WEBVTT 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:23.039 so what was a s you like, What year did you come here, 68, 68. It had only 00:00:28.039 --> 00:00:36.039 been a university Really less than 10 years at the time. Um And most of 00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:44.679 the people were originally hired in in the initial hiring process. Um Dean 00:00:45.909 --> 00:00:50.537 lea Thompson was the Dean of Engineering and he had started the 00:00:50.570 --> 00:00:55.917 engineering school from scratch, like all the other colleges, business and 00:00:55.950 --> 00:01:00.766 engineering were strong colleges at that time. And for several years after 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:08.799 that, partly on the the personalities of the two deans, but Thompson had 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:15.617 come here, was hired to become uh to be the founding dean of engineering 00:01:15.650 --> 00:01:20.736 56, so long before the vote to make it a university and was strong 00:01:20.769 --> 00:01:26.706 participant in getting at the referendum passed and all that. And it was a 00:01:26.739 --> 00:01:29.307 very 00:01:29.340 --> 00:01:35.046 uh teachers college philosophy, it had always been a teacher's college. 00:01:35.079 --> 00:01:40.876 All the administrators university were teachers, 00:01:40.909 --> 00:01:46.566 the strong philosophy at the time, which certainly Dean Thompson had was 00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:51.997 that our purpose in Arizona was to educate the citizenry of Arizona. Our 00:01:52.030 --> 00:01:56.717 job was to provide educational opportunities so that they could pursue 00:01:56.750 --> 00:02:02.706 their areas of interest to prepare them for life and that was our sole job. 00:02:02.739 --> 00:02:08.416 There was very little interest and certainly no encouragement to do 00:02:08.449 --> 00:02:15.036 research, which I found a little disappointing because that's what my 00:02:15.069 --> 00:02:23.069 primary interest really was. And so um the whole atmosphere, 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:30.416 I was teaching oriented, very good teachers for the most part, not all the 00:02:30.449 --> 00:02:35.166 faculty then were phds 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:39.867 that wasn't a requirement kind of thing in those days and that was sort of 00:02:39.900 --> 00:02:46.027 the transition of american universities in general and uh, 60s of sort of 00:02:46.060 --> 00:02:50.386 requiring that and sufficient pool of graduates that they could, could 00:02:50.419 --> 00:02:54.247 require before that have been a little difficult, certainly in areas like 00:02:54.280 --> 00:03:00.186 engineering. So it was a different environment, there was really no 00:03:00.219 --> 00:03:04.177 encouragement to work with industry and of course I was coming from 00:03:04.210 --> 00:03:08.207 industry. Uh first of all, they don't give you any credit for having 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:12.207 worked in industry and academia, 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:20.240 but um, I, I remember Dean Thompson telling me that uh, we shouldn't 00:03:20.930 --> 00:03:27.476 accept any gifts from, from equipment or anything else from industry, 00:03:27.509 --> 00:03:32.057 which is quite contrary to what I spent a lot of my life doing. What was 00:03:32.090 --> 00:03:37.077 his. Well, that if they give you something and you're obligated to do 00:03:37.110 --> 00:03:44.506 something for them and we need to be independent and not obliging to 00:03:44.539 --> 00:03:50.506 anyone or any sector or whatever. So it was 00:03:50.539 --> 00:03:55.476 maybe a little idealistic but more the traditional educator point of view 00:03:55.509 --> 00:04:03.247 that we're looked at from society as independent, credible sources of 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:08.647 information and if you get tainted in some way that you owe somebody 00:04:08.680 --> 00:04:16.680 something and that would undermine that kind of image and reputation 00:04:22.060 --> 00:04:24.806 when I got here 00:04:24.839 --> 00:04:31.666 the West Valley. But it was represented in the legislature about some very 00:04:31.699 --> 00:04:39.606 strong people, what they wanted was a campus in things. 00:04:39.639 --> 00:04:46.067 The university had never really thought of itself in terms of what it 00:04:46.100 --> 00:04:52.587 meant to be in phoenix when I got here, fresh from the outside world, it 00:04:52.620 --> 00:04:57.447 seemed to me that the biggest advantage that Arizona state had in 00:04:57.480 --> 00:05:03.036 competition with the other two institutions of the state or within 00:05:03.069 --> 00:05:07.106 competition competition of other institutions in the broader there it is, 00:05:07.139 --> 00:05:14.806 was our location in a city that was the largest population concentration 00:05:14.839 --> 00:05:18.406 anywhere in the southwest, 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:22.707 where there was enormous economic activity that the university could 00:05:22.740 --> 00:05:29.056 relate to and wasn't one of the things that we boost, we're being 00:05:29.089 --> 00:05:37.007 criticized for not trying to serve people in the west Valley. 