Maria Anguiano will serve as the executive vice president of ASU's new Learning Enterprise, University President Michael Crow announced in a statement Thursday.
Under Anguiano, the Learning Enterprise looks to continue the University's mission to "serve all learners at every stage of life" and grow its education offerings outside of graduate and undergraduate degrees "through scalable, technology-enabled pathways that will serve the greatest number of learners possible," Crow said in the statement.
Crow said the Learning Enterprise will be one of the University's "three pillars" — along with Knowledge Enterprise and Academic Enterprise — and "shares the same goal of advancing the university’s charter in its entirety but with a main focus on the last part of the charter: 'assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves.'”
ASU has primarily delivered courses and curriculum for those seeking a degree in higher education, but it is now looking to expand and serve those who are engaged at all levels of learning, from kindergarten through postretirement, no matter their age or education.
"I believe that in order to truly transform the lives of people through education, we as educators are going to have to rethink and redesign learning to better fit the lives of our learners and meet them where they are, instead of expecting them to fit one mold," Anguiano said in an interview with ASU Now. "We want Learning Enterprise to provide a lifelong learning infrastructure that anyone can plug into and feel like it was created with their needs in mind."
Anguiano previously served as the senior vice president of enterprise strategy and planning. Now, she pivots her attention to the latest enterprise that has been added to the school's platform, which she helped develop the initial conceptual design for, according to the ASU Now article.
Anguiano has a connection to projects like Learning Enterprise that hits very close to home — she strives to help people like her mother, who only received a traditional education in Mexico until her sixth-grade year, she said in the ASU Now article.
"At 67 years old, education is more important to her than ever," Anguiano said.
She said she is excited to watch the Enterprise learn how to break down barriers and curate a learning experience to better fit those of all ages.
"Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all advice," Anguiano said in the ASU Now article. "This is both the opportunity, and the challenge, for Learning Enterprise to solve. We want to become a trusted source of information that can reliably advise learners on what’s best for them, whether that’s something ASU provides or not."
Reach the reporter at skenoun@asu.edu and follow @thesabrinakeno on Twitter.
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