Innovation in the Golden State
ASU Local students visit the historic lobby of the ASU California Center Broadway. In 2021, ASU completed an award-winning preservation and restoration project on the building, designed by renowned architect Julia Morgan in 1913. Photo by Sabira Madady/ASU
Editor's note: This story originally appeared in the spring 2024 issue of ASU Thrive magazine.
Arizona State University's locations in California have continually welcomed thousands of students from across California, the nation and the world to study film, fashion, journalism, business and hundreds of other disciplines.
In California, ASU offers the power of a public, internationally recognized research institution and the unique ability to develop a workforce of highly skilled master learners and innovative leaders ready to tackle any challenge.
The ASU California Center in downtown Los Angeles is nestled in the center of the fashion, entertainment, jewelry and financial districts.
Programs and opportunities in LA include:
• The Narrative and Emerging Media (NEM) program, which immerses students in the development of content in augmented, virtual and extended reality in LA. NEM is a joint program between The Sidney Poitier New American Film School, housed within the The Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, and The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “This new form of storytelling can offer a visceral and positive impact on our perception of the world,” says program director Nonny de la Peña.
• The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Cronkite News LA Bureau, where ASU journalism students learn on professional equipment and also create award-winning news and sports content.
Serving California
ASU has been serving the needs of California students for more than 20 years.
- ASU has enrolled 105,000 students from California in the last 23 years.
- In 2024, over 23,000 students from California across all locations and online are enrolled at ASU.
- Today, 65,000 ASU alumni live in California.
- ASU has partnered with all 116 California community colleges to deliver over 400 pathways for students to easily transfer into ASU.
- ASU has been on the ground in California for more than 20 years. Today, the university has multiple locations in California, including in downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach.
• ASU Local, where students can choose from 160 high-quality bachelor’s degree options in a highly supportive environment in LA, Long Beach and Chula Vista.
• ASU FIDM, where fashion students learn in state-of-the-industry classrooms on professional equipment and have coursework embedded with industry partners across LA. The ASU California Center Grand is home to the largest fashion library on the West Coast and the world-class ASU FIDM Museum, with a 15,000-piece collection that represents over 400 years of fashion history.
• The Sidney Poitier New American Film School provides LA students the opportunity to access Hollywood technology through partnerships including Dreamscape Immersive, the world’s leading virtual reality company.
• Since fall 2000, over 10,000 Californians have graduated with business and engineering degrees in dozens of disciplines. ASU is a U.S. “Best Business School” and has multiple top-ranked engineering programs.
• The Thunderbird School of Global Management and California College of ASU both offer programming in Los Angeles, putting students in the center of the heartbeat of the city.
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The narrative and emerging media program immerses students in the development of content in augmented, virtual and extended reality in LA.
ASU photo
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ASU Local students can choose from 160 high-quality bachelor’s degree options in a highly supportive environment in LA.
ASU photo
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ASU FIDM students learn in state-of-the-industry classrooms and have coursework embedded with industry partners across LA.
Photo by Camille Misty/ASU
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LA film students intern with leading companies in Hollywood and learn from award-winning faculty.
ASU photo
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