Gretchen Dietrich wants everyone to feel welcome at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts   The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is working hard to meet people where they are and engage them in the wonder of art in a whole new way. Trained as an art historian and a lifelong art museum professional, Gretchen is committed to helping break down both the stigmas and barriers associated with the artworld. So it’s important to her that the U’s art museum serves the entire community—the campus, the city, and the state of Utah as a whole. “We’re working really hard…

The University of Utah is teaming with renowned designer Mehrdad Yazdani to imagine a new home for the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine. The result will change the way we see health care throughout Utah and beyond.   As long as Mehrdad Yazdani can remember, he’s had a sketchbook. Even as a child growing up in Iran, he would carry it around and draw the things he loved. In elementary school, it was soccer: sketches of his favorite teams, drawings of a goalie blocking a shot. Later he moved on to his favorite cartoon characters. But by high school…

When you exit the hospital, one story ends—and another begins. I wanted to share my experience with the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics, which I am incredibly grateful for. When I experienced a medical emergency during my pregnancy, the hospital’s exceptional care team saved my life and my baby girl, Avery’s. She was born premature and weighed only 1 lb. 9 oz. The NICU staff took fantastic care of her, and after 101 days, she was finally discharged. I am writing to let you know about U of U Hospitals and Clinics’ Here For You Fund, which allows you…

As a college athlete at Brigham Young University, Alan Day excelled as a pole-vaulter—clearing an impressive height of 16 feet, 1 inch as his personal best. After college, Alan continued to enjoy his favorite sports. Then, during an afternoon of wakeboarding, Alan tore his Achilles tendon. He had surgery to repair the injury and fully recovered. Several years later, he met the activity that would radically alter his life for the next two years. While celebrating his daughter’s birthday at a trampoline park, Alan landed awkwardly on a 45-degree trampoline and felt something tear. When the pain didn’t go away,…

Professor Abe Bakhsheshy takes a compassion-first approach to the world of business   Dr. Abe Bakhsheshy is dressed in his signature attire: a tailored suit and university red tie. All cameras are on him as he participates in an interview to discuss why he is passionate about the University of Utah. He is polished and charming. Poignant and generous. He pauses midsentence as a hint of remembrance flashes across his eyes. He takes a few breaths, clears his throat. Smiles. “That’s the difficulty when you talk from the heart,” he says. “Emotions take over.” Dr. Abe, as his students call…

Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision last Friday to uphold the First Amendment rights of a Colorado web designer to deny services to same-sex couples, we affirm that services at the University of Utah will continue as usual: with a commitment to serve everyone.

The University of Utah is monitoring three related nationwide data breaches traced back to MOVEit Transfer, a file transfer software used by third-party contractors. U Advancement records were exposed through software used by TIAA Kaspick. Human Resources benefits records may have been exposed through TIAA’s third-party vendor contract. And student records managed by the University Registrar through the National Student Clearinghouse, a software system for verifying degrees and enrollment, may also have been compromised. On June 29, a third-party vendor for University of Utah Advancement reported a data breach involving donor records. TIAA Kaspick alerted U advancement leaders about the…

The College of Nursing is eager to announce its Caregiver Scholarship— designed for students like me, Julie Bauserman. A scholarship for nursing students caught between tending to a loved one’s medical needs while trying to complete a degree program. When my husband and I got word that I was one of the six recipients, we felt immediate relief and gratitude. The scholarship money has allowed me to keep my work hours to a minimum. I’m more present in my schoolwork while spending time with my daughter, Sophia, who was born with Trisomy 18 and whose birthdays are never guaranteed. I…

You could make the case that we are living in a new Utah. The state is growing, diversifying, aging, and urbanizing, and all of those changes create a whole new set of dynamics. The University of Utah is poised to shape that future.

Explore the impact of Imagine New Heights: The Campaign for the University of Utah.

As part of its celebration on April 29th, the University of Utah premiered The Climbers, a short film projected onto the John R. Park Building in Presidents Circle.

Dean Kathryn Bond Stockton embraces the controversy—and reward—that welcoming challenges brings In 1987, Elton John had not yet publicly come out as gay. It would be another ten years before Ellen would come out. It was, as Kathryn Bond Stockton, dean of the School for Cultural and Social Transformation notes, a very different time. “Things were much more closeted,” she says. Dean Stockton, however, was unapologetically living authentically to her true self—even if doing so meant her dream of becoming an Episcopal priest would not be realized. Though she had completed a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School, Dean…

A fundraising drive to construct an on-campus baseball stadium at the University of Utah is underway following a decision Tuesday by the university’s Board of Trustees that grants contingency approval for the project. The proposed stadium would be built on Guardsman Way at the site of the current Utah Baseball practice field, and could open as early as 2025. “I’d like to thank the Trustees for their approval to move forward with this important project to support our baseball program with a stadium on our campus,” said Director of Athletics Mark Harlan. “We have incredible engagement from donors, and we…

Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah celebrated the opening of its hospital expansion, the Kathryn F. Kirk Center for Comprehensive Cancer Care and Women’s Cancers, in a dedication ceremony on Monday. Located on the north end of Huntsman Cancer Institute, the 220,000-square-foot building increases the cancer hospital’s inpatient capacity by nearly 50% and adds exam rooms, surgical suites, screening facilities and other services, allowing more patients in the Mountain West to receive world-class cancer care. “Today, as we open this wonderful expansion, we recommit to providing the world’s best in compassionate, science-based care for our patients,” said Mary Beckerle,…

Imagine New Heights: The Campaign for the University of Utah broke records for participation and funds raised.   When the University of Utah launched a capital campaign in 2014, the initial goal seemed lofty—$2 billion to be raised over eight years. No one could have anticipated the changes that lay ahead. Over the next decade, Utah’s population began to soar, new sectors of the economy heated up, and the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world. Despite those and other challenges, or perhaps in response to them, the university would meet its goals two years ahead of schedule, then go on to…

For 35 years, the Tanner Humanities Center has brought the world to the University of Utah, inviting transformational writers and humanist leaders such as Margaret Atwood, Tony Kushner, Isabel Allende and Mohamed ElBaradei to exchange ideas with our faculty, our students and our community, and to provoke us to examine ever anew the complex history of human flourishing. The humanities begin in wonder and end in understanding. We have provided a home for a generation of fellows to produce research on human creativity and resilience in times of war, famine, oppression and peace, from medieval Europe to Imperial China to…

2023 Distinguished Alumni Award As the chief academic officer for Salt Lake Community College, Clifton Gregory Sanders PhD’90 provides executive leadership, strategic planning and budget oversight for Academic Affairs programs, services and personnel. Clifton also serves as a member of the college’s President’s Executive Cabinet. Previously, he was the school’s Dean of Science Mathematics and Engineering. Clifton is also a current mentor of graduate minority students at the U. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus by the U’s Department of Chemistry in 2017, received the Arts and Letters Distinguished Service Award by the Utah Academy of Sciences in 2011, and…

2023 Distinguished Alumni Award J. Charles Rich BS’62 MD’65 served as president of both the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and American Academy of Neurological Surgeons and was vice chairman of the American Board of Neurological Surgery. He was also a neurosurgical delegate to the American Medical Association House of Delegates, and was chief medical officer of the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games before joining the Utah Sports Commission Board of Directors. Chuck was president of the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine’s Alumni Association for eight years, a member of the U Alumni Board of Directors for three…