Arizona State University was founded in 1885 as the Tempe Normal School. The school was established to train teachers to work in Arizona’s public schools. In 1958, the name was changed to Arizona State College at Tempe.
In 1959, the college became a university under the leadership of President Grady Gammage. The following year, the state legislature granted it university status and changed its name to Arizona State University at Tempe.
In 1966, the school began offering graduate degrees for the first time and received accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
The school’s name changed several times over the next few years: In 1893, it became Tempe Normal School and Business College after adding business classes to its curriculum; it then became Tempe State Teacher’s College in 1929; Arizona State Teachers College at Tempe in 1945; and finally Arizona State College at Tempe in 1958. The university’s name was changed one final time to Arizona State University in 1959.
As the 1960s progressed, ASU continued to evolve into a nationally recognized institution of higher learning with growing enrollment numbers and expanding facilities and programs. In 1968, Governor Jack Williams approved changes that moved ASU toward becoming a fully autonomous university system, one that would be governed by its own Board of Regents rather than by an external governing body such as the governor or legislature.