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:41.736 What was it about the issue that was appealing the regions had just 00:05:41.769 --> 00:05:48.176 approved a new mission statement for Arizona State University, which was 00:05:48.209 --> 00:05:56.209 to transform itself into a major research university. And I had spent what 00:05:56.740 --> 00:06:03.046 20 years at that point in major research universities, first at the 00:06:03.079 --> 00:06:09.306 university of Minnesota and subsequently at the University of Colorado. 00:06:09.339 --> 00:06:13.887 And so I had, I felt that I knew something about major research 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:21.387 universities, about their special needs, about their goals, about the 00:06:21.420 --> 00:06:28.377 kinds of work they did and that I could make a contribution in helping a s 00:06:28.410 --> 00:06:35.447 you to transform itself from primarily a teaching institution into a major 00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:40.366 research university. And I thought there was a lot of work to do to make 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:46.207 that transition. 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:52.437 We did some things that I think have turned out to be, but profitable for 00:06:52.470 --> 00:06:56.786 the institution, not always popular at the time. One of them was just the 00:06:56.819 --> 00:07:04.147 concept that we promote ourselves as the university in phoenix and that we 00:07:04.180 --> 00:07:10.147 encourage our people to use their academic skills to contribute to things 00:07:10.180 --> 00:07:16.676 and its continued growth prosperity and to the students who lived in 00:07:16.709 --> 00:07:21.007 things and wanted to attend the university. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:27.346 Later on, I worked at principal at Wright State, it became part of natural 00:07:27.379 --> 00:07:34.467 movement join institutions of this kind. Yeah, she was a little big two 00:07:34.500 --> 00:07:42.500 probably. Um but our focus on serving local companies like intel. Mhm. 00:07:45.540 --> 00:07:52.406 Lead to a, an emphasis on the engineering at the end of time. Rolling 00:07:52.439 --> 00:07:58.906 Hayden call it engineering excellence. Mm hmm. Today, the College of 00:07:58.939 --> 00:08:04.207 Engineering and the issue is widely admired as being one 50 years old, 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:08.507 best engineering school in the country. You could not have said that about. 00:08:08.540 --> 00:08:13.507 Yeah, right. 00:08:13.540 --> 00:08:21.540 But because Sully Sullenberger, Yeah. Other local levers tell her who was 00:08:23.740 --> 00:08:31.156 director of Salt River Project at that time, Jack Jack Jack Pfister. That 00:08:31.189 --> 00:08:35.707 that group of business people took seriously the idea that we were trying 00:08:35.740 --> 00:08:43.427 to serve the local interest research programs. They were responsible for 00:08:43.460 --> 00:08:47.346 additional funding and help with the legislature. That led to the 00:08:47.379 --> 00:08:53.937 expansion of and the improvement the College of Engineering. And that's a 00:08:53.970 --> 00:09:01.396 that's a success story. 00:09:01.429 --> 00:09:09.429 Let's take this issue of the university's role as a significant engine in 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:15.057 the economic dynamics of this community. It's still evolving how it is, 00:09:15.090 --> 00:09:19.207 what it is. How does it work with Tgn, how does it work with bioscience, 00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:23.226 how does it work with the technology transfers going on at the Sky Song 00:09:23.259 --> 00:09:31.259 campus. So there are tangible elements that were not foreseen 10 years ago 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:36.986 having people understand 00:09:37.019 --> 00:09:43.337 that those tangible elements can develop and and to understand what kind 00:09:43.370 --> 00:09:49.016 of interplay needs to take place within the university and therefore why 00:09:49.049 --> 00:09:54.866 research and why technology transfer and why a series of these things 00:09:54.899 --> 00:10:00.157 where you're bringing very talented people here is important. It's 00:10:00.190 --> 00:10:08.057 interesting. Uh every most everybody in a leadership position has a 00:10:08.090 --> 00:10:11.606 personal experience with education. 