ASU’s Changemaker Campus designation renewed for third time
Students work together at a Changemaker Devils in Disguise event in Tempe, Arizona. Photo by Devon Baggot/ASU Student Life
What does it mean to be a Changemaker Campus?
According to Ashoka U, which awards just such a designation every six yearsAfter its initial designation in 2010, ASU's Changemaker Campus status was renewed in 2016. Because of delays caused by the pandemic, 2025 marks the latest renewal period since then., it means advancing social innovation and changemaking across higher education, and Arizona State University is doing exactly that.
A proponent of higher education institutions that foster changemaking environments, Ashoka U recently announced the renewal of ASU's designation as an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus.
The university first received the designation in fall 2010, thanks to the efforts of the J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute, a close collaborator in advancing the mission of ASU Changemaker for more than a decade, and Kellie Cloud, assistant vice president and executive director of student connection and community, who served as the initiative's founding director.
Changemaker Campus status is renewed every six years, making this the third time ASU has received the distinction, and making it one of only 29 institutions with the distinction.
“To be an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus means that you are intentionally integrating the changemaker philosophy in every aspect of the university,” said Alma Barnett, director of employer relations at ASU.
Barnett spearheaded the Changemaker renewal application, and with the collaboration and input of many university partners, laid out the university’s efforts toward positive change in a 54-page document.
Ashoka U highlighted the following strengths from that renewal application that best represent ASU’s commitment to changemaking:
- The overall depth and breadth of co-curricular programming.
- Tracking of university-wide contributions to the U.N.'s 17 sustainable development goals, or SDGs.
- Togetherness Practice and Principled Change (Innovation) initiatives.
- Changemaker Community Action Grants (and similar opportunities for students).
- Changemaker hubs across ASU.
“It is clear that your institution maintains a strong social innovation and changemaking ecosystem that meets the standards of our Changemaker Campus criteria,” said Heather MacCleoud, chief network officer for Ashoka U. “Reviewers were impressed by many aspects of ASU’s commitment to changemaking."
ASU’s commitment to changemaking starts with the university charter: “ASU is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves.”
As an institution focused on lowering barriers to entry, ASU promotes positive change by providing an education to those who may not otherwise have access.
“When we talk about not who we exclude, but who we include and how they succeed, it's really important to remember that talent is everywhere, but opportunity and access is not,” Barnett said. “And so, ASU works very hard to remove those barriers and to provide opportunity and access to many students. If you have the passion, the desire, the talent, we are here to help you realize that.
“When you think about Dr. Crow's vision for ASU, it is very much what a Changemaker Campus would be and should be."
Get involved
Visit changemaker.asu.edu to learn more about ASU Changemaker initiatives.
Changemaker resources are available to all ASU students — with a Changemaker hub located on each of the four main campus locations.
“Changemaker hubs have pillars: civic engagement, social entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability and service. And these are very important areas in which social impact can be made,” Barnett said. “The importance of having the hubs in all locations gives us the opportunity to serve each campus’ community based on that community's needs and help those students connect with the community in that way of serving, improving and supporting.”
In addition to the hubs, Changemaker hosts signature events during the year that encourage Sun Devils to think critically about how to enact positive change. Changemaker events like Change the World allow students to express their ideas through art, pitch, performance and exhibits, while Devils in Disguise, ASU’s largest day of community service, sends out thousands of students to aid the local community.
Lizzy Cowgur, a second-year student studying human systems engineering at the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, is the Changemaker Campus lead for the Polytechnic campus.
Cowgur discussed the impact of the annual Devils in Disguise community service day.
“It shows that, yes, we are Sun Devils, and we care about our community,” Cowgur said.
Being a changemaker also goes beyond the campus community, with ASU offering Changemaker Action Grants that empower students to create innovative solutions to local, national and global challenges. Being a changemaker is also about sustainability; ASU follows the 17 SDGs set by the United Nations in 2015.
“The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals — Dr. Crow has a whole program surrounding that, which measures what faculty are doing and how we're making progress in those areas, which a lot of institutions don't do,” Barnett said.
With this latest renewal of the Ashoka U Changemaker Campus designation, Barnett hopes to cultivate a new generation of young changemakers.
“The Ashoka U Changemaker designation shows that the world now requires everyone to be a changemaker — a person that sees themselves capable of creating positive change,” Barnett said. “It all fits together with the work we do and the type of president we have who's committed to that.”
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