The University of Utah: A Comprehensive Overview

The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public research university located in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Established on February 28, 1850, as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, it has a rich history and a commitment to academic excellence. The university's motto is "Imagine, then Do."

As of fall 2024, the University of Utah had a total enrollment of 36,881 students, comprising 28,064 undergraduates and 8,817 graduate students, making it the second-largest public university in Utah. Graduate studies include the S.J. Quinney College of Law. The University of Utah is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) and is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU).

Historical Overview

Early Beginnings

Soon after the Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, Brigham Young began organizing a Board of Regents to establish a university. The university was established on February 28, 1850, as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, and Orson Spencer was appointed as the first chancellor of the university. Early classes were held in private homes, or wherever space could be found.

Relocation and Renaming

Following years of intermittent classes in the Salt Lake City Council House, the university began to be re-established in 1867 under the direction of David O. Calder, who was followed by John R. Park in 1869. The university moved out of the council house into the Union Academy building in 1876 and onto Union Square in 1884. In 1892, the school's name was changed to the University of Utah, and John R. Park served as its president. The university moved permanently in 1900 to the Army's Fort Douglas on the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley. Additional Fort Douglas land has been granted to the university over the years, and the fort was officially closed on October 26, 1991.

20th Century Growth and Challenges

The university grew rapidly in the early 20th century but was involved in an academic freedom controversy in 1915 when Joseph T. Kingsbury recommended that five faculty members be dismissed after a graduation speaker made a speech critical of Utah governor William Spry. One third of the faculty resigned in protest of these dismissals. Some felt that the dismissals were a result of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' influence on the university, while others felt that they reflected a more general pattern of repressing religious and political expression that might be deemed offensive. The controversy was largely resolved when Kingsbury resigned in 1916, but university operations were again interrupted by World War I, and later The Great Depression and World War II. Student enrollment dropped to a low of 3,418 during the last year of World War II, but A. Ray Olpin made substantial additions to campus following the war, and enrollment reached 12,000 by the time he retired in 1964.

International Expansion

The University of Utah Asia Campus opened as an international branch campus in the Incheon Global Campus in Songdo, Incheon, South Korea in 2014.

Campus and Location

The University of Utah is situated on the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley, providing stunning views of the surrounding mountains and the city below. The campus is divided into distinct areas, each with its own unique character and purpose.

Lower Campus

Most courses take place on the west side of campus, known as lower campus due to its lower elevation. Presidents Circle is a loop of buildings named after past university presidents with a courtyard in the center. Major libraries on lower campus include the J. Willard Marriott Library and the S.J. Quinney Law Library. The primary student activity center is the A. Ray Olpin University Union. Lower campus is also home to most public venues, such as the Rice-Eccles Stadium, the Jon M. Huntsman Center, and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, a museum with rotating exhibitions and a permanent collection of American, European, African, and Asian art. Venues for performing arts include Kingsbury Hall, used for touring companies and concerts, Pioneer Memorial Theatre, used by the professional Pioneer Theatre Company, David P. Gardner Hall, used by the School of Music and for musical performances, and the Marriott Center for Dance.

Health Sciences Complex

The health sciences complex, at the northeast end of campus, includes the University of Utah Medical Center, Primary Children's Medical Center, the Huntsman Cancer Institute, the Moran Eye Center, and the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine.

Off-Campus Centers

Courses are also held at off-campus centers located in St. George.

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Tobacco-Free Campus

In July 2017, the Academic Senate bestowed the designation of tobacco-free campus on the university, but rules were not enforced until 2018.

Student Life

The University of Utah provides student housing in a 34-building housing complex on campus. The complex consists of nine housing areas: Chapel Glen, Gateway Heights, Sage Point, Officer's Circle, Benchmark Plaza, Shoreline Ridge, the Donna Garff Marriott Honors Residential Scholars Community (MHC for short), the Lassonde Studios, and Kahlert Village. Close to 50% of freshmen live on campus, but most students choose to live elsewhere after their first year, with 13% of all undergraduates living on campus. The university is located in a large metropolitan area. Many students live in the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the university. An additional 1,115 family apartments are available to students, staff, and faculty.

