Fulton Schools of Engineering
core values

The Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering has evolved, formalizing its core values and initiating a process to communicate them to Fulton Schools community members — our students, staff and faculty — and, in turn, our external stakeholders. In the past, the Fulton Schools has leaned heavily on the university’s ethos and its own Fulton Difference. This has proven effective and helped establish an identity and set of impacts that are now widely regarded and recognized.

Our status as the largest engineering and technology university enterprise in the nation is well served by and, in fact, requires clearly articulated core values that help guide strategies for sustainable growth and increasing impact.

In a fast-paced and innovative organization like ours, it is essential to clearly and consistently communicate our guiding principles. By doing so, every member of our community can use these principles to guide their individual and collective actions, helping us move forward in alignment with our core values.”

Kyle Squires, Dean, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering

FSE values digital toolkit

Here are some exciting items for the Fulton Schools community to showcase its values, including:

Screenshot of a slide from the FSE Values Toolkit showing thumbnails of various downloads
  • Presentation slides.
  • Zoom backgrounds.
  • Posters for your workspace.
  • Business cards with Fulton Schools values displayed.
  • Updated Fulton Schools overview, including description of the values.

Our values

The Fulton Schools values are the result of more than six months of exploratory research, focus groups, surveys and reflection. Through that process, we have distilled those insights into five core values that define what we do and strive to achieve.

At the Fulton Schools, we:

Cultivate excellence.
Deliver innovation that matters.
Encourage bold thinking.
Foster a community of learning and collaboration.
Build a foundation for all to be successful.

Our values in practice

While general in nature, the specific evidence of these values will be reflected in our professional and academic achievements, everyday behaviors and the actions we take in our work and study. What individuals experience, observe or read about the Fulton Schools will demonstrate the core beliefs we hold across this organization. Individually, students, staff and faculty will exemplify of our values in practice, and, collectively, reinforce impressions about our culture.

“When working in a team, it is important to have a goal that everyone is working towards. However, without context, the goals will never be met. Our values provide the context in which we work, support each other, and drive innovation.”

Lynn Pratte

Manager, Graduate Academic Advising, School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering

Our process

The process to arrive at this set of values was thorough and detailed. It began with business unit operation managers seeking substantive criteria and standards they could use to evaluate performance and processes. Exploring this need, that group drew on their experience interacting with faculty, students and staff to develop an initial set of overarching principles believed to represent the work of employees and students in the Fulton Schools. Those principles were reviewed and evaluated within the dean’s office and streamlined to a core set of values.

The Fulton Schools subsequently worked with leaders in ASU’s Enterprise Brand and Strategy group to conduct a survey to confirm these choices and test variations of the values’ wording with Fulton School students, staff and faculty members. Outcomes of the survey were reviewed and discussed with the dean and the Fulton Schools leadership team. Feedback from subsequent and ongoing focus groups are helping dean’s office leadership gain valuable understandings of the best ways to communicate, demonstrate and set expectations for these tenets that guide our work and interactions in the Fulton Schools.

“I joined the Fulton Schools of Engineering to partner with the best minds solving the world’s biggest problems. These values, though, are a great reminder that how we work is as important as what work we do. I can’t imagine a more enduring advantage for our faculty, staff and students.”

Kurt Paterson

School director and professor, The Polytechnic School

“Our values are the heart of who we are as a college and will play an important role in everything that we do. Being able to articulate these values, and give specific examples, will help us build more meaningful partnerships with our alumni, donors and industry partners.”

Kati Martinez

Director of Development, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering

Communicating our values

The Fulton Schools are building a sustainable communication campaign to support and encourage these values. They will be regularly showcased in marketing efforts and tied into existing programs, such as EDGE Conversations and faculty and staff awards.

“The Fulton Schools values must be embedded into our professional lives and not just announced and left on a website,” says Ashley Anderson, associate director of people and talent at the Fulton Schools. “They will only be as vibrant as they are accessible and actionable. We have all the components here to organize and align ourselves in a very special way.”

silhouette of a female graduate

“The Fulton Schools values must be embedded into our professional lives and not just announced and left on a website,” says Ashley Anderson, associate director of people and talent at the Fulton Schools. “They will only be as vibrant as they are accessible and actionable. We have all the components here to organize and align ourselves in a very special way.”

“From a communications perspective, we are all now in the business of demonstrating and communicating our school values,” says Craig Smith, director of strategic marketing and communications in the Fulton Schools. “As we achieve a critical mass of these impressions via word of mouth, professional interactions, email, web, social media and more, we will be detailing a culture and brand that centers on something very positive and exciting.”

