Lattie F. Coor, Ph.D.

Lattie F. Coor is President-Emeritus, Professor and Ernest W. McFarland Chair in Leadership and Public Policy in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University, and is a co-founder and Founding Chair Emeritus of Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA).

Prior to co-founding CFA, Coor served as President of Arizona State University from 1990 to 2002, and President of the University of Vermont from 1976 to 1989.

Earlier in his career, Coor served as an assistant to the Governor of Michigan and held faculty appointments in Political Science at Washington University. His administrative responsibilities there included those of Assistant Dean of the Graduate School, Director of International Studies, and University Vice Chancellor.

Dr. Coor has held positions with a variety of higher education associations, board and commissions, having served as a founding member and Chairman of Division I of the NCAA President’s Commission. He held the position of Chairman of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges in 1992-93, and served on the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education from 1990 to 1993 and again from 1999 to 2002. He also served on the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land Grant Universities from 1996 to 2002. He served as a Trustee of the American College of Greece, Athens, from 1988 to 1998, and served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Deer Creek Foundation, St Louis, from 1983 to 2008, and the Board of Directors of the National Conference on Citizenship. He has honorary degrees from Marlboro College, American College of Greece, the University of Vermont and Northern Arizona University.

In Arizona, Coor served on the Board of Directors of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Arizona, and has served on the Board of Directors of Bank One Arizona, Samaritan Health Services, Greater Phoenix Economic Council, and a member of the Greater Phoenix Leadership Council having served as a member since 1990 and on that Board from 2004 to 2012. He was a member of the Arizona State Board of Education from 1995 to 1999. He served as Chairman of the Education Section of the Valley of the Sun United Way Campaign from 1990 to 1993, and of the Public Sector of the United Way Campaign from 1999 to 2002. In 2013/2014, he served as Vice Chairman of the Maricopa Integrated Health System Bond Advisory Committee.

Dr. Coor received the Anti-Defamation League’s Jerry J. Wisotsky Torch of Liberty Award in 1994, the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Individual Award from the Greater Phoenix Urban League in 2000, The American Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award in 2000, The American Jewish Committee Institute of Human Relations Award in 2001, the Center City Starr award from Phoenix Community Alliance in 2001, The Valley Interfaith Movement Golden Rule Award in 2010, the KJZZ Community Champion Award in 2013 and The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Legacy Award in 2013. He was named Valley Leadership’s Man of the Year in 2006. He and his wife Elva received the ASU MLK Jr. Community Servant Leadership Award in 2017.

An Arizona native, Coor was born in Phoenix and graduated with high honors from Northern Arizona University in 1958. He pursued graduate studies in Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, earning a master’s degree in 1960 and a Ph.D. in 1964.