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The Utah Valley State College community is entirely justified in feeling proud that it will officially become Utah Valley University on Tuesday. Looking back, the school's growth is a phenomenal story. It's a story both of expansion and of staying true to roots. As the special section "UVUphoria" in today's Daily Herald reveals, great opportunities -- and a few challenges -- lie ahead.
As a trade school that trained workers for industry in World War II, the school faced doubts about whether it should carry on once the war ended. It struggled on, sometimes on a shoestring basis. Yet it grew and matured along with Utah Valley. The school's evolution may seem inevitable now, but it truly has been phenomenal. A student population of 1,896 in 1960 reached 9,000 in 1991, hit 23,000 a little more than a decade later and is expected to attain 32,000 by 2018. For a long time it was somewhat looked down upon as "Trade Tech," and it only attained community college status in 1987. For it to become a university just a little more than 20 years later is amazing.
Through six name changes, UVU has focused on meeting the needs of all students who wanted to attend it. This includes a continuing dedication to vocational and technical training. There are educational institutions -- snooty ones -- that look down on such programs. But the school in Orem has always understood that the trades supply essential skills for modern industry, and offer many students good-paying and satisfying careers.
Advocates have said that the university title will be a bonus itself, adding to the school's reputation in the eyes of prospective students and potential employers. More important, the drive to upgrade UVSC to attain university status has already bolstered its resources, as shown in the hiring of more full-time professors, for example.
Its growth and development are likely to continue benefitting Utah Valley. The explosive growth of modern industries in Utah creates a tremendous need for a skilled work force, from business leaders to welders. The other side of the coin is that the burgeoning population needs additional educational opportunities. UVU is well situated to meet those needs.
It's good that the school's leaders have maintained that fine line between optimism and excess, and have recognized some limits. There are no plans to offer doctorates. And, perhaps more disappointing, UVU has no plans to field a football team.
The challenges are not insignificant. Running a university is a tough job. Expanding its mission will be tougher. Some observers note that other colleges have stumbled in making a jump in classification, taking their eye off their original mission. UVU will need new resources, such as a proposed 140,000-square-foot addition to the science building, even as the economic climate may make funding more difficult. Though the school has changed rapidly, the world is changing ever faster, and even as nimble a performer as UVU may struggle to keep up. And offering such a wide range of options, from trades to graduate programs, may also strain UVU's resources.
Having said that, there are ample grounds for optimism. The continued growth of Utah Valley will help support continued growth in education. Perhaps most of all, rapid growth and adaptation have prepared the school in Orem to keep evolving. As Val Hale, the vice president of institutional advancement said, "UVSC has reinvented itself many times." It hasn't stood still long enough to develop complacency or a fear of change.
Or, as President William Sederburg said, "I have not run into very many people here who think, 'We can't do that.' "
That could be the new UVU motto. And that attitude, as much as anything, is not only a tribute to what UVU has done, but reason for confidence in what it will become. |