Transportation

A number of campus shuttles, running on biodiesel and used vegetable oil, circle the campus on six different routes. The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) runs several buses through the university area as well as the TRAX Red Line (light rail), which runs to South Jordan. Riders can travel downtown, to FrontRunner (commuter rail), to West Valley, to the Salt Lake City International Airport, or to Draper by transferring to the TRAX Green or Blue lines.

Bicycle Master Plan

In 2012, the university unveiled a new plan for a more conducive campus for bicyclists called the "Bicycle Master Plan" which aims to transform the campus into a safer and more accessible place for cycling and to promote bicycle ridership. The plan emphasizes both campus pathways and on-street facilities that connect the core campus area with surrounding neighborhoods. The Bicycle Master Plan gives guidelines for facilities and programs that are within the University's jurisdiction.

Recycling and Sustainability

The expanded recycling program launched on July 1, 2007. Since its launch, the program has continued to grow and refine its procedures to better accommodate a growing campus' needs. The university houses 10 solar array systems, including a 330-kilowatt system on the rooftop of the Natural History Museum of Utah and a 262-kilowatt system at the HPER East building. On November 1, 2019, the university entered into a renewable energy partnership with Rocky Mountain Power and Cyrq Energy which allows the purchase of 20 megawatts of geothermal energy for 25 years.

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Governance and Academics

Governance

The University of Utah is governed by a 10-member Board of Trustees, 8 of whom are appointed by the Governor of Utah with the consent of the Utah Senate. The President of the University of Utah Alumni Association serves as the 9th member, and the President of the Associated Students of the University of Utah (ASUU) serves as the 10th member. The 8 appointed members serve for four-year terms, four expiring on June 30 of each odd-numbered year. Subject to the board of trustees, the university faculty have authority to legislate on matters of educational policy via the Academic Senate. The senate is composed of 100 faculty members proportionally representing and elected by their respective colleges, two elected deans, and 18 students from the ASUU, one from each college and the ASUU president. The senate also includes the university president, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, and all non-elected deans as ex officio members who may debate and present motions but do not vote. Much of the actual senate work is carried out by 12 senate-elected committees which work on the central academic issues of the institution.

Academic Programs

The U offers 72 undergraduate majors, over 70 minors and certificates, more than 40 teaching majors and minors, and 95 major fields of study at the graduate level. U of U students can participate in several interdisciplinary programs, including gender studies, neuroscience, environmental studies, and molecular biology.

The Department of Ballet offers the top ranked ballet and ballroom dance program in the United States and is one of the oldest and most reputable university ballet departments in the country. The Department was founded by William F. Christensen. The university has made unique contributions to the study of genetics due in part to long-term genealogy efforts of the LDS Church, which has allowed researchers to trace genetic disorders through several generations. In July of 2023 the university created the Division of Games as an academic department. Prior to this, it had a teaching program that initially supported an emphasis in Entertainment Arts & Engineering (EAE) for students majoring in Film or Computer Science, later a Masters Degree in EAE (2010) followed by a BS in Games in 2017. The program has grown quickly over the years and has also consistently been ranked highly. In 2024, The Princeton Review ranked it first among public universities and its graduate program second, Animation Career Review ranked it fourth in 2025, and in 2026 the US News rankings listed it in the number two position for "Best Undergraduate Game Design Programs".

The S.J. Quinney College of Law, founded in 1913, was the only law school in Utah until the 1970s. The university is host to the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.

The university's Turkish Studies Program, funded by Turkish Coalition of America and headed by M. Hakan Yavuz, has faced controversy. Professor Keith David Watenpaugh charges the program with "promoting the falsification of history through its grants and political advocacy…"

Research

According to the National Science Foundation, the university received $723.7 million in research and development funding in fiscal year 2023, ranking it 47th in the nation.

Athletics

The university has nine men's and 11 women's varsity teams. Athletic teams include men's baseball, basketball, football, golf, hockey, lacrosse, skiing, swimming/diving, and tennis and women's basketball, cross country, gymnastics, skiing, soccer, softball, swimming/diving, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. The school's sports teams are called the Utes, though some teams have an additional nickname, such as "Runnin' Utes" for the men's basketball team. The university participates in the NCAA's Division I (FBS for football) as part of the Big 12 Conference. There is a fierce BYU-Utah rivalry, and the Utah-BYU football game, traditionally the season finale, has been called the "Holy War" by national broadcasting commentators. The university fight song is "Utah Man", commonly played at athletic games and other university events. In 1996, Swoop was introduced as the new mascot of the University of Utah. Because of relationships with the local Ute Indians, Utah adopted a new mascot. News & World Report College Sports Honor Roll.

