ASU Retirees Association (ASURA) Video History Project Interviews

Dr. J. Russell Nelson came to ASU in 1981 to be University President and he retired in 1989. He was born in Oregon but grew up in California and Utah. He received his PhD from UCLA and proceeded to teach at the University of Minnesota. He honed his administrative skills at the University of Colorado. When he arrived at ASU he was given the task of moving the university to a research university. In the interview he talks about the lack of teaching space and the effort required to reorient the faculties’ focus. Nelson spoke at length about several buildings, Hayden Library and the Nelson Fine Arts Center. There is discussion about getting around the Regents to get funding for the West Campus and the effort required to clean up the athletic department.

Conrad Storad came to ASU in 1986 where he split his time between the ASU News Bureau and Vice President for Research where he was tasked to create a research newsletter. Conrad talks about working in a small-town newspaper, going to graduate school at ASU, working at the National Cancer Institute and returning to ASU. He tells how ASU Research magazine grew to include social science and humanities articles and how he came to publish a research magazine for children, Chain Reaction. The interview ends with how he came to write Don’t Call Me Pig, a children’s picture book.