David Schwalm came to ASU in 1986 as Director of Composition and retired in 2009 as Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the Polytechnic Campus. The interview has five main sections:
1, Pre-ASU Years where Dave discusses growing up in Fort Wayne, his education, and professional jobs.
2. Director of Composition addresses Dave’s increasing understanding of the university through his work on general studies and English articulation agreements.
3. ASU West covers Dave’s efforts to grow the student population and with Cathy Church to untangle the West and Tempe campus programs
4. ASU East has extensive coverage of how the campus was started and populated using an alliance with Chandler Gilbert Community College. Doing all this on a shoestring of a budget. Dave discusses why various faculty and programs were moved to the Polytechnic Campus.
5. Reflections allows Dave to reminisce about the “good old days” as well as the good new days.

Robert (Coach) Fleming was Professor of Music, Associate Director of Bands, and Director of Marching Band from 1974-2002, Coach Fleming grew up in a music family playing the flute. He briefly taught in high school, before moving to the University of Tennessee at Martin where he was band director for seven years. The interview touches on numerous topics and stories including winning the Sudler Trophy, performing at the 1991 Midwest Band Orchestra Clinic, conducting at Carnegie Hall, both ASU Rose Bowl appearance, etc. The interview ends with various discussions of the importance of the Band as a family

Dr. Larry E. Penley was the dean of the W. P. Carey School of Business for 12 years. Dr. Penley came to ASU in 1985 and served for one year as the Chair of the Management Department within the College of Business. He was born in Virginia but grew up in eastern Tennessee. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Lake Forest University and then went on to receive his PhD in management from the University of Georgia.

As mentioned, Dr. Penley came to ASU in 1985 as the Chair of the Management Department. He assumed the role of interim Dean for the College of Business when then Dean, John Kraft left ASU. In this interview he describes the College of Business as it developed a top ranked graduate program as well as a top ranked undergraduate program. He also touches on how the College would later become known as the W. P. Carey School of Business.

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.

Paige Mulhollan came to ASU in 1978 as ASU’s first Provost. He left in 1985 to become President of Wright State University in Ohio. Paige discusses the impact of Frank Kush’s firing on President John Schwada and the birthing of ASU West. At several points Paige discusses the need for ASU to take advantage of Phoenix rather than just being located in Phoenix. Aspects of the University budget are discussed. There are a set of ASU reflections and reflections on an academic career.

Brian Foster came to ASU in 1980 as Associate Professor of Anthropology. He became chair in 1982, then was Dean of the Graduate College from 1986 to 1994. He went on to the University of Nebraska as Dean of Arts and Sciences. He served as Provost at the University of New Mexico ( 2000 - 2005) and at the University of Missouri (2005 - 2014). He is Provost Emeritus and Professor of Anthropology Emeritus at the University of Missouri - Columbia. In the interview, Brian describes his early life and education in Dixon IL before entering college at age 28. Brian's varied University academic experiences bring a unique view of the current state of University education and particularly of the pioneering changes taking place at Arizona State University.

Dr. Milton Glick grew up wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a jeweler. However, his father had other plans for him and insisted that he attend college. Milt received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Augustana College in his hometown of Rock Island, IL. He went on to receive his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He spent 2 years as a Post-Doctoral student at Cornell University before joining the faculty of Wayne State University. From there, he went to serve as Dean at the University of Missouri and then Provost at Iowa State University, serving as interim President in his final year. In 1991 he joined the administration of ASU as Provost and remained here for 15 years. He spent almost 5 years as President of the University of Nevada, Reno before unexpectedly passing away of a stroke in April 2011.

In this interview, Milt talks about his goals of improving the quality of the faculty at ASU from being the “ordinary” that he found when he arrived to becoming the “extraordinary”. He attributes his success in improving faculty salaries as one aspect of achieving this goal. He talks about the challenges ASU had living in the shadows of the greatness of the University of Arizona and overcoming those to where the UofA now looks up to ASU! Milt also talks about his role as the “Zen master of managing limited budgets” during his years at ASU. And he speaks of the special relationship he had with now President Michael Crow, from his years at Iowa State, to using Michael as a consultant and mentor to him in his role as Provost at ASU and finally to having Dr. Crow as his “boss”. Throughout the interview, Milt stressed his love for ASU and mentioned that ASU was “more than just a destination for sunlight.”

Born in Pittsburgh, PA and raised in a small town in Indiana (Seymour, IN), Harold Fearon received his BA in Management and his MBA from Indiana University where he became interested in teaching as a career. After his military service, he went to Michigan State University where he received his PhD in Management with a dissertation titled “Purchasing Research in American Business”. His specialty was industrial purchasing.

Harold was invited to come to ASU to be part of the College of Business by a former professor from IU who had moved to ASU. He talks about how he promised to only stay 2 years and has been here close to 30! During his time at ASU he was chair of the Department of Management in the College of Business. He became chair of the Department of Purchasing, Transportation and Operation which he founded to support the increase in interest in the purchasing field. After his retirement, he established a research institute (the first institute located at the ASU Research Park) that was nationally supported called The Center for Advanced Purchasing Studies (CAPS). He also was the founder and first editor of the “Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management” which is still in publication today. In his spare time, he was co-founder of the Rio Salado Bank, a community bank in Tempe, about which he relates many funny events!

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.

James W. Elmore will always be remembered as the founding dean of the College of Architecture at Arizona State University. Jim’s original intent in coming to Phoenix in 1948 was to work as an architect for Guirey & Jones. Jim came to ASU in 1949 to a non-existent department at then Arizona State College. He nurtured the department into a nationally prominent design school in less than 20 years. Jim was also instrumental in the design and development of the Rio Salado Project. After retirement from ASU, he continued to promote his design for aerial (elevated) transit and a city for Phoenix and greater Phoenix area.

Jim is a native of Nebraska receiving his BA degree in architecture in 1938 from the University of Nebraska. After spending six years with the US Army Corp of Engineers, he went back to school on the GI Bill and received his Masters in Architecture from Columbia University. This interview has Jim telling us about his road to becoming an architect, to becoming a teacher, developing the College of Architecture and his continued community involvement after retirement.