Utah Valley University - History

History

UVU was founded in the fall of 1941, when the Utah State Vocational Office consolidated federal work program classes into one campus in Provo. At this time, the school was known as the Central Utah Vocational School.

Growth brought numerous changes to UVU over the following decades, and the school was renamed several times to reflect its changing role. In 1963, the name was changed from Central Utah Vocational School to Utah Trade Technical Institute. In 1967, the school became Utah Technical College at Provo, and was given the authority to confer associate degrees for the first time. In 1977, the institution began moving to its present location, beside the I-15 in Orem. In 1987, it became Utah Valley Community College.

In 1993 the school was named Utah Valley State College and began awarding four-year degrees. The Utah legislature approved renaming Utah Valley State College as a university in February 2007 (effective July 1, 2008), allowing it to begin offering master's degrees, although the school continues to place particular emphasis on its two- and four-year degree programs.

UVU is the largest employer in Orem, with over 1,400 full-time faculty and staff and over 3,200 part-time faculty and staff.

When it was a community college, the school had approximately 8,000 students enrolled, growing by approximately 3,000 students a year. The university had 32,670 students enrolled for the 2010 fall semester.