The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. It is the flagship institution of the

Utah System of Higher Education The Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) is the public university system of the state of Utah. It includes each of the state's sixteen public institutions of higher education, including its eight technical colleges. History On March 21, 1969, ...

. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret () by the General Assembly of the provisional

State of Deseret The State of Deseret (modern pronunciation , contemporaneously ) was a proposed state of the United States, proposed in 1849 by settlers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Salt Lake City. The provisional stat ...

, making it Utah's oldest institution of higher education. It received its current name in 1892, four years before Utah attained statehood, and moved to its current location in 1900. As of Fall 2019, there were 24,485

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...

students and 8,333 graduate students, for an enrollment total of 32,818, making it the second largest public university in the state after Utah Valley University. Graduate studies include the S.J. Quinney College of Law and the School of Medicine, Utah's first medical school. It is a member of the

Association of American Universities The Association of American Universities (AAU) is an organization of American research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. Founded in 1900, it consists of 63 universities in the United States ( ...

(AAU) and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". According to the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

, the university received $552 million in research and development funding in 2018, ranking it 45th in the nation. In addition, the university's Honors College has been reviewed among 100 leading national Honors Colleges in the U.S. The university's health care system includes four hospitals, including the

University of Utah Hospital The University of Utah Hospital is a research and teaching hospital on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. It serves as a major regional referral center for Utah and the surrounding states of Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Monta ...

and

Huntsman Cancer Institute Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) is an NCI-designated cancer research facility and hospital located on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center i ...

, along with twelve community clinics and specialty centers such as the

Moran Eye Center The John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah is an ophthalmology clinical care and research facility in the Mountain West. Physicians provide comprehensive care in all ophthalmic subspecialties. Moran supports 15 research laboratories t ...

. The university's athletic teams, the Utes, participate in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I athletics ( FBS for football) as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. Twenty-two Rhodes Scholars, four

Nobel Prize winners The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...

, three

Turing Award The ACM A. M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in comput ...

winners, eight MacArthur Fellows, various Pulitzer Prize winners, two astronauts, Gates Cambridge Scholars, and Churchill Scholars have been affiliated with the university as students, researchers, or faculty members in its history.

History

Soon after the Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake valley in 1847,

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...

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

, and

Orson Spencer Orson Spencer (March 14, 1802 – October 15, 1855) was a prolific writer and prominent member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served in several highly visible positions within the church and left an extensive legacy of ...

was appointed as the first chancellor of the university. Early classes were held in private homes, or wherever space could be found. The university closed in 1853 due to a lack of funds and lack of

feeder school A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...

s. Following years of intermittent classes in the Salt Lake City

Council House A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...

, 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 into Union Square in 1884. In 1892, the school's name was changed to the University of Utah, and John R. Park began arranging to obtain land belonging to the U.S. Army's

Fort Douglas Camp Douglas was established in October 1862, during the American Civil War, as a small military garrison about three miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah, to protect the overland mail route and telegraph lines along the Central Overland Route. I ...

on the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley, where the university moved permanently in 1900. Additional

land has been granted to the university over the years, and the fort was officially closed on October 26, 1991. Upon his death in 1900, Dr. John R. Park bequeathed his entire fortune to the university. MountVanCott

The university grew rapidly in the early 20th century but was involved in an

academic freedom Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teac ...

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 William Spry (January 11, 1864 – April 21, 1929) was an American politician who was the third Governor of the State of Utah. He is the namesake of the William Spry Agriculture Building that houses the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. ...

. 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 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

' 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 The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

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. Growth continued in the following decades as the university developed into a research center for fields such as computer science and medicine. During the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

, the university hosted the Olympic Village, a housing complex for the Olympic and Paralympic athletes, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. Multiple large improvements were made to the university prior to the events, including extensive renovations to the Rice-Eccles Stadium, a light rail line leading to downtown Salt Lake City, a new student center known as the Heritage Center, an array of new student housing, and what is now a 180-room campus hotel and conference center. The University of Utah Asia Campus opened as an

international branch campus An international branch campus (IBC) is a form of international higher education whereby one or more partnering institutions establishes a physical presence in a foreign location for the purpose of expanding global outreach and student exchange. Ge ...

in the Incheon Global Campus in Songdo, Incheon, South Korea in 2014. Three other European and American universities are also participating. The Asia Campus was funded by the South Korean government. In 2015, the university helped open the Ensign College of Public Health in Kpong, Ghana. In 2019, the university was named a member of the

Campus

Campus takes up , including the Health Sciences complex,

Research Park The following is a list of science park, technology parks and biomedical parks of the world, organized by continent. Asia ASEAN Economic Community Report listing all the Economic Zones in the ASEAN Economic Community froUNIDO Viet Nam China ...

, and

. It is located on the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley, close to the

Wasatch Range The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the G ...

and approximately 2 miles east of downtown Salt Lake City. 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 A student center (or student centre) is a type of building found on university and some high school campuses. In the United States, such a building may also be called a student union, student commons, or union. The term "student union" refers mos ...

is the A. Ray Olpin University Union, and campus fitness centers include the Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Complex (HPER) and the Eccles Student Life Center. Kingsbury Hall

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.

Red Butte Garden Red Butte Garden and Arboretum consists of a botanical garden, arboretum, and amphitheatre operated by the University of Utah, in the foothills of the Wasatch Range in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is open year-round to the public. Red ...

