“As a nation, we’ll need a fundamental change of perspective and attitude… Many of our current challenges are unprecedented.  There are no standard remedies or go-to fixes this time around.”

-- President Barack Obama,
   Arizona State University Commencement Address, May 2009

From the director:

   We are in an historical moment that is often characterized as transformative.  With a long economic recovery ahead and the election of an African American as U.S. President, we are being challenged to think in more complex ways about race, ethnicity, gender, class and social and economic justice. It is in this spirit that the School of Social Transformation brings together the strengths of four established units at Arizona State University: African and African American Studies, Asian Pacific American Studies, Justice and Social Inquiry, and Women and Gender Studies. These units were founded to create and advance new knowledge that challenges conventional thinking about multifaceted struggles. 

   The new school provides us with a platform for novel collaborative forms of teaching and knowledge creation that will enhance our ability to make new discoveries, to create social innovations and to engage with others in changing the world.   Our focus is on transformational knowledge — new research approaches, themes and questions that are embedded in broader historical, social and cultural processes of change.

   The school was created to address the big question of our time: How do we envision the future and achieve change that is democratic, inclusive and just?

We invite you to join us on this compelling journey.

--Mary Margaret Fonow