Everything about The University Of Utah totally explained
The
University of Utah (referred to locally as
'The U' or
'the U of U'), located in
Salt Lake City, is the flagship public research
university in the state of
Utah, and one of ten institutions that make up the
Utah System of Higher Education. As of Fall Semester
2007, the university currently enrolls 21,421
undergraduate and 6,604
graduate students and has 1,419 regular
faculty members.
Of the more than 3,500 colleges and universities in the United States, the University of Utah is one of only eighty-eight that are classified by the
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as
Research I universities; for example, those which offer a full range of undergraduate programs, are committed to graduate education, and give research high priority. The university's athletic rival is its neighbor to the south,
Brigham Young University.
Campus history
Originally established
February 28,
1850 by
Latter-day Saint leader
Brigham Young, it was initially named "
University of Deseret." The school closed two years later for financial reasons. It reopened as a commercial school in
1867 in the old Council House in what is now downtown Salt Lake City under the direction of David O. Calder, a prominent Salt Lake City businessman and associate of
Mormon leader
Brigham Young. The University was renamed
University of Utah in
1894 and classes were first held on the present campus approximately two miles directly east of downtown Salt Lake City in
1900.
Portions of the present campus are located on grounds formerly belonging to the U.S. Army's
Fort Douglas. The fort was officially closed on
October 26,
1991, and although a small part of it remains as an
Army Reserve Post, the majority of its territory is now owned by the university, and occupied by student residences.
Programs
The university offers seventy-six undergraduate majors, over fifty-five minors and certificates and ninety-six major fields of studies at the graduate level. It draws its 28,000-plus student population from all fifty states and 111 foreign countries. The university, one of the state’s largest employers, has the only medical, social work, and architecture schools in a multi-state area.
The university's School of Computing has made several important contributions to the field. The University of Utah was one of the original four nodes of
ARPANET, the world's first
packet-switching computer network and embryo of the current world-wide
Internet. In late
1969, the U's
computer graphics department was linked into the node at
Stanford Research Institute in
Menlo Park, CA to complete the initial 4-node network
(External Link
).
The U's Center for High Performance Computing links the U to major aerospace industries, high-tech
manufacturers and research companies. The Department of Computer Science is ranked in the top twenty computer science research departments in the nation. The U was named one of five finalists in the science category of the 1998 Computerworld Smithsonian Awards.
Other accomplishments include the first method for representing surface textures in graphical images, the
Gouraud smooth shading model for
computer graphics, invention of magnetic ink printing technology, the Johnson counter
logic circuit, development of the oldest algebraic mathematics package (
REDUCE) still in use, and the
Phong lighting model for shading with highlights. The school has pioneered work in asynchronous circuits, computer animation, computer art, digital music recording (for which university alumni were awarded Academy Awards), graphical user interfaces, and stack machine architectures. Notable alumni include
Henri Gouraud,
James Blinn,
Nolan Bushnell,
Ed Catmull,
Jim Clark,
Alan Kay,
Shane Robison and
John Warnock. Companies founded by faculty and alumni include
Adobe Systems,
Ashlar,
Atari,
CAE Systems,
Centillium Technology,
Cirrus Logic,
WordPerfect,
Evans and Sutherland,
Myricom,
NeoMagic,
Netscape Communications Corporation,
Pixar,
Pixal Plane,
PlanetWeb, and
Silicon Graphics.
The University of Utah Economics department is a leading heterodox department that's committed to social justice and human rights. Notable faculty include Dr. Kenneth Jameson and Dr. E.K Hunt.
The University of Utah's School of Medicine is respected as one of the region's finest, with several notable achievements, and the University of Utah Hospitals & Clinics has consistently had some of its programs ranked by U.S. News & World Report. In
1970, the school established the first
Cerebrovascular Disease Unit west of the
Mississippi River. In
1982,
Barney Clark received the world's first permanently implanted artificial heart, the
Jarvik-7, during an operation performed by William C. Devries, M.D. Clark survived 112 days with the device. The campus houses the
Huntsman Cancer Institute, the Moran Eye Center, an ophthalmic clinical care and research facility, and
Primary Children's Medical Center, the only children's hospital in Utah. Areas for which the school is often praised include
cardiology,
geriatrics,
gynecology,
pediatrics,
rheumatology,
pulmonology,
neurology,
oncology,
orthopedics, and
ophthalmology.
