Growth

During the past 10 years, ASU has taken innovative steps to meet the needs of a growing student population. Through partnerships and investments, the university doubled its size, constructed new buildings, renovated existing structures and opened a new campus, doing so during an economic recession. Through this significant infrastructure growth, ASU supports faculty and student excellence with ample building space, technology and high-quality support services.

Building on its institutional commitment to sustainability, ASU repurposes existing facilities whenever possible. The Tempe campus has recently added and expanded programs into renovated space, including the Learning Sciences Institute, a program that promotes interdisciplinary research in the learning sciences; the Herberger Digital Studio; and the new School of Transborder Studies, all completed in spring 2011.

The Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 4, completed in May 2012, provides flexible laboratories with adjoining workspace for the School of Earth and Space Exploration, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering research programs, including environmental engineering and energy research initiatives. On the ground floor, a 250-seat auditorium and gallery area serves as university classrooms as well as an outreach function for both K-12 educational programs and public events. The building adds 293,000 gross square feet of space to the Tempe campus.

Walter Cronkite School of and Journalism and Mass Communication

In 2007 the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication broke ground on a $71 million six-story building designed specifically for journalism education as well as for use by Eight, Arizona’s PBS station. The 223,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art media complex with five digital newsrooms, two new-media laboratories, seven other computer labs, two TV studios and control rooms, dozens of digital editing bays, as well as many other multi-use spaces, enables students to produce professional-caliber work that can be showcased in professional outlets regionally and nationally.

In 2011 the school expanded Cronkite News Service operations to Washington, D.C., where students work from an ASU-owned facility on Dupont Circle covering developments in the nation’s capital that affect Arizonans. Under the leadership of Steve Crane, a former Washington Times political reporter and editor, CNS has more reporters covering the state legislature and the nation’s capital for Arizona than any other news outlet.