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The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, 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 It is one of ten institutions that make up the Utah System of Higher Education.

The university offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and more than 90 graduate degree programs. Graduate studies include the S.J. Quinney College of Law and the School of Medicine, Utah's only medical school. As of 2010, there are 23,371 undergraduate students and 7,448 graduate students, for an enrollment total of 30,819; with 84% coming from Utah and 6% coming from foreign countries. Just over 10% of students live on campus.

The university was established on February 28, 1850, as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, and Orson Spencer was appointed as the first chancellor of the university. Early classes were held in private homes or wherever space could be found. The university closed in 1853 due to lack of funds and lack of feeder schools.

Following years of intermittent classes in the Salt Lake City Council House, the university began to be reestablished 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 on the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley, where the university moved permanently in 1900. Additional Fort Douglas 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.

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

During the 2002 Winter Olympics, the university hosted the Olympic Village as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. Prior to the events, the university received a facelift that included extensive renovations to the Rice–Eccles Stadium, a light rail track leading to downtown Salt Lake City, a new student center known as the Heritage Center, an array of new student housing, and a 134-room campus hotel and conference center.

Campus takes up 1,534 acres, including the Health Sciences complex, Research Park, and Fort Douglas. It is located on the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley, close to the Wasatch Range 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 is the A. Ray Olpin University Union, and campus fitness centers include the Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Complex (HPER) and the Nielsen Fieldhouse.

Kingsbury Hall is a center for the performing arts

Lower campus is also home to most public venues, such as the Rice–Eccles Stadium, the Jon M. Huntsman Center, the Utah Museum of Natural History, 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, with formal gardens and natural areas, is located on the far east side of campus.

The health sciences complex and UTA TRAX

The health sciences complex, at the northeast end of campus, includes the University of Utah Medical Center, Primary Children's Medical Center, the Huntsman Cancer Institute, the Moran Eye Center, and the Spencer Eccles Health Sciences Library. South of the health sciences complex, several university residence halls and apartments are clustered together near Fort Douglas 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 Research Park, which is home to research companies including ARUP Laboratories, Evans & Sutherland, Sarcos, Idaho Technology, and Myriad Genetics.

Courses are also held at off-campus centers located in Bountiful, Murray, Park City, downtown Salt Lake City, and Sandy.

The university offers 72 undergraduate majors, more than 70 minors and certificates, more than 40 teaching majors and minors, and 95 major fields of study at the graduate level. Students at the undergraduate level can also create an individualized major under the direction of the Bachelor of University Studies program and the supervision of a tenure-track faculty member. In late 2009 the University announced that it would be adding a Masters in Real Estate program to their offerings. The university has three semesters a year: spring, summer, and fall. Tuition and fees for 2008–2009 were US$2,226 for Utah residents and $6,954 for non-residents per 12-credit-hour semester.

The university is classified as a research university with very high research activity by the Carnegie Foundation, with research and training awards for 2007–2008 amounting to US$298,044,997. The university's research expenditures were the 67th highest in the nation in the Center for Measuring University Performance's 2008 report. Additionally, the university was the 58th highest for federal research expenditures, 52nd for National Academy of Sciences membership, 50th for faculty awards, 51st for doctorates awarded, and 42nd for postdoctoral appointees. For technology transfer, the university was responsible for the 2nd highest number of startups in both 2006 and 2007, just behind MIT.

A large portion of university students live off-campus, as the university is located in a large metropolitan area and has beds for less than 10% of its undergraduate population in residence halls and single student apartments. 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 student activity center.

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 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 LDS Church members at the university, there is an LDS Institute of Religion building directly on campus, as well as several LDS student groups and 46 campus wards. Approximately 650 students participate in fraternities and sororities at the university, primarily located on "Greek Row" just off campus. The University of Utah has a dry campus, meaning that alcohol is banned on campus.

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