Practice PI: ASU’s newest design aspiration
ASU’s newest design aspiration promotes ethical, values-driven decision-making, ensuring innovation aligns with character, responsibility, and inclusivity in shaping the university’s future.
Nine design aspirations guide the ongoing evolution of ASU as a New American University. These institutional objectives are integrated in innovative ways throughout the university to achieve excellence, access and impact.
Practice Principled Innovation is ASU’s latest design aspiration, emphasizing the role of character and values in decision-making. Principled Innovation was developed at the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation beginning in 2017. In 2023 it was elevated to a university-wide design aspiration, guiding the ASU’s approach to innovation and ensuring that creativity and problem-solving remain ethically grounded and socially responsible. It challenges students, faculty, and leaders to ask not only can we innovate? but should we?—considering the broader impact of their actions.
This commitment reinforces ASU’s mission of inclusivity and societal impact by integrating ethical reflection into leadership, research, and community engagement. Whether designing new policies, advancing technology, or shaping learning environments, Practice Principled Innovation provides a framework for responsible progress—one that balances ambition with integrity and innovation with long-term responsibility.
ASU President Michael Crow introduces Practice Principled Innovation
MLFC Dean Carole Basile describes the scope of Principled Innovation