, with formal gardens and natural areas, as well as the new site of the Utah Museum of Natural History, is located on the far east side of campus. Uofu marriottlibraryfront

The health sciences complex, at the northeast end of campus, includes the University of Utah Medical Center,

Primary Children's Medical Center Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital (PCH) (formerly Primary Children's Medical Center) is a nationally ranked pediatric acute care children's teaching hospital located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The hospital has 289 pediatric beds and is aff ...

, the

, and th
Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library
South of the health sciences complex, several university residence halls and apartments are clustered together near

and the Heritage Center, which serves as a student center and cafeteria for this area. In addition, there are 1,115 university apartments for students, staff, and faculty across three apartment complexes on campus. At the southeast end of campus is

, which is home to research companies including ARUP Laboratories,

Evans & Sutherland Evans & Sutherland is a pioneering American computer firm in the computer graphics field. Its current products are used in digital projection environments like planetariums. Its simulation business, which it sold to Rockwell Collins, sold products ...

, Sarcos, Biofire Diagnostics, and

Myriad Genetics Myriad Genetics, Inc. is an American genetic testing and precision medicine company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Myriad employs a number of proprietary technologies that permit doctors and patients to understand the genetic bas ...

. Courses are also held at off-campus centers located in St. George and Sandy. In July 2017, the Academic Senate bestowed the designation of tobacco-free campus on the university, but rules were not enforced until 2018. The rule prohibits students and faculty from "smoking or using chewing tobacco, electronic cigarettes and all other recreational nicotine-delivery products on any property owned, leased or controlled by the University of Utah."

Student residences

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. The MHC is a dormitory strictly for honors students and was completed in fall 2012. Built in 2016, the Lassonde Studios is part of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and houses 400 students; the studios also feature a "creative garage" with 3D printers and spaces for startups. Kahlert Village, completed August 2020, houses 990 first-year students.

Transportation

UTA TRAX - From SLC to Sandy on South Temple street - February 2011

A number of campus shuttles, running on biodiesel and used vegetable oil, circle the campus on six different routes. The

Utah Transit Authority The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) is a special service district responsible for providing public transportation throughout the Wasatch Front of Utah, in the United States, which includes the metropolitan areas of Ogden, Park City, Provo, Sal ...

(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 FrontRunner is a commuter rail train operated by the Utah Transit Authority that operates along the Wasatch Front in north-central Utah with service from the Ogden Intermodal Transit Center in central Weber County through Davis County, Salt ...

'' (

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...

), to West Valley, to the

Salt Lake City International Airport Salt Lake City International Airport is a civil-military airport located about west of Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States. The airport is the closest commercial airport for more than 2.5 million people and is within a 30-min ...

, or to

Draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period, ...

by transferring to the TRAX

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

lines. Students and staff can use their university IDs to ride UTA buses, TRAX, and ''FrontRunner''. In 2012, the university unveiled a new plan for a more conducive campus for bicyclers called the "Bicycle Master Plan" which aims to transform the campus into a safer and more accessible place for bicyclers and to promote the increase of 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. It also provides recommendations for the University to work with external entities such as UDOT, UTA, and Salt Lake City to improve bicycling conditions in locations that are important to the campus environment, but which are not under the University's direct control.

Sustainability

Sustainability efforts include a permanent sustainability office, a campus

cogeneration Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time. Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise- wasted heat from elec ...

plant, building upgrades and energy efficient building standards, behavior modification programs, purchasing local

produce Produce is a generalized term for many farm-produced crops, including fruits and vegetables (grains, oats, etc. are also sometimes considered ''produce''). More specifically, the term ''produce'' often implies that the products are fresh and g ...

for campus dining, a farmers market, and student groups, as well as a branch of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective. Sustainability and transportation are also a large part of the university's campus master plan. The Sustainable Endowments Institute gave the university a "B+" in its College Sustainability Report Card 2011, with A's for

climate change and energy In the 21st century, the earth's climate and its energy policy interact and their relationship is studied and governed by a variety of national and international institutions. The relationships between energy-resource depletion, climate change, ...

, food and recycling, student involvement, and transportation. 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. Currently there are programs in place for paper, cardboard, aluminum, batteries, glass, printer cartridges, wooden pallets and plastics #1 and #2.

Renewable energy

The university is ranked 8th by the EPA for annual green power usage among universities, with 49% of its power coming from geothermal and solar sources. 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. The combined arrays annually produce 1,096,340 kilowatt hours, and are supported by a student fee sustainability program established in 2008. 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. The contract offsets half of the electricity produced by the university and reduces the university's carbon emissions by 23%.

Organization

The University of Utah is governed by a 10-member Board of Trustees, 8 of whom are appointed by the

Governor of Utah A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

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. The two ex officio members serve for the terms of their respective offices. The University of Utah and the other public colleges and universities of the Utah System of Higher Education are governed by the Utah Board of Higher Education (previously the Utah State Board of Regents) whose chief executive officer is the Commissioner of Higher Education. The chief executive officer of the University of Utah is the president, who reports to the Board of Higher Education and, with the approval of the trustees, submits budgets, tuition adjustments, and academic program plans, appoints faculty, and develops policy initiatives. 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, 2 elected

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

s, and 18 students from the ASUU, one from each college and the ASUU president. The Senate also includes the

University President A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

, 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

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

s which work on the central academic issues of the institution. The committees report to the full Senate and the Senate often acts on their proposals as well as on issues brought to its attention by the administration. As of 2014, the university's revenues totaled $3.6 billion, of which 44% comes from patient care, 19% from sales and services, 10% from grants and contracts, 8.2% from tuition and fees, 7.7% from state appropriations, 3.4% from auxiliary enterprises, and the rest from other revenues. Football income was $56 million in 2017-2018.

