to monetize everything possible. This was clear from our first meeting. He asked me what ASU should do? I drew up a list of dozens of holistic economic-social-environmental benchmarks we needed to track to get a sense of where metro Phoenix stood beyond population growth and housing starts. Soon after, I was contacted by the head of the economics department. He'd been given my list (thanks a lot) — but his task was to create something that could be sold. I don't think it ever happened, but much else did. . .
ASU spread out to multiple campuses, especially in downtown Phoenix but also SkySong in Scottsdale and the polytechnic on the old Williams Air Force Base. These were often heavily subsidized with partnerships from the cities involved. ASU has been the most important driver of downtown Phoenix's revival, and is an important part of the Downtown Biomedical Campus. ASU is also building a stealth medical school in partnership with the Mayo Clinic.
 |
| Mesa Mayor John Giles really likes real estate speculation in Downtown Mesa |
Crow speaks the language of developers, an invaluable skill in a state where real estate is the No. 1 industry.
. . . A supercharged ASU Foundation keeps setting records, bringing in $253 million for fiscal 2018. Crow was also able to push past years of resistance to bonding, to gain state approval for a 25-year, $1 billion program to fix existing buildings and construct new ones for all three universities.
It's hard not to find Arizona State University — from establishing an outpost in Washington, D.C., to its pioneering online degree initiative with Starbucks, to the ASU Center on the Future of War. The latter is especially intriguing, bringing in international heavyweights on national security and military affairs. I would love to know who funds it. But it's an example of the many ways ASU is expanding its prestige, not merely in the size of its student body. . .
Still, Phoenix remains an economy that punches well below its weight, mostly with development, tourism, and back-office jobs. It trails peers in adults with bachelor's degrees or higher. Opportunities for most ASU graduates are found elsewhere. But the university is the metro area's leading light, and is essential to its future (if one can look past magical thinking about the "Sun Corridor").
That this has been accomplished despite the vicious anti-education agenda of the political elite is even more impressive.
_______________________________________________________________
LINK > You can find the entire column from Jon Talton by accessing the following link
