Founders' Day

Save the date! Founders' Day will be held on February 17, 2026.

Founders' Day 2025

In front of a packed crowd of more than 800 community leaders, business executives and Arizona State University alumni, the 2025 Founders’ Day honored ASU alumni, faculty members and benefactors for their distinguished achievements.

Celebrating over 60 years of ASU excellence, the 2025 Founders’ Day celebrated honorees who exemplify the spirit of ASU’s founders and the university charter. Among them was a CEO and biotech entrepreneur, a registered nurse and former ASU triathlete, an accomplished water law professor, a kinesiology professor committed to fostering student and faculty success, a multidisciplinary team of exceptional researchers and a group of philanthropists with deep ties to ASU's founding and legacy.

Save the date for Founders' Day 2026, which will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2026. Get ready to meet the next cohort of exceptional Sun Devil leaders!

A room of more than 800 people at Founders' Day — A sold-out crowd of more than 800 alumni, community members, business leaders, ASU executives and supporters of the university celebrating Founders' Day 2025 at the Omni Tempe Hotel at ASU.

2025 honorees

Founders' Day, a rich tradition

Arizona State University is proud to celebrate Founders' Day, commemorating the first day of classroom instruction at the original Territorial Normal School in Tempe in 1886. Founders' Day is ASU’s signature event honoring the changemakers whose pioneering achievements and visionary philanthropy have shaped ASU’s spirit of excellence and innovation. It's a time to learn more about the breakthrough research, philanthropy and community work that is driving the future of ASU and the world, to honor the university's growth from humble beginnings to the model of a New American University. Every year, we celebrate some of the ASU alumni, faculty and staff who have contributed to this success.

View the 2024 Founders' Day photos

About Founders' Day

Arizona State University annually celebrates the vision and contributions of the institution's founders. A tradition known as Founders' Day, this signature event has taken place since 1964. ASU faculty, staff, alumni and advocates who exemplify the pioneering and innovative spirit of ASU’s founders are honored with excellence-in-achievement awards at the event.

Founders’ Day is celebrated each year in February or March, commemorating the first day of classroom instruction at the original Territorial Normal School in Tempe on Feb. 8, 1886. Founding President Hiram Bradford Farmer greeted thirty-one students on that first day of classes. Now, we honor our founders — Territorial Representative John Samuel and the members of the first Board of Education; Professor Farmer, Board President Charles Trumbull Hayden, Joseph Campbell, T. J. Butler, A. C. Baker and H. L. Long.

Today, Arizona State University is a leading public research university and an internationally prestigious higher education institution recognized by leading rankings publications and services. ASU launched the groundbreaking prototype of the New American University in 2002, and the ultimate journey from a simple schoolhouse to a world-class institution is a testament to the vision, tenacity and hard work of its founders, leaders, faculty, students and alumni through the years. Founders’ Day is a celebration of this founding spirit.