University of Utah
University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah)[12] is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (/ˌdɛzəˈrɛt/ )[13] by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret,[1] making it Utah's oldest institution of higher education.[14] The university received its current name in 1892, four years before Utah attained statehood, and moved to its current location in 1900.[1] It is the flagship university of the Utah System of Higher Education.[15]
As of Fall 2023, there were 26,827 undergraduate students and 8,409 graduate students, for an enrollment total of 35,236, making it the second-largest public university in Utah. Graduate studies include the S.J. Quinney College of Law and the School of Medicine, Utah's first medical school.[16] It is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU) and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".[17][18]
According to the National Science Foundation, the university received $670 million in research and development funding in 2022, ranking it 47th in the nation.[19] The university's health care system includes four hospitals, including the University of Utah Hospital and Huntsman Cancer Institute, along with twelve community clinics and specialty centers such as the Moran Eye Center. The university's athletic teams, the Utes, participate in NCAA Division I athletics (FBS for football) as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. On August 4, 2023, the university applied and was accepted to join the Big 12 Conference starting in 2024.
Twenty-two Rhodes Scholars,[20] four Nobel Prize winners,[21][22][23][24] three Turing Award winners,[25][26][27] eight MacArthur Fellows,[28][29] various Pulitzer Prize winners,[30][31][32] two astronauts,[33][34] Gates Cambridge Scholars,[35] and Churchill Scholars have been affiliated with the university as students, researchers, or faculty members in its history.[36][37]
Organization[edit]
The University of Utah is governed by a 10-member Board of Trustees, 8 of whom are appointed by the Governor of Utah with the consent of the Utah Senate. The President of the University of Utah Alumni Association serves as the 9th member, and the President of the Associated Students of the University of Utah (ASUU) serves as the 10th member. The 8 appointed members serve for four-year terms, four expiring on June 30 of each odd-numbered year. The two ex officio members serve for the terms of their respective offices.[80]
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)[81] whose chief executive officer is the Commissioner of Higher Education.[82]
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.[83][84]
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 deans, and 18 students from the ASUU, one from each college and the ASUU president. The Senate also includes the University President, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, and all non-elected deans as ex officio members who may debate and present motions but do not vote. Much of the actual Senate work is carried out by 12 Senate-elected committees which work on the central academic issues of the institution. 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.[85]
Academic rankings
39–51
98
115 (tie)
58
43
101–150
441 (tie)
201–250
150
Mario Capecchi, Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics and Biology, co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Ed Catmull, B.S. 1969, Ph.D. 1974, co-founder of Pixar, president of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios
James H. Clark, Ph.D. 1974, founder of Netscape, Silicon Graphics, myCFO, Healtheon, co-author of the Catmull-Clark algorithm
Alan Kay, M.S. 1968, Ph.D. 1969, father of Object-Oriented Programming, 2003 Turing Award and 2004 Kyoto Prize winner
William DeVries, B.S. 1966, M.D. 1970, performed the first transplant of a Total Artificial Heart using the Jarvik-7 model
Robert A. McDonald, M.B.A. 1978, past CEO of Procter & Gamble, 8th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Ralph Hartley, A.B. 1909, invented the Hartley oscillator and the Hartley transform, recipient of the IEEE Medal of Honor
Ivan Sutherland, past Professor of Computer Science from 1968-1974, winner of the Turing Award in 1988, Kyoto Prize in 2012, co-founder of Evans and Sutherland
E. Gordon Gee, B.A. 1968, past president of universities including Ohio State, Vanderbilt, Brown and University of Colorado
Notable alumni include politicians Rocky Anderson, Bob Bennett, Marsha K. Caddle, Merrill Cook, E. Jake Garn, Jon Huntsman, Jr., Karen Morgan, Frank E. Moss, Joshua Rush, and Karl Rove;[181] recent LDS Church presidents Gordon B. Hinckley,[182] Thomas S. Monson,[183] and Russell M. Nelson;[184] historian and Pulitzer Prize for History laureate Laurel Thatcher Ulrich;[185] journalist and 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner for local reporting Rachel Piper[186] authors Orson Scott Card,[187] Stephen Covey, Shannon Hale, Terry Tempest Williams, and Wallace Stegner; R Adams Cowley, William DeVries, and Robert Jarvik in medicine; historian Richard Foltz; educators Gordon Gee,[188] Jonathan Westover,[189] and Ann Weaver Hart;[190] reporter Martha Raddatz;[191] writer and canoeist Neal Moore,[192] and speed reading innovator Evelyn Nielsen Wood.[193]
Notable science and engineering alumni include Jim Blinn; Mark W. Fuller, CEO of WET Design; Andrea Russell, Vice President of the International Society of Electrochemistry; Jim Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics, Netscape Communications Corporation, myCFO, and Healtheon; Gretchen W. McClain, former NASA Deputy Associate Administrator of Human Space Exploration and Chief Director of the International Space Station; Henri Gouraud; John C. Cook who played a crucial role in establishing the field of ground-penetrating radar;[194] Ralph Hartley;[195] rocket scientist Joseph Majdalani;[196] Alan Kay; Simon Ramo; and John Warnock, co-founder of Adobe Systems.
Notable entrepreneur and business leader alumni include Alan Ashton, co-founder of WordPerfect and Thanksgiving Point; Freestyle Skiër Tom Wallisch; Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese; Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar; J. Willard Marriott, founder of Marriott International; Robert A. "Bob" McDonald, CEO of Procter & Gamble;[197] David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue; Telle Whitney, CEO and President of the Anita Borg Institute;[198] and Nintendo of America's current president, Doug Bowser[199]
In athletics, notable alumni include baseball player Chris Shelton; basketball players Andrew Bogut, Kyle Kuzma, Andre Miller, and Keith Van Horn; football players Paul Kruger, Star Lotulelei, Jamal Anderson, Kevin Dyson, Eric Weddle, Alex Smith, and Steve Smith Sr.; hall of fame karate grandmaster Dan Hausel; and football coach LaVell Edwards.[200] 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.[201]
Mykayla Skinner 2020 Olympic Gymnast and Vault Silver Medalist.
Notable alumni also includes serial killer Ted Bundy, who briefly attended the College of Law before dropping out.[202]
Drag Queen Denali Foxx graduated from the University of Utah.
Lee Isaac Chung, director of the Academy Award-winning film Minari, completed his graduate studies at the university's film-making program.
Notable faculty in science and engineering include David Evans and Ivan Sutherland, founders of Evans and Sutherland; Bui Tuong Phong, pioneer of computer graphics; Henry Eyring, known for studying chemical reaction rates;[203] Scott A. Summers, founder of Centaurus Therapeutics; Stephen Jacobsen, founder of Sarcos;[204] Jindřich Kopeček and Sung Wan Kim, pioneers of polymeric drug delivery and gene delivery;[205] Suhas Patil, founder of Cirrus Logic; Stanley Pons, who claimed to have discovered "cold fusion" in 1989;[206] Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, later co-winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry;[207] Thomas Stockham, founder of Soundstream; and David W. Grainger, Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, winner of the "Excellence in Pharmaceutics" Award, and alumnus.[198] In medicine, notable faculty include Mario Capecchi, the co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine;[208] Willem Johan Kolff;[209] and Russell M. Nelson.[184] Biologist Ralph Vary Chamberlin, founding dean of the Medical School, professor, and later historian of the University, was also an alumnus.