Academics and rankings

The University of Utah is a public flagship four-year research university accredited through the

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) is an independent, non-profit membership organization recognized by the United States Department of Education since 1952 as an institutional accreditor for colleges and universities. ...

since 1933. The U organizes its 150 academic departments and programs into 17 colleges and schools. The School for Cultural and Social Transformation is the university's newest college, with its first graduating class in 2018. * College of Architecture and Planning *

David Eccles School of Business The David Eccles School of Business is located on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City, Utah. The school was founded as the "School of Commerce & Finance" in 1917 and subsequently changed its name to "School of Business" in 1927, althou ...

* School for Cultural and Social Transformation * School of Dentistry *

College of Education In the United States and Canada, a school of education (or college of education; ed school) is a division within a university that is devoted to scholarship in the field of education, which is an interdisciplinary branch of the social sciences en ...

* College of Engineering * College of Fine Arts * College of Health * University of Utah Honors College * College of Humanities * S.J. Quinney College of Law * College of Mines and Earth Sciences *

College of Nursing Nurse education consists of the theoretical and practical training provided to nurses with the purpose to prepare them for their duties as nursing care professionals. This education is provided to student nurses by experienced nurses and other med ...

College of Pharmacy This article is a list of pharmacy schools by country. A Albania Algeria Argentina Australia Austria B Bangladesh Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Bulgaria C Cambodia Canada China Beijing Hong Kong Jia ...

* College of Science * College of Social and Behavioral Science * College of Social Work The University operates on a semester calendar with the rest of the Utah higher education system. Undergraduate tuition and fees for 2015–2016 were $8,240 for Utah residents (about 325% the cost of tuition and fees in 2000, $2,534 for 13 credit hours per semester, 2 semesters), and $26,180 for non-residents per 12-credit-hour semester.

Admissions and demographics

For the Class of 2023 (enrolling Fall 2019), Utah received 24,404 applications and accepted 15,159 (62%), with 4,249 enrolling. The middle 50% range of

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...

scores for enrolling freshmen was 572.5-680 for evidence-based reading and writing, 570-700 for math, and 1150-1370 for the composite. The middle 50% ACT score range was 22-28 for math, 21-31 for English, and 22-29 for the composite. The average high school grade point average (

GPA Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

) was 3.66. The university uses a holistic admissions process and weighs ACT/SAT standardized test scores, GPA, grade trend, rigorous AP/IB/Honors classes taken in high school, academic achievements, along with other "personal achievements and characteristics". In Fall 2015, the undergraduate and graduate student body was 31,551, with 23,794

students and 7,757 graduate students; 73% of students were full-time, 56% were male and 44% female, and 82% were Utah residents. The undergraduate student body was 69% white, 11% Hispanic, 6% non-resident alien, 5% Asian, 4% two or more races, 1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 1% black, and 1% Native American. Ethnicity or citizenship was unknown for 2%.

Notable programs

Ballet

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 in 1951, who also founded the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...

and

Ballet West Ballet West is an American ballet company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was founded in 1963 as the Utah Civic Ballet by Willam F. Christensen, the company's first artistic director, and Glenn Walker Wallace, who served as its first president. ...

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

Biology

The university has made unique contributions to the study of

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

due in part to long-term

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

efforts of the

LDS Church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The c ...

, which has allowed researchers to trace genetic disorders through several generations. The relative homogeneity of Utah's population also makes it an ideal laboratory for studies of population genetics. The university is home to the Genetic Science Learning Center, a resource which educates the public about genetics through its website.

Computer Science

Merrill Engineering Building, University of Utah

The University of Utah was one of the original four nodes of

ARPANET The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical fou ...

, the world's first

packet-switched network In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of grouping data into '' packets'' that are transmitted over a digital network. Packets are made of a header and a payload. Data in the header is used by networking hardware to direct the pack ...

and embryo of the current worldwide Internet. The School of Computing produced many of the early pioneers in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...

and graphics, including

winner

Alan Kay Alan Curtis Kay (born May 17, 1940) published by the Association for Computing Machinery 2012 is an American computer scientist best known for his pioneering work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface (GUI) d ...

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

founder

Ed Catmull Edwin Earl "Ed" Catmull (born March 31, 1945) is an American computer scientist who is the co-founder of Pixar and was the President of Walt Disney Animation Studios. He has been honored for his contributions to 3D computer graphics, including th ...

, Atari founder

Nolan Bushnell Nolan Kay Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He established Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain. He has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consu ...

, and Adobe founder

John Warnock John Edward Warnock (born October 6, 1940) is an American computer scientist and businessman best known for co-founding Adobe Systems Inc., the graphics and publishing software company, with Charles Geschke. Warnock was President of Adobe for ...

. Notable innovations of computer science faculty and alumni include the first method for representing surface textures in graphical images, the

Gouraud shading Gouraud shading, named after Henri Gouraud, is an interpolation method used in computer graphics to produce continuous shading of surfaces represented by polygon meshes. In practice, Gouraud shading is most often used to achieve continuous li ...

model, magnetic ink printing technology, the Johnson counter

logic circuit A logic gate is an idealized or physical device implementing a Boolean function, a logical operation performed on one or more binary inputs that produces a single binary output. Depending on the context, the term may refer to an ideal logic gat ...

, the oldest algebraic mathematics package still in use ( REDUCE), the

Phong reflection model The Phong reflection model (also called Phong illumination or Phong lighting) is an empirical model of the local illumination of points on a surface designed by the computer graphics researcher Bui Tuong Phong. In 3D computer graphics, it is somet ...

