Student’s thesis documents Tempe campus

<p>Mike Olive, a senior in Barrett, the Honors College, loves to poke around the Tempe campus, looking for hidden delights such as tiny courtyards, fountains in unexpected places, and historic signs and sites.</p><separator></separator><p>Olive loves the campus so much that he is writing his honors thesis about it, documenting the history of the past four decades.</p><separator></separator><p>“No one has written a history since Ernest J. Hopkins and Alfred Thomas published ‘The Arizona State University Story’ in 1960,” Olive says.</p><separator></separator><p>“ ‘The Arizona State University Story’ covers the middle to later 19th century before Tempe and the Normal School into 1960,” Olive says.</p><separator></separator><p>“The general void exists from 1960 to present as far as a comprehensive history is concerned.</p><separator></separator><p>“There are a few things like the ‘New ASU Story’ (created by former archives staff member Rose Minetti, at <a href="http://www.asu.edu/lib/archives/asustory/">www.asu.edu/lib/archives/asu…;), and Thomas also put together a list of documents from 1960 to 1985, but I wouldn’t call it a history.”</p><separator></separator><p>Olive, from Oklahoma City, served in the Marine Corps for five years. He was sent to the Persian Gulf in 2003 before finishing his tour of duty in Yuma.</p><separator></separator><p>It didn’t take him long after he enrolled at ASU to realize how much the university meant to him.</p><separator></separator><p>“I’ve found myself exploring the campus, learning what this place is,” he says. “When I had to start thinking about my honors thesis, it occurred to me that I could serve both my own interest – the university – and give something back that the university could use.”</p><separator></separator><p>Olive asked university architect Ron McCoy to be his thesis director, and McCoy suggested that Olive contact university archivist Rob Spindler for help.</p><separator></separator><p>Olive begins his thesis with a brief summary of the history of the Tempe campus, and explores the growth of the campus from the 1960s on. The thesis concludes with a more personal reflection of his time at ASU, and his appreciation for the campus.</p><separator></separator><p>Olive hopes that his thesis will be used in University 101 classes, and that it will inspire students to “stop and smell the roses” – to take off their sunglasses and unplug their iPods and look around them to really see the Tempe campus.</p><separator></separator><p>College is “a finite period,” Olive says. “It’s something that needs to be cherished and absorbed. You can’t get it all without understanding where it came from. It’s not just a place, but a place with history.”</p>