The University of Utah's
Political Science department hosts one of nation's leading schools of politics and government. Aside from regular course work, the college provides its students the opportunity to volunteer as interns in state and federal government offices. The college is often visited by local and national leaders. The University of Utah also has the
Hinckley Institute of Politics.
The University is well known in the field of
biology for its unique contributions to the study of
genetics. This is due in part to long-term
genealogy efforts of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which is headquartered about four miles from the University. Those who keep genealogic records are an asset to researchers who are able to use family records to trace genetic disorders through several generations. Additionally, the relative homogeneity of Utah's population makes it an ideal laboratory for studies of population genetics. The population tends to volunteer for genetic testing in high numbers. The University is home to the Genetic Science Learning Center, a unique resource which educates the public about genetics through its website. In addition, University of Utah faculty member and Nobel Prize laureate
Mario Capecchi has made significant contributions to the field by developing a gene knockout technique that functions even in higher organisms.
The university is home to the S.J. Quinney School of Law, until the 1970s the only law school in the state. Its alumni and faculty include distinguished scholars and judges. Currently former professor Judge Michael McConnel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Paul Cassell serve on the federal court.
In
1989, the university was the focus of a short-lived but intense controversy in the scientific community when then-chair of
chemistry Stanley Pons and visiting professor
Martin Fleischmann claimed to have discovered a chemical reaction process known as "
cold fusion". Their work has since been discredited by the
nuclear physics community.
The College of Architecture and Planning hosts a spring semester course titled DesignBuildBluff held at
Bluff, Utah. It is an opportunity for the students to design and build a house for a family on the
Navajo Reservation in the
Four Corners area of
Southwestern United States.
Olympics
In
2002, the University hosted the Olympic Village as well as
Winter Olympic events, including the opening and closing ceremonies. Prior to the events, the University received a facelift that included extensive renovations to
Rice-Eccles Stadium, a
light rail track leading to downtown Salt Lake City and an array of new student housing and a 134-room campus hotel and conference center (used by the Olympic athletes) at nearby
Fort Douglas.
Athletics
The school's sports teams are called the
Utes. There are many "nicknames" for the teams too, as, for instance, the basketball team known as the "Runnin' Utes"; in former days, the football team was known as "Runnin' Redskins", and the gymnastics team is known as "the Red Rocks". Utah participates in the
NCAA's Division I (Division I-A for football) as part of the
Mountain West Conference. The last football game of the regular season hosts a contest which for one week seems to divide the entire state. This traditional season finale has been called "The Holy War" by national broadcasting commentators and is
one of the fierciest, most bitter rivalries in all college football.
In 2002, U.S.News & World Report named Utah to its Honor Roll of College Sports: one of only twenty schools in the whole nation to receive such mention.
The men's basketball team won the
NCAA title in
1944 and the
NIT crown in
1947.
Arnie Ferrin, the only four-time All-American in Utah basketball history, played for both the 1944 and 1947 teams. He also went on to help the
Minneapolis Lakers 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 under the leadership of head coach
Rick Majerus, who with the versatile playing of guard
Andre Miller, combo forward
Hanno Möttölä and post player
Michael Doleac, took Utah to the NCAA Final Four in
1998. Then, after eliminating
North Carolina to advance to the final round, Utah lost the championship game to
Kentucky, 78-69.
The women's gymnastic team, the Red Rocks, has won the National Gymnastics Championship title 9 times, beginning with an
AIAW national championship title in 1981, more than any other university. In 2006, they finished 2nd. In the years when Utah doesn't place first, they're almost always #2 or #3. The ten-time national champion Utah gymnastics team has qualified for a record 31st-consecutive national championship. Utah is the only program to qualify for all 25 NCAA Championships. The Utes won the 2006 women's gymnastics attendance title, averaging 12,747 spectators to their six regular season home meets. It marked the second-highest attendance average in Utah and NCAA gymnastics history. Utah has won twenty-two of the last twenty-five gymnastics attendance titles. This is also one of the highest attendance averages for any women's college sport in the nation.