, the

Phong shading In 3D computer graphics, Phong shading, Phong interpolation, or normal-vector interpolation shading is an interpolation technique for surface shading invented by computer graphics pioneer Bui Tuong Phong. Phong shading interpolates surface norm ...

method, and the

rendering equation In computer graphics, the rendering equation is an integral equation in which the equilibrium radiance leaving a point is given as the sum of emitted plus reflected radiance under a geometric optics approximation. It was simultaneously introduc ...

. Through the movement of Utah graduates and faculty, research at the University spread outward to laboratories like

Xerox Parc PARC (Palo Alto Research Center; formerly Xerox PARC) is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California. Founded in 1969 by Jacob E. "Jack" Goldman, chief scientist of Xerox Corporation, the company was originally a division of Xero ...

, JPL, and the New York Institute of Technology. Present graphics research is focused on biomedical applications for

visualization Visualization or visualisation may refer to: * Visualization (graphics), the physical or imagining creation of images, diagrams, or animations to communicate a message * Data visualization, the graphic representation of data * Information visuali ...

scientific computing Computational science, also known as scientific computing or scientific computation (SC), is a field in mathematics that uses advanced computing capabilities to understand and solve complex problems. It is an area of science that spans many disc ...

, and image analysis at the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute.

Dentistry

In March 2012, the university received unanimous approval from the board of trustees to create a new academic college, the School of Dentistry, which is the university's first new college in sixty years. The new school has received funding for a new structure and has started as a debt-free program. The new school enrolled its first students for the fall semester of 2013 and averages the same cost as the university's medical school tuition.

Law

The S.J. Quinney College of Law, founded in 1913, was the only law school in Utah until the 1970s. The law school was ranked the #37 best law school in the country in the 2023 U.S. News "Best Law Schools" rankings.

Medicine

The University of Utah (

) has the only accredited allopathic medical school in the State of Utah. The medical school has made several notable contributions to medicine, such as establishing the first

Cerebrovascular Disease Cerebrovascular disease includes a variety of medical conditions that affect the blood vessels of the brain and the cerebral circulation. Arteries supplying oxygen and nutrients to the brain are often damaged or deformed in these disorders. Th ...

Unit west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

in 1970 and administering the world's first permanent artificial heart, the Jarvik-7, to Barney Clark in 1982.

Pharmacology

The University of Utah College of Pharmacy is 4th in the nation for NIH research grants. The department of Pharmacology and Toxicology within the School of Pharmacy is world-renowned for research in epilepsy treatment with their Anticonvulsant Drug Development (ADD) program.

Political Science

The university is host to the Neal A. Maxwell Lecture Series in Political Theory and Contemporary Politics, a forum for political theorists to share their newest theoretical work, and is home to the Hinckley Institute of Politics, which places more than 350 students every year in local, state, national, and global internships.

Turkish Studies Program and Armenian genocide denial

The university's Turkish Studies Program, funded by

Turkish Coalition of America The Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) is the main Turkish lobby organization in the United States. Its stated purpose includes education and congressional advocacy. It is based in Washington, D.C., with an office in Boston, Massachusetts. A 50 ...

and headed by M. Hakan Yavuz, has been criticized for promoting

Armenian genocide denial Armenian genocide denial is the claim that the Ottoman Empire and its ruling party, the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), did not commit genocide against its Armenian citizens during World War I—a crime documented in a large body o ...

. Nevertheless, the university had established itself as a "denialist beachhead" prior to the creation of the Turkish Studies Program. The

University of Utah Press The University of Utah Press is the independent publishing branch of the University of Utah and is a division of the J. Willard Marriott Library. Founded in 1949 by A. Ray Olpin, it is also the oldest university press in Utah. The mission of the ...

has published several books denying the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

, beginning with

Guenter Lewy Guenter Lewy (born 22 August 1923) is a German-born American author and political scientist who is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His works span several topics, but he is most often associa ...

's ''

The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey ''The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Genocide'' is a 2006 book by Guenter Lewy about the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. In the book, Lewy argues that the high death toll among Ottoman Armenians was a byproduct of the ...

''. The book's publication by the University of Utah Press was arranged by Yavuz himself. Professor Keith David Watenpaugh charges the program with "promoting the falsification of history through its grants and political advocacy... the University of Utah has provided an institutional home to genocide denial." In 2020, regarding "a student complaint nd messages of concern from the Armenian communitta bout the content of an article written by and assigned in a class taught by Hakan Yavuz," the university made a statement, according to which: "The United States, the

state of Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its we ...

and the University of Utah (as a state entity), recognize the historical events of 1915 as the Armenian genocide".

Athletics

The university has 9 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

's Division I ( FBS for football) as part of the Pac-12 Conference. When they were in the same conference, there was 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 A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...

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. While still known as the Utes, Utah is now represented by the

Red-tailed Hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members wit ...

known for the use of his tail feathers in Ute head-dresses, and said he "Reflects the soaring spirit of our state and school" In 2002, the university was one of 20 schools to make the '' U.S. News & World Report'' College Sports Honor Roll. In 2005, Utah became the first school to produce No. 1 overall draft picks in both the

NFL draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

and NBA draft for the same year. Alex Smith was picked first overall by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in the

2005 NFL Draft The 2005 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 23–24, 2005. The league also he ...

, and

Andrew Bogut Andrew Michael Bogut (born 28 November 1984) is an Australian former basketball player who spent the majority of his professional career playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The tall center was selected by the Milwaukee Buck ...

was picked first overall by the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

in the

2005 NBA Draft The 2005 NBA draft took place on June 28, 2005, in the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this draft, NBA teams took turns selecting amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, such as players fr ...