In 2005, Utah became the first school to produce No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Alex Smith. The men's basketball team won the NCAA title in 1944 and the NIT crown in 1947. Arnie Ferrin, the only four-time All-American in Utah basketball history, played for both the 1944 and 1947 teams. Utah basketball rose again to national prominence when head coach Rick Majerus took his team, including guard Andre Miller, combo forward Hanno Möttölä, and post player Michael Doleac, to the NCAA Final Four in 1998. 2008-2009 was another undefeated year for the football team, coached by Kyle Whittingham, as they finished the season 13-0 and defeated Alabama 31-17 in the 2009 Sugar Bowl. Utah finished the season 2nd in AP polling, their highest rank ever. The Utah Utes moved to the Pac-12 Conference for the start of the 2011-2012 football season. They were in the South Division with University of Colorado, University of Arizona, Arizona State University, UCLA and University of Southern California.

The women's gymnastics team, coached by Carly Dockendorf, has won ten national championships, including the 1981 AIAW championship, and placed 2nd nationally eight times. As of 2013, it has qualified for the NCAA championship every year since 1976, the only program to do so. The program has averaged over 11,000 fans per meet 1992-2010 and has been the NCAA gymnastics season attendance champions 16 of these 19 years.

The university marching band, known as the "Pride of Utah", perform at all home football games, as well as some away games and bowl games. The band began as a military band in the 1940s. In 1948, university president A. Ray Olpin recruited Ron Gregory from Ohio State University to form a collegiate marching band. Support for the band dwindled in the 60s, and ASUU (the Associated Students of the University of Utah) discontinued its funding in 1969. The band was revived in 1976 after a fund raising effort under the direction of Gregg I. Hanson. As of 2011, the band was under the direction of Dr. A.

Student Activities and Media

The current student activity center, the A. Ray Olpin University Union, is a common gathering place for university-wide events such as Crimson Nights, roughly monthly student activity nights; PlazaFest, a fair for campus groups at the start of the school year; and the Grand Kerfuffle, a concert at the end of the school year. The building includes a cafeteria, computer lab, recreational facilities, and a ballroom for special events.

The university has several public broadcasting affiliations, many of which utilize the Eccles Broadcast Center. The Daily Utah Chronicle, also referred to as the Chrony, has been the university's independent, student-run paper since 1890. It publishes daily on school days during fall and spring semesters and weekly during summer semester. The paper typically runs between eight and twelve pages, with longer editions for weekend game guides. The University of Utah Press, the oldest press in Utah and now part of the J. Willard Marriott Library, publishes scholarly books and journals.

Notable Alumni and Faculty

Notable alumni include politicians Rocky Anderson, Bob Bennett, Marsha K. Caddle, Merrill Cook, E. Jake Garn, Jon Huntsman, Jr., Karen Morgan, Frank E. Moss, Joshua Rush, and Karl Rove; recent LDS Church presidents Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, and Russell M. Nelson; notable science and engineering alumni include Jim Blinn; Mark W. Fuller, CEO of WET Design; Andrea Russell, Vice President of the International Society of Electrochemistry; Jim Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics, Netscape Communications Corporation, myCFO, and Healtheon; Gretchen W. McClain, former NASA Deputy Associate Administrator of Human Space Exploration and Chief Director of the International Space Station; Henri Gouraud; John C. Warnock, co-founder of Adobe Systems; notable entrepreneur and business leader alumni include Alan Ashton, co-founder of WordPerfect and Thanksgiving Point; Freestyle Skiër Tom Wallisch; Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese; Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar; J. Willard Marriott, founder of Marriott International; Robert A. Chesebro. Notable faculty in science and engineering include David Evans and Ivan Sutherland, founders of Evans and Sutherland; Bui Tuong Phong, pioneer of computer graphics; Henry Eyring.

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