Michael Crow on higher education's 'broken heart'

During a widely circulated interview at Rice University last year, Arizona State University President Michael M. Crow held up an iPhone.

What the crowd didn’t realize, he explained, was that the device in their pockets reflected thousands of largely unrecognized contributions from university research.

Crow later recalled that moment during a recent fireside chat with Ohad Kadan, Charles J. Robel Dean and W. P. Carey Distinguished Chair in Business, noting that smartphones incorporate insights from thousands of academic papers and more than a thousand university-generated patents — a powerful example, he said, of how higher education’s impact often goes unseen.

That visibility gap — and the consequences of it — framed much of Crow's discussion with Kadan at the 2026 Western Association of Collegiate Schools of Business (WACSB) Deans Conference, which brought business school deans from nine states to ASU's Tempe campus to discuss opportunities and challenges facing business schools.

Communicating the value of business education to the public emerged as a recurring theme throughout the three-day event.

Nearly every aspect of modern life — from our food to life-saving medical advances to our technology — is rooted in academic research. But as federal funding cuts threaten the pipeline that fuels these innovations, and as many Americans remain unaware of how deeply that research shapes their everyday lives, educational institutions are "ill-equipped to fight back against general attacks on the universities as institutions," Crow said.

Despite ranking as the country’s third-most trusted public institution, higher education saw public confidence fall to a historic low in 2025.

"My own view is that 'trust' is the wrong word," Crow said. "I think that what we are experiencing is a deeply, deeply, deeply broken heart."

But the challenge of access to education in America runs deep.

Crow pointed to the nation’s founding ideals, noting that the Declaration of Independence is rooted in philosophical principles that treat learning as an inalienable right. Yet for many Americans, quality education remains out of reach, limited by financial barriers and personal circumstances.

He pointed to the roughly 40 million Americans who have some college credits, thousands of dollars in debt, no diploma, and no clear path back to earning their degree.

Initiatives like the Starbucks College Achievement Plan — which has helped more than 18,000 Starbucks employees return to school and complete their degrees — represent one way ASU is addressing uneven learning outcomes in the U.S.

It's something he experienced firsthand. When Crow's mother died while his father fought in the Vietnam War, he moved 40 times and attended 17 different schools before graduating from high school.

"What I saw along the way was this most unbelievably unfair, uneven way of enabling people to learn. It was cruel," Crow said. "We haven't made learning something that is not class-based."

At ASU, that perspective has shaped an emphasis on broad access — from admitting students who meet university standards to expanding online offerings — as part of a broader effort to reach learners whose paths to a degree have been disrupted. Today, about 80,000 students are earning degrees through ASU Online. The university also maintains locations in Arizona, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London and Hawaii to support in-person learning and research.

In an increasingly connected world, universities have more opportunities than ever to expand their reach — and to make their contributions more visible.

Crow said that connectivity is reshaping how institutions operate, from who they serve to how they collaborate.

“It gives us an opportunity to accelerate new ways of doing things. It gives us ways to accelerate bringing in different students from different places, do more things, connect in new ways,” he said.

That question of visibility — and how to better communicate higher education’s contributions to society — was also central to a panel featuring leaders from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the global organization that promotes the impact of business schools through standard-setting and thought leadership.

Panelists included Lily Bi, president and CEO of AACSB International; Lisa Ordóñez, an AACSB board member and dean of the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego; and Tim Mescon, vice president of the Growth in the Americas initiative. The discussion was moderated by Ian Williamson, AACSB board chair-elect and dean of the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine.

The presentation highlighted the organization's reevaluation of accreditation standards and its efforts to elevate research through global impact frameworks and a research impact conference. With 60% of its members outside the United States, AACSB is also revising its governance structure and advisory council to ensure broader global representation.

This year, AACSB will release a new report focused on its ninth accreditation standard — engagement and societal impact — highlighting how business schools contribute to economic growth, environmental sustainability and community well-being.

For Crow and other higher education leaders, the challenge is not just producing that impact but making it visible. In an era of declining public trust, institutions must clearly demonstrate how their work translates into innovation, opportunity and tangible benefits for society.