. The university has won thirteen

NCAA Skiing Championships The NCAA Skiing Championships are held annually to crown the National Collegiate Athletic Association combined men's and women's team skiing champion. Before 1983, the championship was only for men's skiing. Unlike many NCAA sports, only one Nat ...

, most recently in 2022, as well as the 1977 AIAW National Women's Skiing Championship.

Men's basketball

The men's basketball team won the

title in

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

and the NIT crown in 1947.

Arnie Ferrin Chariton Arnold Ferrin Jr. (July 29, 1925 − December 27, 2022) was an American professional basketball player, executive, and college athletics administrator. He played college basketball for the Utah Utes and earned All-American honors fou ...

, the only four-time All-American in Utah basketball history, played for both the 1944 and 1947 teams. He also went on to help the

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, predating the formation of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Founded in 1947, the Lakers are one of the NBA's most famous and successful franchises. As of summer 2012, th ...

win NBA Championships in 1949 and 1951. Wat Misaka, the first person of Asian descent to play in the NBA, also played for Utah during this era. Utah basketball rose again to national prominence when head coach

Rick Majerus Richard Raymond Majerus (February 17, 1948 – December 1, 2012) was an American basketball coach and TV analyst. He coached at Marquette University (1983–1986), Ball State University (1987–1989), the University of Utah (1989–2004), and ...

took his team, including guard

Andre Miller Andre Lloyd Miller (born March 19, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player and the current head coach for the Grand Rapids Gold. Miller has played professional basketball for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers, Phil ...

, combo forward Hanno Möttölä, and post player Michael Doleac, to the NCAA Final Four in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. After eliminating

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

to advance to the final round, Utah lost the championship game to

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, 78–69.

Football

In 2004–2005, the football team, coached by

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fro ...

and quarterbacked by Alex Smith, along with defensive great

Eric Weddle Eric Steven Weddle (born January 4, 1985) is an American former American football, football Safety (gridiron football position), safety who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He played college football at University of ...

, went 11–0 during the regular season and defeated

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

35–7 in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, becoming the first team from a conference without an automatic Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bid to go to a BCS bowl game. The team ended its perfect 12–0 season ranked 4th in AP polling. 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 The 2009 Allstate Sugar Bowl was the 75th annual edition of the annual college football bowl game that is part of the 2008–09 bowl season of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The game was played on F ...

. Utah finished the season 2nd in AP polling, their highest rank ever. At the end of the season, the Utes were the only unbeaten team in the country, with the nation's longest active streak of bowl victories (8). The Utah Utes moved to the Pac-12 Conference for the start of the 2011–2012 football season. They are in the South Division with

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

, Arizona State University,

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

and

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

. Their first game in the Pac-12 was at USC on September 10, 2011, and resulted in a 23–14 Utah loss.

Gymnastics

The women's gymnastics team, coached by Megan Marsden, 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 The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

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. In 2010, there was an average of 14,213 fans per meet, the largest crowd being 15,030.

Marching band

The university

marching band A marching band is a group of musical instrument, instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass instrument, brass, woodwind instrument, woodwind, and percus ...

, known as the " Pride of Utah", perform at all home football games, as well as some away games and bowl games. They performed at the 2005 BCS Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the 2009 BCS Allstate Sugar Bowl, and the Inaugural Parade of President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

. The band began as a military band in the 1940s. In 1948, university president A. Ray Olpin recruited Ron Gregory from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

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 is under the direction of Dr. Brian Sproul.

Student life

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, but many students live in the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the university. An additional 1,115 family apartments are available to students, staff, and faculty. One of the university's primary four goals for long-term campus growth is to increase student engagement through the addition of on-campus housing, intramural fields, athletic centers, and a new

. 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 Union also houses the Lowell Bennion Community Service Center, CESA (Center for Ethnic Student Affairs) which provides an inclusive space for students and houses various advising programs of the Office of Equity and Diversity, the Union Programming Council which is in charge of promoting student life on campus through events like Crimson Nights, and ASUU (the Associated Students of the University of Utah), which is responsible for appropriating funds to student groups and organizations on campus. ASUU holds primary and general elections each year for student representatives, typically with 10–15% of the student population voting. Due to the large number of

members at the university, there is an LDS

Institute of Religion An Institute of Religion is a local organization that provides religious education for young adults (ages 18–30) who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Local institutes may function in church meetinghous ...

building near main campus, as well as several LDS student groups and 46 campus wards. Approximately 650 students are part of 6

sororities Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradua ...

and 8

fraternities A fraternity (from Latin ''frater'': "brother"; whence, " brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity ...

at the university, most of which have chapter houses on "Greek Row" just off campus. The University of Utah has a dry campus, meaning that alcohol is banned on campus. In 2004,

became the first state with a law expressly permitting concealed weapons on public university campuses. The University of Utah tried to uphold its gun ban but the

Utah Supreme Court The Utah Supreme Court is the supreme court of the state of Utah, United States. It has final authority of interpretation of the Utah Constitution. The Utah Supreme Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, an associate chief justice, ...

rejected the ban in 2006.

Media

The university has several public broadcasting affiliations, many of which utilize the Eccles Broadcast Center. These stations include PBS Utah (formerly branded as

KUED KUED (channel 7), branded on-air as PBS Utah, is a PBS member television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The station is owned by the University of Utah, and has studios at the Eccles Broadcast Center on Wasatch Drive in the nort ...

channel 7), a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

member station and producer of local documentaries; KUEN channel 9, an educational station for teachers and students from the Utah Education Network;

KUER KUER-FM (90.1 MHz) is a public radio station in Salt Lake City, Utah. Owned by the University of Utah, its studios are located in the Eccles Broadcast Center on the University of Utah campus, while its transmitter is located on Farnsworth Peak ...

