ASU President Michael Crow was named one of “The Most Innovative and Practical Thinkers of our Time” this month by news website Slate magazine.
Crow is part of the magazine’s “Top Right” award, which recognizes individuals who’ve been able to solve “real-world” problems in efficient and unconventional ways.
His name joins a list of the top 25 innovators of 2011 that includes Jack Dorsey, founder of the social media site Twitter, and Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of the e-commerce site Amazon.com.
Arizona Board of Regents Chair Fred DuVal said in an email that Crow received this recognition because he is “a rare innovative thinker who is a singularly gifted change agent and who has brought his formidable intellectual and personal skills to develop a brand New American University.”
This past June, ABOR approved a multiple-year employment agreement, extending Crow’s contract through June 30, 2017.
The top 25 innovators are divided into five groups: business, culture, technology, government and design. Crow was selected for the government category.
Crow came to ASU from Columbia University in 2002 and has since set into motion his plans for a new American research university. His plans are a shift from the standard American university model that emphasizes selective admissions and focuses more on the type of student that graduates.
“Since Crow's arrival, ASU's research funding has almost tripled to nearly $350 million,” according to Slate. “Degree production has increased by 45 percent. And thanks to an ambitious aid program, enrollment of students from Arizona families below poverty is up 647 percent.”
Duval said the University is “one that moves towards access and quality simultaneously.”
Reach the reporter at Newlin.Tillotson@asu.edu