Michael Kinsey woks with Alan Ehret at a lab bench with a microscope and computer, looking at a small object Ehret is holding

“From a communications perspective, we are all now in the business of demonstrating and communicating our school values,” says Craig Smith, director of strategic marketing and communications in the Fulton Schools. “As we achieve a critical mass of these impressions via word of mouth, professional interactions, email, web, social media and more, we will be detailing a culture and brand that centers on something very positive and exciting.”

The Fulton Schools is taking a methodical and thoughtful approach to integrating these value statements. There are several main elements needed to successfully integrate values within an organization and the engineering school has plans to deliver on all elements. These include:

  • Leadership team support and promotion.
  • Clear and simple value statements.
  • Alignment with development and performance conversations.
  • Ongoing communications strategy.
  • Promoting values during the hiring process.
  • Linking values to recognition and rewards.
  • Evaluating and refining values on a continual basis.
Spring 2023

The values timeline

The values timeline: Spring 2023

Initial implementation

The initial implementation of values in the Fulton Schools will begin with the announcement in January 2023 and runs through the spring semester. Communications surrounding the values will be sent to students, staff and faculty on a regular basis.

Employee recognition

Key pillars in this campaign include the realignment of staff awards to recognize and reward staff who exemplify the Fulton Schools values in their work and service. The awards are designed to promote, recognize and reward excellence in contributions made to the Fulton Schools and the university through innovative projects, mentoring, accomplishments in performance, personal achievements, advances in customer service, teamwork and exemplary leadership. Nominations for these awards will be in categories that mirror the Fulton Schools values.

Launching formal Fulton Schools values and aligning them with the new Fulton Schools staff awards is a perfect fit,” says Elizabeth Cross, senior events coordinator for the Fulton Schools. “Awards will serve as an important mechanism to encourage staff to think about how each of us fit and perform in relation to the values. I’m excited by how these two initiatives blend together.

Performance reviews

In addition, the Fulton Schools values will be incorporated into future EDGE Conversations starting in spring 2023. EDGE Conversations are part of a forward-focused performance management approach that helps employees to thrive. The practice involves quarterly check-ins to establish expectations, feedback and any training needed to help employees meet their career development goals. The Fulton Schools values will become a guiding force in the conversations and decisions about development.

Kyle Squires

A message from Dean Kyle Squires regarding the Fulton Schools values

The Fulton Schools of Engineering is proud to have more than 30,000 students enrolled this year, making us the largest engineering and technology school in the United States. As our student body has grown, so too has the quality of our programs and the impact of our students and faculty. With a reputation for excellence, our world-class faculty is dedicated to ensuring the success of every student at all levels. The rising quality of our programs and the dedication of our faculty have helped to further elevate the reputation of the Fulton Schools of Engineering.

As FSE continues to grow and evolve, it is essential that we formally define our values to guide our decision-making, strategies and goals. As the largest engineering and technology enterprise in the nation, the Fulton Schools of Engineering has a responsibility to articulate clear and consistent core values that will help guide our strategies for sustainable growth and increasing impact. Our core values not only help to differentiate us within the ASU community and among our academic peers, but they also clarify the impact we want to have on the world around us. By defining our core values, we can better understand and communicate the unique role that the Fulton Schools of Engineering plays within the larger community.

After months of observation, listening and learning, we have identified and defined our core values. We are grateful for the contributions and insights provided by the Fulton Schools community during this process. As the Fulton Schools of Engineering, we are committed to the following values:

  • Cultivate excellence.
  • Deliver innovation that matters.
  • Encourage bold thinking.
  • Foster a community of learning and collaboration.
  • Build a foundation for all to be successful.

These values are intended to solidify a foundation that distinguishes FSE and to be intentional about the culture and environment we are building in the Fulton Schools. These values will come to life more vividly through our professional and academic achievements and in the way we support our community and one another. Together, these experiences, observations and perceptions will shape the overall impression of the Fulton Schools as an engineering school that not only clearly communicates its values, but also consistently demonstrates and embodies them in all that we do.

I encourage you to make a commitment to embody these values in all that you do to support the Fulton Schools of Engineering. As we move forward, these values will also guide how we recognize, reward, and communicate achievements within our community. I encourage you to learn more about the Fulton Schools values and how you can incorporate them into your work.

Kyle Squires signature image

Kyle Squires
Dean and Professor
Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering
ASU Senior Vice Provost of Engineering, Computing and Technology

Kyle Squires