Weber State University (pronounced ) is a

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy. It is accredited by 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. ...

History

Weber State University was founded by

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 Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

as the Weber Stake Academy in 1889. "Weber" comes from the name of the county where the university is located. Weber County was named after

John Henry Weber John Henry Weber (1779–1859) was an American fur trader and explorer. Weber was active in the early years of the fur trade, exploring territory in the Rocky Mountains and areas in the current state of Utah. The Weber River, Weber State Uni ...

, an early fur trader. The university opened for students in 1889 with 98 students enrolled for classes The first principal of Weber Stake Academy was

Louis F. Moench Louis Frederick Moench (July 29, 1847 – April 25, 1916) was the founding president of Weber Stake Academy and the father of education in Northern Utah, on the same level of importance as John R. Park and Karl G. Maeser to the development of ed ...

; he served from 1889 to 1892 and again from 1894 to 1902. In the latter year, Moench was succeeded as principal by

David O. McKay David Oman McKay (September 8, 1873 – January 18, 1970) was an American religious leader and educator who served as the ninth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1951 until his death in 1970. Ordain ...

, who served in that position until 1908. From 1914 to 1917, James L. Barker was the principal of the Weber Stake Academy. In the early 20th century, the school underwent multiple name changes: Weber Stake Academy from its founding in 1889, Weber Academy in 1902, Weber Normal College in 1918, and Weber College in 1922. By the late 1920s, however, the college was in financial difficulty, and

faced four choices—transfer the college to a partnership of the city of Ogden and Weber County, transfer it to the

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 ...

as a branch campus, transfer it to the state of Utah as a

junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

, or shut it down. In 1931, the

Utah Legislature The Utah State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. It is a bicameral body, comprising the Utah House of Representatives, with 75 state representatives, and the Utah Senate, with 29 state senators. There are no term l ...

passed a law providing for the acquisition of Weber College and

Snow College Snow College is a public community college in Ephraim, Utah. It offers certificates and associate degrees in a number of areas, along with bachelor's degrees in music and software engineering and a four-year nursing program. Snow College is par ...

from

. In 1933, Weber College became a state-supported junior college. In 1954, the college moved from its downtown location in Ogden to a spacious and scenic area in the southeast bench area of the city. The school became Weber State College in 1962, and in 1964 became a four-year college. It was a charter member of the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

The first graduate program (accounting), was added and it gained university status on Weber State University has developed into a major state undergraduate institution serving northern Utah and areas beyond, including American and international students.

Academics

Weber State University offers more than 250 certificate and degree programs. They are offered through the following seven colleges: *College of Engineering, Applied Science and Technology *Telitha E. Lindquist College of Arts and Humanities * John B. Goddard School of Business & Economics *Jerry and Vickie Moyes College of Education * Dr. Ezekiel R. Dumke College of Health Professions *College of Science *College of Social & Behavioral Sciences In addition to these primary colleges, the university offers several structured interdisciplinary programs. These include: *Asian Studies *Ethnic Studies *European Studies *Latin American Studies *Legal Studies *Neuroscience Program *Urban & Regional Planning *Women's Studies Unstructured interdisciplinary degrees are overseen by the Bachelor of Integrated Studies department.

Locations

The university sits along the east bench of the Wasatch Mountains in Ogden; the

Dee Events Center Dee Events Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the western United States, located on the campus of Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. The circular, 11,592-seat domed arena, similar in design to many of the era, opened in 1977 and was na ...

for indoor athletics is located about south of campus. There is an additional campus in

Davis County Davis County is or was the name of the following counties in the United States: *Davis County, Iowa, named in honor of Garrett Davis, a Congressman from Kentucky *Davis County, Utah, named for Daniel C. Davis, captain in the Mormon Battalion *Cass ...

and two centers in Morgan and

Roy Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...