Utah is home to ten crowned NCAA National Skiing Championship teams, 1
AIAW National Women's Skiing Championship team (1978), sixty-four individual NCAA titles, twenty-four Olympic athletes and 294 All-Americans ... a display of one of the most successful skiing programs within the college racing circuit.
In 1981 Utah won the
AIAW Division II women's cross country national championship.
Of more recent note was the 2004-2005 Utah football team. Coached by
Urban Meyer and quarterbacked by
Alex Smith, the Utes went 11-0 during the regular season and became the first team from a non-BCS (
Bowl Championship Series) league to go to a BCS Bowl Game, finishing the regular season #6 in the BCS rankings. The Utes defeated
Pittsburgh 35 - 7 in the
Fiesta Bowl on January 1, 2005 and ended its perfect 12-0 season ranked fourth in AP polling. Since the creation of the BCS and the National Championship Game, they're one of a small number of undefeated teams to be denied a chance to play for the title, joining
Tulane in 1998 and
Marshall in 1999, as well as
Auburn and
Boise State in 2004-05.
In
2005, Utah became the first school to produce #1 overall draft picks in both the
NFL and
NBA Drafts for the same year. Alex Smith was picked first overall by the
San Francisco 49ers in April, 2005, followed by
Andrew Bogut, who was taken first overall in the
2005 NBA Draft by the
Milwaukee Bucks.
Broadcasting
The University of Utah has several public broadcasting affiliations. They include:
- KUED, TV Channel 7 (digital 42), the state's main PBS member station and award-winning producer of local documentaries;
- KUER-FM, FM 90.1, an NPR member station.
- KUEN, TV Channel 9 (digital 36), a resource for teachers and lifelong learners is operated from the U. campus by the Utah Education Network, a statewide consortium of public and higher education.
- K-UTE, Student campus radio, 1620 AM and on cable channel 66 (on campus).
The Daily Utah Chronicle
The
Daily Utah Chronicle is the U's independent, student-run paper, which has published regularly since 1890. It publishes daily on school days during fall and spring semesters, and weekly during summer semester. "The Chrony" typically runs between eight and twelve pages, with longer editions for weekend game-guides. The paper is a broadsheet and usually features full-color printing on the front by arrangement to use
Newspaper Agency Corporation printing facilities, a deal brokered by
The Salt Lake Tribune and intended to inspire
journalism mentoring.
The Daily Utah Chronicle was selected as the top student newspaper in its region for 2007 by the Society of Professional Journalists.
Alumni of the Chronicle staff have gone on to work in all forms of media at all levels both regionally and nationally.
Marching band
The University of Utah Marching Band began in the 1940s as a military band that performed for university events and ceremonies. In 1948, University President A. Ray Olpin recruited Ron Gregory from Ohio State University to form a marching band fashioned after the great collegiate bands of the Midwest.
But in the turbulent '60s, support for the band dwindled and in 1969, the Associated Students for the University of Utah (ASUU) discontinued its funding.
The band was revived in 1976 after a fund raising effort under the direction of Gregg I. Hanson. Mr. Hanson served as director of bands with Rick Clary directing the marching band until 1990 when Mr. Hanson accepted the director of bands position at the
University of Arizona.
In 1991, the University of Utah recruited Dr. Barry Kopetz of the
University of Minnesota as the director of bands with his graduate assistant, Scott Hagen, serving as marching band director. Mr. Hagen became the director of bands in 2001, where he currently serves. The marching band is under the direction of Eric Peterson.
The "Pride of Utah" Marching Utes have performed at all home football and basketball games, along with home gymnastics meets. They've also performed at numerous NFL and college bowl games, including the
2004 BCS Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
Notable faculty
Maud Babcock - The first female member of the university's faculty
Jan Harold Brunvand - Emeritus Professor of English, a well-known American folklorist and urban legends researcher
Mario Capecchi - 2007 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
Henry Eyring - Renowned theoretical chemist and twenty-year dean of the graduate school
Sterling M. McMurrin - former E.E. Erickson Professor of Philosophy and U of Utah administrator, U.S. Commissioner of Education, Mormon philosopher
Notable alumni
Further Information
Get more info on 'University Of Utah'.
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