Sonoran Desert

Let's take them outside.

I said, you want to take Southeast Asian jungle animals out into the Sonoran Desert? What, do you want to put them up next to a cactus? What are you going to do with them outside? It's hot and dry.

They don't like it outside.

So it wasn't long enough to take the picture.

What if I told you that a university in the heart of the Sonoran Desert was consistently ranked more innovative than MIT, Stanford, and Harvard? Or that the same institution, which began as a tiny teacher's college with just 33 students, now educates more than 140,000 people across the globe? Or that its campus was once home to date palm trees so valuable they were guarded day and night? Welcome to Arizona State University, where tradition meets innovation in ways that have redefined what's possible in higher education.

This is the story of an institution that refused to be limited by conventional thinking and instead embraced a mission to transform society through inclusion rather than exclusion.

But the ASU you see today isn't just built on bold ideas and desert sunshine.

These collaborations allow your university to address global challenges while providing students with truly worldwide educational opportunities.

Perhaps most importantly, ASU continues to push the boundaries of what's possible when a university commits itself to being judged not by who it excludes, but by who it includes and how they succeed.

In the heart of the Sonoran Desert, Arizona State University has grown from a small teacher's college to a global force for innovation and transformation, proving that in education, as in other fields, the greatest breakthroughs often come from those willing to question traditional assumptions.

So the next time you hear about the most innovative university in America, remember, it's not just about new ideas.

It's about reimagining what education can be and who it can serve.

The problem was everything that came afterward.

The Sonoran Desert isn't quiet at night, no matter how poets portray it.

It's noisy in a way that wears away at your nerves.

The wind whistles between the saguaros.

I'm Mexican, so part Spanish.

part indigenous Native American from Mexico, from the Sonoran Desert.

So I'm part Yaqui, Yaquimayo Indian.

Um, very traditional, hardworking family.