. In addition to its physical locations, Weber State University has been a pioneer in the development of online education for 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 Ogden campus covers more than , houses 63 buildings and features residence halls that accommodate more than 1,000 students. The Davis campus has three buildings, which host more than 300 classes per semester. In 2013, Weber State opened WSU Downtown, an building on 2314 Washington Blvd., which houses a WSU Wildcat Store, cafe, the WSU Small Business Development Center, Startup Ogden, and an open co-working space. Weber State also has centers in Roy,

Farmington Farmington may refer to: Places Canada *Farmington, British Columbia * Farmington, Nova Scotia (disambiguation) United States *Farmington, Arkansas *Farmington, California *Farmington, Connecticut *Farmington, Delaware * Farmington, Georgia * ...

Kaysville Kaysville is a city in Davis County, Utah, Davis County, Utah. It is part of the Ogden–Clearfield metropolitan area. The population was 27,300 at the time of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, with an estimated population of 32,390 in 2 ...

, Clearfield, and Morgan, Utah, in addition to the Community Education Center in Ogden.

Athletics

Weber State University's colors are

purple Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, pu ...

and

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

and their nickname is the Wildcats. (Wildcat is an alternate name for the

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

, a cat native to the area.) The teams participate in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

in the

; the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

(

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

) plays at Stewart Stadium. The men's and

women's basketball teams A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

both play at the

. Additional athletic programs are men's and women's track and field, men's and women's golf, men's and women's tennis, and women's soccer, cheerleading, dance, volleyball, and softball. When the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The Universit ...

and

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding ...

left the Big Sky in 1996,

Idaho State University , mottoeng = "The truth will set you free" , established = , former_names = Academy of Idaho(1901–1915)Idaho Technical Institute(1915–1927)University of Idaho—Southern Branch(1927–1947)Idaho State ...

in nearby

Pocatello Pocatello () is the county seat of and largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the P ...

became Weber State's main rival in both football and basketball.

Southern Utah University Southern Utah University (SUU) is a public university in Cedar City, Utah. Founded in 1897 as a normal school, Southern Utah University now graduates over 1,800 students each year with baccalaureate and graduate degrees from its six colleges. ...

(in

Cedar City Cedar City is the largest city in Iron County, Utah, United States. It is located south of Salt Lake City, and north of Las Vegas on Interstate 15. It is the home of Southern Utah University, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Summer Gam ...

) joined the Big Sky in 2012 and is the main in-state rival. Portland Trail Blazers' legendary guard, Damian Lillard was drafted with the 6th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. After a stellar season with Weber, Dame went on to a superstar career in the league, being the most notable alumni to ever play sports at Weber. Weber State also has 18 club sports through Campus Recreation, including ice hockey, men and women's rugby, archery, baseball, billiards, bowling, cycling, fencing, martial arts, rodeo, rock climbing, skiing, snowboarding, swimming, weightlifting, wrestling, and lacrosse.

Student media

Weber State University has an independent, student-run newspaper, The Signpost, which is published every Monday and Thursday, an online

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

, KWCR, ''Ogden's Radio Station'', an undergraduate interdisciplinary literary journal, Metaphor, and a television news program, Weber State News, that broadcasts online. The national literature and culture journal, '' Weber Studies'', is based at Weber State.

Notable alumni and administrators

* Nolan D. Archibald – President & CEO of

Black & Decker Black+Decker Inc. is an American manufacturer of power tools, accessories, hardware, home improvement products, home appliances and fastening systems headquartered in Towson, Maryland, north of Baltimore, Maryland, USA, where the company was o ...

1986 – 2010 *

Mark Evans Austad Mark Evans Austad (April 1, 1917 – October 20, 1988) was an American radio and television commentator in Washington D.C. (under the name Mark Evans), and served under Gerald Ford as United States Ambassador to Finland from 1975 to 1977, and as ...

– communications expert *

Davion Berry Davion Christopher Lamont Berry (born November 1, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for Manama Club of the Bahraini Premier League. He played college basketball for the Weber State Wildcats where he was named Big Sky Conference ...

(born 1991) – basketball player in the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional sports, professional competition in Israeli sports club, club basketball, making ...

