The Honors College at Arizona State University in Tempe

American Campus Communities Inc., one of the largest owners, managers and developers of high-quality student housing properties in the U.S., announced today that the grand opening ceremony for Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, is to be held 9:30 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 15.

Speakers include ASU President Michael Crow, Dean Mark Jacobs, Craig and Barbara Barrett, Bayless, and ASU honors students. Tours of the campus begin at 10:15 a.m.

The new Barrett Honors College is funded with the company’s equity through the American Campus Equity (ACE)™ program, which enables colleges and universities to preserve credit capacity to fund core academic infrastructure.

The Barrett community offers housing to 1,721 students and features a dining center, classrooms, cafe, faculty and administrative offices and activity space. Amenities include a fitness center, computer lounge and lab, amphitheater, classrooms, outside activity courts and dining hall with covered terrace, garden and special dining rooms for events.

The honors college is designed to meet Silver Certification standards on the LEED® Green Building Rating System and features a sustainable living community, with low-consumption plumbing fixtures, enhanced energy monitoring, a green roof and organic garden offering students the opportunity to study and experience sustainable living.

The Honors College at ASU was created in 1988 by an act of the Arizona Board of Regents to provide exceptional educational opportunities for outstanding students. As one of the first honors colleges in the country, it quickly rose to prominence, cited by Money magazine as one of the top eight honors programs in the United States six years later.

In the past 20 years several other honors colleges and programs have been created around the country, but no other public university has its own free-standing honors college campus with classrooms, dining, faculty and advisers on-site. Reader’s Digest named Barrett to its “Best in America” list in 2005, as one of three honors colleges that offer “an Ivy League-style education minus the sticker shock.”

American Campus also developed Vista del Sol, a 1,866-bed community which opened for occupancy in August 2008, and is currently in the predevelopment phase for additional projects with ASU.