ASU Retirees Association (ASURA) Video History Project Interviews

Connie McNeill came to ASU in the summer of 1976 as head of the payroll project and retired in the summer of 2006 as the West Campus Assistant Vice Provost for Information Technology. Interesting stories include:
1) her role in developing both academic and administrative computing services on the Tempe and West Campuses
2) bringing PC’s onto the Tempe Campus
3) the “Space Wars”
4) short stories about Roland Haden and Darel Eschbach

A native of Akron, Ohio, Jack Kingsinger started his career fresh out of high school as a navigator in the Air Force toward the end of World War II. When the war ended, he pursued a double major Bachelors degree in Chemistry and Mathematics at Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio. He then went on to get a Masters degree in Chemistry from Cornell University. While working in private industry, he took advantage of the education benefits offered by the company he was working at and worked at getting his PhD in Chemistry from Penn. Academia was calling him, so he joined the faculty in the Chemistry Department at Michigan State. He later became the Chair of the department before leaving to become the Director of Chemistry at the National Science Foundation. He returned to Michigan State as the Assistant VP of Research which led to becoming the Associate Provost.

His journey to Arizona State University was actually initiated on a trip he made to visit the Chemistry Department as part of his role with the NSF. He was very impressed with the campus and when the position of Vice President of Academic Affairs opened up, he was quick to pursue it. He was hired by then President J. Russell Nelson and worked on many initiatives until his retirement.

Charlie Arntzen joined ASU in August 2000 as the Florence Ely Nelson Presidential Endowed Chair and retired in 2016 from the School of Life Sciences and Biodesign Institute. Charlie was the founding Director of the Biodesign Institute.
Important ASU stories include:
1) the creation of the Biodesign Institute,
2) the design and operation of the Biodesign labs,
3) the development of ZMapp to fight Ebola,
4) The New American University - a discussion of the importance of collaboration, and
5) several comments about Presidents Coor and Crow and Provost Glick

Born in Arizona, the son of educators, Lattie F. Coor was the 15th President of ASU. He attended NAU for his undergraduate degree and went on to receive his masters and PhD from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He remained at Washington University as a faculty member, eventually becoming its Vice Chancellor. In 1976, Lattie left to become the 21st President of the University of Vermont. In January of 1990, Lattie returned to Arizona to become the 15th President of ASU, remaining as President until 2002. After his retirement as President of ASU, Lattie stayed as a Professor and Ernest W. McFarland Chair in Leadership and Public Policy in the University's School of Public Affairs. He also co-founded the Center for the Future of Arizona where he continues to serve on the Board of Directors.

In his interview, Lattie recaps his life growing up in Arizona during the war years, providing many stories of his experiences with the various prisoner of war camps located in Arizona. He indicates that originally he thought he would become a lawyer and perhaps enter a political career, but then early on in his post-secondary work, he was greatly influenced by one of his professors at NAU and turned to pursuing a career in academics. From there he unfolds the story of his life as a professor and an academic administrator.