Arizona State University (ASU) is a public research university comprising four campuses across the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It first opened as the normal school for the Arizona Territory in Tempe, Arizona in 1885—the first institution of higher learning to open in the territory. Steady growth and expanded academic offerings caused the institution to be renamed Arizona State University in 1958. As of fall 2007, the Tempe campus is the third-largest university campus by student enrollment in the country, with a student body of 51,481.

In addition to the original campus in Tempe, ASU comprises three additional campuses: West campus was created in 1984 in northwest Phoenix, Polytechnic campus was opened in 1996 in Mesa, and the Downtown campus in Downtown Phoenix was opened in August 2006.

In the 2006–2007 academic year, 13,629 students graduated from the university's four campuses. In 2007, 148 National Merit Scholars chose to attend ASU. Many are part of Barrett, The Honors College, which has produced numerous grant and scholarship winners since its founding in 1988. Under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, ASU is classified as a "RU/VH" (very high research activity--formerly "Research 1") university.