Arizona State University is renaming the College of Public Service to the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, the school annouced at the college’s Community Solutions Festival Monday.
The college on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus will now be named after the founders of Sunstate Equipment, Cindy and Mike Watts, who gifted the university $30 million. It’s one of the largest philanthropic gifts in the university’s history, according to ASU President Michael Crow.
“Through their investment, this college can expand its intellectual footprint by a number of things,” Crow said. “It will impact things within the community itself, focus on particular communities and their success going forward.”
Part of the funding will go toward five professorships to hire “scholars who are focused on community development, public policy, criminal justice and child well-being,” according to a press release from ASU.
The investment will support communities that are served by the College of Public Service and Community Solutions along with students who are seeking a career in public service, according to Jonathan Koppell, dean of Watts College.
“We are in a position now because of the investment the Watts’ are making, to fundamentally show what a university can do to advance the welfare of our community,” Koppell said. “We, with this investment, seek to level the playing field. This will open doors to internships, to study abroad opportunities, to participation in our community solutions camp.”
One of these potential communities is in Maryvale, an urban village in Phoenix and the Watts’s hometown. It is one of Phoenix’s most populated communities and has the second highest poverty rate in the city.
This includes the Maryvale Revitalization Project and One Square Mile Initiative, which aims to bring together academics and community leaders to create concentrated community services in order to promote “local entrepreneurial efforts and community engagement activities in a designated square-mile zone,” according to a press release.
After revealing that the College of Public Service and Community Solutions would be renamed for the Watts family, Crow praised them for the example they are setting for their community.
“So not only are they doing it from their hearts for this institution but they are also setting an example for others,” Crow said. “This is the way ASU can advance. This community helps makes these things happen. I just want to say thank you, for everything.”
With their donation, the family hopes to build a better future for everyone.
“We are all in this together. We need to be involved together,” Cindy Watts said while crying. “Ignorance is a great source of suffering. Our intention is to alleviate that suffering through these programs. From our hearts, we are so honored to do this.”
Contact the reporter at ldiethel@asu.edu.
Lisa Diethelm is the Politics editor for the Downtown Devil while she studies at The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in downtown Phoenix. She grew up in California and started her journalism career in high school.
