Photo Credit: ASU West

ASU’s West Campus Expanding To Serve The Evolving West Valley

Arizona State University celebrated its West campus on Wednesday by kicking off a large-scale project that will add three new academic schools and two new buildings.

The event, on Fletcher Lawn, was called “West Valley Forward” and highlighted ASU’s commitment to meeting the educational and economic growth needs of the booming West Valley.

ASU, which offers more than 120 degree programs at the West campus, is planning to grow enrollment at that campus from the current 5,000 students to about 15,000.


Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs told the crowd that ASU’s West campus will produce graduates to fuel the dynamic growth of industry in the West Valley, which has expanded to include semiconductors and solar power.

“Word is getting out about what Arizona and the West Valley have to offer, and I couldn’t be more excited, and we couldn’t realize this economic growth without ASU West,” she said.

ASU Executive Vice President and University Provost Nancy Gonzales noted that the West campus is nearly 40 years old, established in 1984.

“The Valley was a very different place in those days — much of the land west of the I-17 was agricultural and sparsely populated,” she said.

In the decades that followed, the West Valley grew from 700,000 to 1.8 million residents while ASU transformed into a research and innovation powerhouse that’s a resource for the communities it serves, she said.

“This shared history brings us to a moment where ASU’s commitment to the citizens and communities of the West Valley requires a new level of engagement, resources and vision, and that’s why we’re here today,” Gonzales said at the event Wednesday, which included a picnic centered on the newest design aspiration, Principled Innovation; speeches; a panel discussion; and a ceremonial groundbreaking for the two new buildings.

New programs

Three new schools, in business, forensics and engineering, will be added to the West campus starting in the fall 2023 semester:

  • The School of Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the W. P. Carey School of Business: This new school, pending approval by the faculty senate in April, will help students develop an entrepreneurial mindset and include project-based coursework and service opportunities in the West Valley. Two new bachelor’s degrees will be added — in entrepreneurial leadership and in applied business and technology solutions. The W. P. Carey School currently offers 11 undergraduate degrees, two graduate degrees and two certificates at the West campus.
  • The School of Interdisciplinary Forensics in the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences: Forensics is the most popular major at the West campus. Since 2016, over 2,000 students have earned degrees in one of five forensics programs — three undergraduate and two master’s degrees programs. These programs will now be housed together in the new school, which will strengthen the forensics focus and align resources at the West campus. ASU will extend forensics applications across traditional and nontraditional disciplines. While forensics plays a vital role in the administration of justice, it is a highly interdisciplinary field, encompassing psychology, engineering, nursing, accounting, anthropology, biology and the environment. The new school will blend scientific rigor and technical training specifically to address system inequities and safeguard human rights.

    The School of Integrated Engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering: This new school will provide STEM opportunities in the underserved West Valley with a Bachelor of Science in engineering science — a flexible, multidisciplinary program that integrates a foundation in math, science and engineering, with a specialization in a chosen engineering concentration. Graduates will be prepared for careers in engineering or science as well as business professions that interact with technical specialists. With the Fulton Schools having a presence in the West Valley, the region’s schools, nonprofits and businesses will benefit from its Fulton Difference Programs, which include engineering projects in community service, student organizations, K–12 programs and the Grand Challenge Scholars Program.

The two new buildings will include a four-story, 55,000-square-foot academic facility that will house student gallery space, computer labs, faculty offices and future growth spaces, and is expected to be finished in spring 2025. A 500-bed, 134,264-square-foot residence hall is scheduled to open for the fall 2024 semester. Currently, about 800 students live at the West campus. Both buildings are expected to be LEED Silver certified.

Besides adding the new degree programs and buildings at the West campus, ASU also will create the Education Complex at ASU, which will be part of Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. The new initiative will be a space for collaboration on new ideas and educational innovation through social embeddedness. It will be dedicated to shaping the big questions and global trends affecting the future of education.

The Education Complex will focus on developing a network of community groups with an emphasis on diversity in perspectives and approaches. The groups will include representatives from preschool, K–12, higher education, community-based organizations, business, students, nonprofits, donors and other sectors.

The complex will include physical space that will be flexible, organic and open, allowing shifts into classrooms, educational demonstration spaces or lab sites. Mobile spaces will also be created that can be transported into the community.

Expanding the West campus will have a positive impact on the broader community, according to Todd Sandrin, vice provost of ASU’s West campus and dean of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences.

“By providing higher education opportunities for more students, we advance social and economic mobility and contribute to the development of a more diverse and educated workforce,” Sandrin said ahead of Wednesday’s festivities. “This has direct benefits not only for individual students and their families, but for our wider community, including increased innovation, creativity and economic growth by providing employers a significant workforce critical to their success.”

The West campus was approved by the state Legislature and signed into law by then-Gov. Bruce Babbitt on April 18, 1984. Arizona had a population of just over 3 million then, compared with 7.5 million now.

The campus, in the northwest corner of Phoenix, borders the city of Glendale. When it was established in the 1980s, the land west of Interstate 17 was agricultural and sparsely populated.