90.1 FM, a public radio affiliate of

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...

, and Public Radio International; and K-UTE 1620. ''NewsBreak'' is the student-run television newscast on campus. During 2011, the program celebrated its 40th anniversary. Broadcasts air every Thursday night at 10 pm during the fall and spring semesters on KUEN. ''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 paper converted to a broadsheet format in 2003 when the Newspaper Agency Corporation began printing it. The Society of Professional Journalists selected the newspaper as one of three finalists for best all-around daily student newspaper in the nation in both 2007 and 2008. Staff from the ''Chronicle'' feed into Utah journalism circles, some of them rising to considerable prominence, such as former editor Matt Canham, whose work with '' The Salt Lake Tribune'' earned him the Don Baker Investigative Reporting Award from the Utah Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The

, the oldest press in Utah and now part of the J. Willard Marriott Library, publishes books on topics including the outdoors,

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

linguistics Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...

, creative nonfiction,

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica ...

, Native American studies, and

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into severa ...

, and Western history. The Wallace Stegner Prize in American Environmental or Western History is presented annually by the press. Its Utah Series in Middle East Studies has been criticized for "specializing" in "methodologically flawed accounts" of the

that seek to reject the term genocide as being applicable to the event, and includes works by

, Justin McCarthy, and Yücel Güçlü. The university is also home to a national literary journal, '' Quarterly West''.

Notable alumni and faculty

Notable alumni include politicians

Rocky Anderson Ross Carl "Rocky" Anderson (born September 9, 1951), from the United States, is an attorney, writer, activist, civil and human rights advocate. He served two terms as the 33rd Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah from 2000 to 2008. He is now running f ...

, Bob Bennett, Marsha K. Caddle,

Merrill Cook Merrill Cook (born May 6, 1946) is a Republican Party politician and businessman who served in the United States House of Representatives from Utah. Early life and career Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, Co ...

, E. Jake Garn, Jon Huntsman, Jr., Karen Morgan,

Frank E. Moss Frank Edward "Ted" Moss (September 23, 1911 – January 29, 2003) was an American lawyer and politician. A Democrat, he served as a United States Senator from Utah from 1959 to 1977. Early life and education Frank Moss was born in Holladay ...

, Joshua Rush, and Karl Rove; recent

presidents Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, and Russell M. Nelson; historian and

Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the history ...

laureate Laurel Thatcher Ulrich; authors

Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...

, Stephen Covey,

Shannon Hale Shannon may refer to: People * Shannon (given name) * Shannon (surname) * Shannon (American singer), stage name of singer Shannon Brenda Greene (born 1958) * Shannon (South Korean singer), British-South Korean singer and actress Shannon Arrum ...

, Everett Errol Murdock, Terry Tempest Williams, and

Wallace Stegner Wallace Earle Stegner (February 18, 1909 – April 13, 1993) was an American novelist, short story writer, environmentalism, environmentalist, and historian, often called "The Dean of Western Writers". He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U. ...

;

R Adams Cowley R Adams Cowley (July 25, 1917 – October 27, 1991) was an American surgeon considered a pioneer in emergency medicine and the treatment of Shock (circulatory), shock Physical trauma, trauma. Called the "Father of Trauma Medicine", he was the foun ...

, William DeVries, and Robert Jarvik in medicine; historian

Richard Foltz Richard Foltz is a Canadian scholar of American origin. He is a specialist in the history of Iranian civilization—what is sometimes referred to as "Greater Iran". He has also been active in the areas of environmental ethics and animal rights. ...

; educators Gordon Gee, Jonathan Westover, and Ann Weaver Hart; reporter

Martha Raddatz Martha Raddatz (; born February 14, 1953) is an American reporter with ABC News. She is the network's Chief Global Affairs Correspondent reporting for ABC's '' World News Tonight with David Muir'', ''Nightline'', and other network broadcasts. In a ...

;, writer and canoeist

Neal Moore Neal Moore (born November 22, 1971) is an American writer and canoeist. He is the author of two non-fiction books—''Down the Mississippi'' and ''Homelands: A Memoir''—as well as numerous news articles. The Mark Twain Museum, ''CNN'' and ''The ...

and speed reading innovator Evelyn Nielsen Wood. Notable science and engineering alumni include

Jim Blinn James F. Blinn (born 1949) is an American computer scientist who first became widely known for his work as a computer graphics expert at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), particularly his work on the pre-encounter animations for the Vo ...

; Mark W. Fuller, CEO of WET Design; Andrea Russell, Vice President of the

International Society of Electrochemistry The International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE) is a global scientific society founded in 1949. The Head Office of ISE is located now in Lausanne, Switzerland. ISE is a Member Organization of IUPAC. The Society has now more than 1900 Individual ...

; Jim Clark, founder of

Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and sof ...

Netscape Communications Corporation Netscape Communications Corporation (originally Mosaic Communications Corporation) was an American independent computer services company with headquarters in Mountain View, California and then Dulles, Virginia. Its Netscape web browser was onc ...

, myCFO, and Healtheon; Gretchen W. McClain, former

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

Deputy Associate Administrator of Human Space Exploration and Chief Director of the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

; Henri Gouraud; John C. Cook who played a crucial role in establishing the field of ground-penetrating radar;

Ralph Hartley Ralph Vinton Lyon Hartley (November 30, 1888 – May 1, 1970) was an American electronics researcher. He invented the Hartley oscillator and the Hartley transform, and contributed to the foundations of information theory. Biography Hartley wa ...