00:10:11.639 --> 00:10:15.006 They went to college, they went to college. That's a that's a that's an 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:22.496 important experience. We do a miserable job of teaching our students, but 00:10:22.529 --> 00:10:26.687 the larger set of things are going on around them as part of the 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:31.496 university. And as a result of that, people think of their college 00:10:31.529 --> 00:10:35.957 experience and let's assume it's a good, it was a good experience and 00:10:35.990 --> 00:10:42.047 that's what they think of as what the university is. Well, it is that, but 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:47.986 it's substantially more and so yeah, 00:10:48.019 --> 00:10:53.506 finding ways both for the university and its own community where people 00:10:53.539 --> 00:11:01.539 are, are historically trained to be focused on very specific problems 00:11:04.129 --> 00:11:07.726 to have helped them understand how it connects not only with other 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:13.937 disciplines but to the larger issues of society and to have the community 00:11:13.970 --> 00:11:21.970 understand not only how good these people are, but how relevant they are 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:27.667 is an ongoing teaching job, I believe, just to give you an example of what 00:11:27.700 --> 00:11:33.366 one would not normally think of, that. One of the most significant ways in 00:11:33.399 --> 00:11:37.496 which a issue has advanced that understanding in this community is the 00:11:37.529 --> 00:11:41.986 President's community Enrichment program, something that my wife Elva put 00:11:42.019 --> 00:11:47.407 together where faculty members go out into people's homes in the community 00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:53.596 and lecture on everything from the origins of space and origins of life 00:11:53.629 --> 00:11:57.697 and origins of society. I mean, experts, world class experts that we have 00:11:57.730 --> 00:12:04.957 on this faculty, two issues of Iraq and religion and conflict and all of 00:12:04.990 --> 00:12:11.736 the things that go on in that endeavor. It's uh stimulating to our 00:12:11.769 --> 00:12:16.276 community visitors because it's stimulating their interesting topics. It's 00:12:16.309 --> 00:12:22.947 impressive because they see these very, very bright able people. It's also 00:12:22.980 --> 00:12:30.346 instructive that they see, oh, I see how that set of things leads to a 00:12:30.379 --> 00:12:34.486 strength at the university and exploration of mars and interplanetary 00:12:34.519 --> 00:12:39.506 science. I see how that can relate to space science as part of an economy 00:12:39.539 --> 00:12:47.407 etcetera etcetera. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:52.907 How would you describe the relationship between ASU and its communities 00:12:52.940 --> 00:13:00.940 during your time here? I I thought that we professors were not at the time 00:13:02.940 --> 00:13:06.177 rewarded for what we did in the community and that is always what I 00:13:06.210 --> 00:13:13.307 thought I should do. And I I resented that there was so much emphasis on 00:13:13.340 --> 00:13:18.427 my research when the I like doing research. I enjoy doing it. I did a lot 00:13:18.460 --> 00:13:23.376 of it. But I thought the emphasis should be on all three. I mean, there 00:13:23.409 --> 00:13:29.217 were three legs of the stool that nick Henry had and it was, it was 00:13:29.250 --> 00:13:34.067 service teaching and research. 00:13:34.100 --> 00:13:38.096 It was a voice that all three were important and you need all three for a 00:13:38.129 --> 00:13:45.067 stool. But one of the legs of the stool was not particularly strong. But I 00:13:45.100 --> 00:13:53.037 think now there's a lot more with the new president now or not so new with 00:13:53.070 --> 00:13:58.807 Crow, a lot more emphasis on getting the community. I like to see that 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:01.496 happen now, 00:14:01.529 --> 00:14:08.486 maybe I'm wrong. But it seems, I think you're right. It seems more get my 00:14:08.519 --> 00:14:12.856 university. My first university was University of Wisconsin and they said 00:14:12.889 --> 00:14:17.807 the universe, the borders of the university are the borders of the state. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:23.927 Sorry, I grew up with that idea that a university should encompassed the 00:14:23.960 --> 00:14:30.726 whole state. And I think she was trying to do that now and I I'm proud 00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:38.940 that I was here for such a long time. 27 28 years. A long time.