Going Big with Dr. Michael Crow: Redesigning the American University

What if excellence in higher education wasn’t about who you exclude—but about how many you can empower to succeed?

In this episode of Going Big!, host Kevin Gentry sits down with Dr. Michael Crow, President of Arizona State University and one of the most visionary university leaders in America. Over the past two decades, Dr. Crow has led a sweeping transformation of ASU—turning it into the nation’s largest research university, dramatically expanding access, and pioneering a new model of continuous innovation.

They explore how ASU scaled from 55,000 to over 200,000 degree-seeking students without compromising quality, why the university now graduates more engineers than nearly any institution in America, and how it became a driving force behind the largest foreign direct investment in U.S. history. Dr. Crow also unpacks the cultural resistance he faced, the radical accountability embedded in ASU’s charter, and how universities can become true engines of national progress.

If you care about the future of higher education, institutional transformation, or what it means to lead boldly at scale—this conversation will reset your expectations.