"We Love ASU Collections" Open House

Open House 2009
Monday, February 16th - Presidents' Day

Kids of all ages are invited to come to ASU and enjoy a day of exploration and discovery at our annual Open House. Our collections are from all around the world, and some are even from outer space! Come experience our beautiful campus, and you'll see why we LOVE our ASU collections!

A variety of presentations will be offered throughout the day. Visitors are encouraged to begin their day at the Welcome table location at the Old Main building, to pick up a map and tour guide and enjoy lite refreshments. Parking is available in the Fulton Center parking structure located on the northeast corner of University Dr. and Forest Avenue (fees apply). This event is free and open to the public.

Download event flyer

See Map for Fulton Center Parking Structure, just North of the Old Main building, Tempe campus

This event has been generously sponsored by the ASU Alumni Association and the Arizona State Credit Union.

May Museum Day 2009
Date will be announced soon!

Next Tour:

Mars Space Flight Facility
Apr 22, Noon - 1pm

Exhibit Openings

Artist Exhibition Openings
ASU Art Museum
Spring 2009

More openings >>

Plant Herbarium

9:30 am - 10:30 am

The Vascular Plant Herbarium houses over 250,000 dried, pressed plant specimens collected from the 1800s to the present. Visitors will see the collections and learn how the plants are preserved, curated and used in research today.

Planetarium

10:00 - 11:00 am

The Planetarium focuses on what role the sky plays in societies and the individual. Along with general sky identification programs, there are specialized presentations about the Titanic, Moby Dick and the top 10 photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Arizona Historical Foundation/
Luhrs Gallery

10:30 am - 11:30 am

“Reflections on 50 years of Collecting.” Established in 1959, the AHF was originally conceived by Senator Barry Goldwater, historian Bert Fireman and Dr. Benjamin Sacks as a resarch library, publishing house and museum. From cattle to cartoons, from territory to technology, the display highlights life in Arizona. The Luhrs Gallery will be featuring "Shelter and the Storm: Agnes Smedley at Yaddo", an exhibit about ASU Alumna Agnes Smedley, advocate for the oppressed, radical, war correspondent, and spy. Agnes Smedley had the longest residency at the artists' colony Yaddo in Saratoga springs, NY. The exhibit reviews her life and the controversy she faced after returning from post-war China.

Center for Meteorite Studies

11:00 am - 12:00 pm

See meteorites from one of the world’s largest and best collections. Home to specimens from over 1,500 separate meteorite falls, the Center’s collection is actively used for geological and space-oriented research by scientists at ASU and throughout the world.

Archeaological Research Institute

11:30 am - 12:30 pm

The Archaeological Research Institute was established in 1995 as a unit of Arizona State University to undertake the preservation of archaeological materials and related data, to pursue research activities associated with the archaeological record, and to conduct educational programs to disseminate knowledge of the past to Arizona’s citizens. ARI encourages and facilitates Native American involvement and training in curation management and museum operation.

Museum of Anthropology

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Acquired from the Latin American Studies Program in 2008 by the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, the Latin American Folk Art Collection contains objects that span the range of folk art traditions throughout Central and South America. This exhibit will feature twenty objects, ranging from a brightly painted ox cart (tea cart sized) from Cost Rica to Mexican Alebrijes, monsterous and fanciful cardboard toys decorated with a brush and varnished.

Mars Space Flight Facility &
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC)

1:30 - 2:30 pm

The Mars Space Flight Facility supports the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) Experiment on the Mars Global Surveyor Spacecraft and the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) Experiment on the Mars Odyssey Spacecraft. Additionally, the Mini-Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) is on each of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. The facility also houses the ASU Mars Education Program, which provides opportunities for teachers and students to join in the excitement of Mars exploration.

Among the spacecraft's six instruments is the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) which will be based here at ASU in Interdisciplinary A Building. This incredible facility features a public viewing gallery of Lunar exploration history and access to the Science Operations Center (SOC), where LROC images will be received and analyzed. These images will used as we prepare for future missions to the Moon!

LROC is also working with the Johnson Space Center to build the Apollo Archive Image Project. Original flight film from earlier Lunar missions has been preserved at JSC. This film has been carefully processed, scanned and digitalized, creating a catalog of over 100,000 images with detail not seen for decades! These images will be used with newer LROC images for comparison to detect changes on the Lunar surface! Come and Explore!!!

Step Gallery

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Featured Artists: Sarah Gagliano and Christine Evola
Sarah Gagliano incorporates ceramics and explores the uses of different glazing techniques. Christine Evola examines fiberous materials such as burlap, felt, and yarn in nontraditional uses.

Gallery 100

2:30 - 3:30 pm

"Printstravaganza! IV" Fourth Annual Juried Student Print Show
This show is a venue for students across artistic disciplines to explore the definition of a print. A communal exhibition gives the ability for students to see each other's work, to understand common media ties and to open a conversation about work being created currently with in the ASU School of Art.

Harry Wood Gallery

3:00 - 4:00 pm

Currently in transit, Marco Rosichelli's thesis exhibition will be delivered to the Harry Wood Gallery on February 16, 2009. Arriving in several large crates, 25,000 multicolored plastic balls will provide an opportunity for adults to play, have fun, and interact.

Planetarium

3:00 - 4:00 pm

The Planetarium focuses on what role the sky plays in societies and the individual. Along with general sky identification programs, there are specialized presentations about the Titanic, Moby Dick and the top 10 photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Self-Guided Tours available for these Museums & Collections

Life Sciences Living Collection

Self-Guided Tour anytime
between 9:00am - 5:00 pm

See a variety of reptile displays, including the only complete living collection of all eighteen sub-species of Arizona native rattlesnakes. Located in the halls of the A wing, take a self-guided tour of the many living snakes and reptiles housed within.

Old Main

Self-Guided Tour anytime between 9am - 5pm

Completed in 1898, Old Main holds rich tradition for ASU and the state. Through a $5.7 million campaign, the Alumni Association refurbished the landmark to the period of its construction. Today it serves as a place where alumni can always return. ASU memorabilia and archives are on display for viewing throughout the building.

R. S. Dietz Museum of Geology

Self-Guided Tour anytime
between 9:00am - 12:30 pm

Minerals, gems, fossils from around the world, the only active seismograph in central Arizona, six-story Foucault pendulum, Columbian mammoth bones from Chandler, Arizona.

See Open House 2008