WHY THE EXISTING MODELS ARE NOT APPROPRIATE
FOR ARIZONA IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Sociological Determinants: Changing Demographics

Like all great metropolitan universities, Arizona State University is linked intrinsically to its cosmopolitan setting. Here in metropolitan Phoenix, heart of the great American Southwest, a short distance from the Borderlands and the influence of the great cultures of Mexico and Latin America, and to the West, a short distance from the Republic of California and the Pacific Rim, we are uniquely positioned to address the needs of a population whose demographic is changing at a startling pace.

Not only is Arizona growing rapidly, it has become more diverse. The past decade, for example, has witnessed a 40 percent increase in the statewide population and an 88 percent increase in the Hispanic population of our state. One of every four Arizonans is of Hispanic origin. As has already happened in California, within the next twenty years there will be no majority population in Arizona. There is tremendous diversity in the population of Arizona, and with that diversity comes a high degree of differentiation—culturally, socially, economically, and in educational attainment. We must build a university that embraces that complexity. We must build a university that is able to engage all these groups.