Almost 200,000 Arizona families lack an affordable home. According to a report commissioned by the Governor's Department of Housing Development, Arizona suffers from a shortage of permanent affordable homes for working families due to an explosive population growth with an increasing proportion of low-income working families.
A situation such as this seemed like the perfect opportunity for ASU to use its capacities to help the community. So ASU has joined forces with the Stardust Foundation to form the Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family, which will study the best ways to provide affordable and sustainable homes to low-income families. This research center will include people and resources from around the University - including experts in policy, construction, sustainability, family studies, education and community involvement - in order to build and apply innovative solutions.
The Stardust Center is just one of the newest additions to the ongoing process that is our "New American University."
When ASU President Michael Crow gave his inaugural address last year, he devoted significant time to the idea that ASU ought to be an active force in the local community.
One of the key components of this New American University plan is social embeddedness: Crow said that in addition to excellent acadmemic offerings, ASU must be a socially relevant institution whose programs "directly serve the needs of the people of Arizona."
This pronouncement gave support to the students and faculty members who participate in their scholarly research not merely for the sake of knowledge, but also to effect change in their communities. Public service will undergo a change in attitude - instead of just participating in as many community service hours as possible, students should look to apply talents to beneficial purposes.
For example, architecture students could research new ways to build homes that are more economically efficient, and biology students could study the effects of pollution on the local community.
Some of these efforts are already under way.
Scholar-Citizen is a grant program that was started six years ago in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences by several ambitious students eager to apply their academic skills in the community. Some of the projects in previous years include a study of the stories of first-generation Chinese immigrants in Phoenix, which were published for the archives of the Asian Cultural Center and another study documenting the prevalence of head lice in Guadalupe and methods to solve the problem.
But these efforts should be only the tip of the iceberg. Jeffrey Vance, the coordinator for the CLAS Scholar-Citizen grant, said the program currently is under review to make positive changes. While many past proposals were successful, the advisory committee was having trouble "getting more faculty involved." Vance said the team hopes to increase student awareness and participation when the program restarts in the spring.
Jane Maienschein, chair of the Center for Biology and Society, agreed that past community-related research efforts at ASU have been largely "sporadic" amongst students and faculty members. This is not to downplay their efforts - ASU already has achieved Research I status due to the joint efforts of students and instructors - however, most past research projects have been isolated within particular departments or only involved a select few students.
The New American University will make research a multidisciplinary goal for all students and faculty members alike.
Such a research university is important not only because of its contributions to technology, business and industry, but also because of the positive impacts it can have on the surrounding community and culture. As students and faculty in a center of learning, we have a responsibility not only to be scholarly, but also to apply our knowledge toward noble goals that will ultimately increase the quality of life for all our neighbors.
The willingness is there: Students and professors have always had a desire to reach out to the community and apply their knowledge in the real world. But now, with Crow's vision of community building in the University, we truly have the collective power to create a great New American University.
Ishtiaque Masud is an economics junior. Reach him at ishtiaque.masud@asu.edu.
