The Mary Lou Fulton College of Education at Arizona State University is in a new beginning. This new beginning is a result of long standing leadership in professional development, a highly successful decade of intellectual growth, and an unprecedented $50 million investment made in the College in 2006 by Arizona philanthropists Ira A. and Mary Lou Fulton. Relying on its previous traditions and successes, the present set of circumstances calls on the College to take on a re-invigorated mission. This occurs at the same time as a statewide call for renewed collaboration between educational sectors to dramatically improve pre K-12 education.

In this vision of a new beginning, the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education plays an essential role as a member of a broad-based coalition of university, pre K-16 and related private and public sector entities. Together these constituencies must act to transform the education of today into the education needed tomorrow, to provide all learners access to high standards of learning and development in the complex social settings of Arizona, the Southwest and the nation.

Within this coalition, the mission of the College is to provide leadership in advancing the theoretical base of education, addressing issues of fundamental importance, particularly in school and university settings, promoting the improvement of educational practice, and fostering optimal human development. It does so within a coherent, integrated and collaborative set of strategies emphasizing excellence in scholarship, teaching, and professional and personal development.

This mission can be further articulated into several goals: (1) Addressing the challenge of diversity in challenging educational contexts so as to ensure equity and excellence for all students, (2) understanding fundamental literacies (linguistic, cultural, mathematical, scientific and technological) and how to foster them, and (3) developing and elaborating upon research in complex social settings in and out of schools and utilizing that research to prepare professionals that can respond to the challenges inherent in those settings. This mission and its related goals reside now in a re-invigorated context which recognizes that the College and the University must work together with partners in the pre-K-12 sector and with constituents having the same mission and goals.