; rocket scientist Joseph Majdalani;

;

Simon Ramo Simon "Si" Ramo (May 7, 1913 – June 27, 2016) was an American engineer, businessman, and author. He led development of microwave and missile technology and is sometimes known as the father of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). He ...

; and

, 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;

, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese;

, co-founder of

; J. Willard Marriott, founder of Marriott International; Robert A. "Bob" McDonald, CEO of

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

;

David Neeleman David G. Neeleman (born October 16, 1959) is a Brazilian-American businessman and entrepreneur. He has founded five commercial airlines: Morris Air, WestJet, JetBlue Airways, Azul Brazilian Airlines, and Breeze Airways. Along with Humberto Pedros ...

, founder of

JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation (stylized as jetBlue) is a major American low cost airline, and the seventh largest airline in North America by passengers carried. The airline is headquartered in the Long Island City neighborhood of the New York C ...

; and Telle Whitney, CEO and President of the Anita Borg Institute In athletics, notable alumni include baseball player Chris Shelton; basketball players

Kyle Kuzma Kyle Alexander Kuzma (born July 24, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Utah Utes and was named first-team all-confere ...

, and

Keith Van Horn Keith Adam Van Horn (born October 23, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Van Horn played for the New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, and the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball ...

; football players

Paul Kruger Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904) was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South African Republic, South Africa, and President of the So ...

, Star Lotulelei, Jamal Anderson, Kevin Dyson,

, Alex Smith, and Steve Smith Sr.; hall of fame karate grandmaster Dan Hausel; and football coach

LaVell Edwards Reuben LaVell Edwards (October 11, 1930 – December 29, 2016) was an American football head coach for Brigham Young University (BYU). With 257 career victories, he ranks as one of the most successful college football coaches of all time. Among ...

. Notable members of the athletics faculty include Sharrieff Shah, coach of the University of Utah football team and husband to Jen Shah, cast member of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

Mykayla Skinner MyKayla Brooke Skinner Harmer (born December 9, 1996) is an American former artistic gymnast. She was the 2020 Olympic vault silver medalist and was an alternate for the 2016 Olympic team. Skinner competed at the 2014 World Championships wher ...

2020 Olympic Gymnast and Vault Silver Medalist. Notable alumni also includes serial killer

Ted Bundy Theodore Robert Bundy (Name change, born Cowell; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more th ...

, who briefly attended the College of Law before dropping out. Drag Queen Denali Foxx graduated from the University of Utah. Notable faculty in science and engineering include David Evans and Ivan Sutherland, founders of Evans and Sutherland;

Bui Tuong Phong Bui Tuong Phong (December 14, 1942 – July 1975) was a Vietnamese-born computer graphics researcher and pioneer. He invented the widely used Phong shading algorithm and Phong reflection model. Life Phong was born in Hanoi, then French I ...

, pioneer of

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...

; Henry Eyring, known for studying chemical reaction rates; Stephen Jacobsen, founder of Sarcos; Jindřich Kopeček and Sung Wan Kim, pioneers of polymeric

drug delivery Drug delivery refers to approaches, formulations, manufacturing techniques, storage systems, and technologies involved in transporting a pharmaceutical compound to its target site to achieve a desired therapeutic effect. Principles related to dr ...

and

gene delivery Gene delivery is the process of introducing foreign genetic material, such as DNA or RNA, into host cells. Gene delivery must reach the genome of the host cell to induce gene expression. Successful gene delivery requires the foreign gene delive ...

; Suhas Patil, founder of Cirrus Logic; Stanley Pons, who claimed to have discovered "

cold fusion Cold fusion is a hypothesized type of nuclear reaction that would occur at, or near, room temperature. It would contrast starkly with the "hot" fusion that is known to take place naturally within stars and artificially in hydrogen bombs and p ...

" in 1989;

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (born 1952) is an Indian-born British and American structural biologist who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas A. Steitz and Ada Yonath, "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome" ...

, later co-winner of the 2009

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

;

Thomas Stockham Thomas Greenway Stockham (December 22, 1933 – January 6, 2004) was an American scientist who developed one of the first practical digital audio recording systems, and pioneered techniques for digital audio recording and processing. He also l ...

, founder of Soundstream; and David W. Grainger, Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, winner of the “Excellence in Pharmaceutics” Award, and alumnus. In medicine, notable faculty include

Mario Capecchi Mario Ramberg Capecchi (born 6 October 1937) is an Italian-born molecular geneticist and a co-awardee of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering a method to create mice in which a specific gene is turned off, known as knock ...

, the co-winner of the 2007

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...

; Willem Johan Kolff; and Russell M. Nelson. Biologist

Ralph Vary Chamberlin Ralph Vary Chamberlin (January 3, 1879October 31, 1967) was an American biologist, ethnographer, and historian from Salt Lake City, Utah. He was a faculty member of the University of Utah for over 25 years, where he helped establish the School ...

, founding dean of the Medical School, professor, and later historian of the University, was also an alumnus. File:MarioCapecchiFotoThalerTamas.JPG,

, Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics and Biology, co-winner of the 2007

File:VES Awards 89 cropped.jpg,

, B.S. 1969, Ph.D. 1974, co-founder of

, president of

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...

and

Pixar Animation Studios Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

File:John Warnock 2008.jpg,

, B.S. 1961, M.S. 1964, Ph.D. 1969, co-founder of Adobe Systems Inc. File:James H. Clark.jpg,

James H. Clark James Henry Clark (born March 23, 1944) is an American entrepreneur and computer scientist. He founded several notable Silicon Valley technology companies, including Silicon Graphics, Netscape, myCFO, and Healtheon. His research work in comput ...