* Joseph Bishop – past president of Weber State *

Fawn Brodie Fawn McKay Brodie (September 15, 1915 – January 10, 1981) was an American biographer and one of the first female professors of history at UCLA, who is best known for ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (1974), a work of psychobiography, ...

– author/historian * Paul W Draper – Anthropologist, Mentalist, Speaker * H. Tracy Hall – inventor of the industrial diamond * Ronald L. Holt – professor of anthropology *

Ben Howland Benjamin Clark Howland (born May 28, 1957) is an American college basketball coach who most recently served as the men's head coach at Mississippi State University from to 2015 to 2022. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Northern ...

– basketball coach,

Northern Arizona Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially-defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Gila counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the sout ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

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 St ...

, and

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

Taron Johnson Taron Johnson (born July 27, 1996) is an American football cornerback for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Weber State Wildcats football, Weber State. He played high school football at Sheldo ...

– professional football player NFL * Phil Johnson – professional basketball coach * David M. Kennedy – U.S. Secretary of the Treasury *

Damian Lillard Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard Sr. (born July 15, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Weber State Wildcats and earned ...

– professional basketball player *

J. Willard Marriott John Willard Marriott, Sr. (September 17, 1900 – August 13, 1985) was an American entrepreneur and businessman. He was the founder of the Marriott Corporation (which became Marriott International in 1993), the parent company of the world's l ...

– business magnate *

– past president of

Wataru Misaka Wataru Misaka (December 21, 1923 – November 20, 2019) was an American professional basketball player. A point guard of Japanese descent, he broke a color barrier in professional basketball by being the first non-white player and the first p ...

– BAA (

Basketball Association of America The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA absorbed most of National Basketball League (NBL) and rebranded as the National Ba ...

) player in the 1940s *

Dick Motta John Richard Motta (born September 3, 1931) is an American former basketball coach whose career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) spanned 25 years. Motta coached the Washington Bullets to the 1978 NBA Championship, and he won the 1971 ...

– professional basketball coach *

Jerry Moyes Jerry Moyes is the Founder, and former Chairman and CEO of Phoenix-based Swift Transportation, one of the largest trucking companies in the United States. Moyes is also owner of charter airline Swift Air and FBO Swift Aviation at Phoenix Sky Harb ...

- founder of Swift Transportation *

Sean O'Connell Sean O'Connell was a Gaelic football manager and player who featured for the Derry county team in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and was on the Derry side that finished runners-up to Dublin in the 1958 All-Ireland Championship – winning a ...

(attended) – professional

Mixed Martial Artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

Todd Rose Larry Todd Rose (born November 28, 1974) is the co-founder and president of Populace, a Boston-based think tank. Prior to Populace, Rose was a professor at the Harvard University where he served as the faculty director of the Mind, Brain, and Educ ...

– current President of Populace, former Professor and Director of the Mind, Brain, and Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education *

Sarah Sellers Sarah Sellers (née Callister, born July 10, 1991) is an American long-distance runner. Running career College career Sellers ran at Weber State University from 2009 to 2012 where she was a nine-time Big Sky Conference champion, before a stress ...

– runner-up, 2018 Boston Marathon * Richard H. Stallings – U.S. Representative * Carla Taylor – women's basketball coach at Weber State * Ernest L. Wilkinson – prominent lawyer and university president

Gallery

File:Miller Administration Building.jpg, Miller Administration Building File:Student Services Center.jpg, Student Services Center File:Kimball Visual Arts Center.jpg, Kimball Visual Arts Center File:Elizabeth Hall.jpg, Elizabeth Hall File:Stewart Library 2.jpg, Stewart Library File:Shepherd Student Union.jpg, Shepherd Student Union

Notes

References

External links

*
Weber State Athletics websiteThe Signpost
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1889 Universities and colleges formerly affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Universities and colleges accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities Universities and colleges in Weber County, Utah Tourist attractions in Ogden, Utah Buildings and structures in Ogden, Utah 1889 establishments in Utah Territory Public universities and colleges in Utah