, Ph.D. 1974, founder of Netscape,

, myCFO, Healtheon, co-author of the Catmull-Clark algorithm File:Nolan Bushnell 2013.jpg,

, B.S. 1968, founder of

Chuck E. Cheese's Chuck E. Cheese (formerly known as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza and simply Chuck E. Cheese's) is an American family entertainment center and pizza restaurant chain founded in 1977 by Atari's co-founder Nolan Bu ...

, co-founder of Atari File:J Willard Marriott.jpg, J. Willard Marriott, A.B. 1926, founder of Marriott International File:Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (32803708014).jpg, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, B.A. 1960, received the

in 1991 File:Jake Garn.jpg,

Jake Garn Edwin Jacob "Jake" Garn (born October 12, 1932) is an American politician and member of the Republican Party who served as a United States senator representing Utah from 1974 to 1993. Garn became the first sitting member of Congress to fly in sp ...

, B.S. 1955, U.S. Senator and Space Shuttle astronaut File:Alan Kay (3097597186).jpg,

, M.S. 1968, Ph.D. 1969, father of Object-Oriented Programming, 2003

and 2004

Kyoto Prize The is Japan's highest private award for lifetime achievement in the arts and sciences. It is given not only to those that are top representatives of their own respective fields, but to "those who have contributed significantly to the scientific, ...

winner File:William DeVries (cropped).jpg, William DeVries, B.S. 1966, M.D. 1970, performed the first transplant of a Total Artificial Heart using the Jarvik-7 model File:Robert A. McDonald Official Portrait.jpg, Robert A. McDonald, M.B.A. 1978, past CEO of

, 8th

United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs The United States secretary of veterans affairs is the head of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the department concerned with veterans' benefits, health care, and national veterans' memorials and cemeteries. The secretary is a me ...

File:Hartley ralph-vinton-lyon-001.jpg,

, A.B. 1909, invented the

Hartley oscillator The Hartley oscillator is an electronic oscillator circuit in which the oscillation frequency is determined by a tuned circuit consisting of capacitors and inductors, that is, an LC oscillator. The circuit was invented in 1915 by American enginee ...

and the

Hartley transform In mathematics, the Hartley transform (HT) is an integral transform closely related to the Fourier transform (FT), but which transforms real-valued functions to real-valued functions. It was proposed as an alternative to the Fourier transform by R ...

, recipient of the IEEE Medal of Honor File:Ivan Sutherland at CHM.jpg, Ivan Sutherland, past Professor of Computer Science from 1968-1974, winner of the

in 1988,

in 2012, co-founder of Evans and Sutherland File:Tom stockham.jpg,

, past Professor of Electrical Engineering from 1968-1975, 1983-1994, father of digital recording, founder of Soundstream, won an Emmy Award,

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

, served as a

Nixon White House tapes The Nixon White House tapes are audio recordings of conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and Nixon administration officials, Nixon family members, and White House staff, produced between 1971 and 1973. In February 1971, a sound-a ...

investigator File:Stephen Covey 2010.jpg, Stephen Covey, B.S. 1952, author of

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People ''The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People'', first published in 1989, is a business and self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey. Covey presents an approach to being effective in attaining goals by aligning oneself to what he calls "true nort ...

File:Russell M. Nelson.png, Russell M. Nelson, B.A. 1945, M.D. 1947,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

, past President of the Society for Vascular Surgery, past Director of the

American Board of Thoracic Surgery The American Board of Thoracic Surgery is an American surgical organization devoted to surgery of the chest.LaVell Edwards Reuben LaVell Edwards (October 11, 1930 – December 29, 2016) was an American football head coach for Brigham Young University (BYU). With 257 career victories, he ranks as one of the most successful college football coaches of all time. Among ...

, M.S. 1960, former head football coach of

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

File:Gordon Gee.jpg, E. Gordon Gee, B.A. 1968, past president of universities including

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, Vanderbilt,

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model us ...

and

File:Martha Raddatz.png,

, non-graduate alumna,

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

Chief Global Affairs Correspondent, recipient of 4 Emmy Awards File:Ambassador Jon Huntsman.jpg, Jon Huntsman, Jr., non-graduate alumnus, U.S. Ambassador to China, Russia and Singapore, 16th Governor of Utah File:Karl Rove.jpg, Karl Rove, non-graduate alumnus,

Senior Advisor In some countries, a senior advisor (also spelt senior adviser, especially in the UK) is an appointed position by the Head of State to advise on the highest levels of national and government policy. Sometimes a junior position to this is called a N ...

and Deputy Chief of Staff in the George W. Bush administration File:Neeleman.jpg,

, non-graduate alumnus, founder of

JetBlue Airways JetBlue Airways Corporation (stylized as jetBlue) is a major American low cost airline, and the seventh largest airline in North America by passengers carried. The airline is headquartered in the Long Island City neighborhood of the New York C ...

, Azul Brazilian Airlines, co-founder of WestJet Airlines

Notes

References

External links

*
The University of Utah Athletics website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Utah, University Of

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

Utah, University of Flagship universities in the United States Economy of Salt Lake City Education in Salt Lake City Universities and colleges accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities Buildings and structures in Salt Lake City Universities and colleges in Salt Lake County, Utah Tourist attractions in Salt Lake City 1850 establishments in Utah Territory