University of Utah

A group of 45 students were the first to compete the new Lassonde+X program during the 2020-21 academic year. Lassonde+X is a three-course program that allows any undergraduate student at the University of Utah to "entrepreneur your major" - the "X" is their major. The program is offered by the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy, in partnership with the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, at the David Eccles School of Business.

It is our great pleasure to present the 2021 Outstanding Seniors from the University of Utah College of Fine Arts. Each year, our five academic units nominate an outstanding senior for their academic achievements, artistic and scholarly accomplishments, and ongoing commitment to their craft. These graduating students continue the CFA's tradition of sending strong creative leaders out into the art world. Congratulations, we can't wait to see how and what you achieve next!

For Karrin Tennant, recipient of the 2021 College of Science Research Scholar Award, the never-ending story of environmental science has plenty of plot twists. A member of the Anderegg lab, which studies the intersection of ecosystems and climate change, Tennant has been busy working in the area of nighttime water loss in plants. The work tests a major hypothesis in the field and has the potential to greatly advance our understanding of plant physiology. The award is given annually to the College's most outstanding senior undergraduate researcher. Tennant will be honored at the College Convocation May 6th and receive a $1,000 award, a plaque commemorating this achievement, and a one-year membership in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which includes a one-year subscription to Science.

The University of Utah College of Social Work recognized the outstanding work of 16 graduating social work students with awards presented virtually at the end of the spring 2021 semester.

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, teacher candidates completed elementary and secondary licensure through the Urban Institute for Teacher Education. Graduates engaged in 12-week student teaching experiences within K-12 classrooms across the Granite and Salt Lake City School Districts. Student teaching and multiple practica, under the supervision of experienced teachers and university supervisors, positions graduates to begin their careers in education.

After over a year in hibernation, "Tartuffe," presented by the University of Utah Department of Theatre, will reach its audience on May 5, 2021. Originally scheduled to open in March of 2020, the production has been revived, re-staged and prerecorded for online streaming. Before filming could start, the university had to approve a strict safety plan. "For two weeks prior to the first rehearsal, our company were asked to commit to a 'work' quarantine, which continued until the last day," said Robert Scott Smith, assistant professor, director of "Tartuffe" and co-head of the U's Actor Training Program.. Other required safety measures included bi-weekly COVID testing, no live audience members and minimal production crew (all of whom remained masked and distanced throughout). Although the lack of an audience was disappointing, it allowed for more flexibility during filming; each scene could be performed and shot multiple times from multiple angles. Almost eleven and a half hours of footage is currently being edited down to the final two-hour runtime.

Eleven University of Utah graduate students were awarded the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) for 2021, the second-largest U cohort to date. The prestigious fellowship supports outstanding doctoral and research-based master's students doing research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. A total of 16 fellowship winners received their baccalaureate degrees here at the U, the largest group of winners ever who trained at the U as undergraduates.

Isaac Martin, a senior honors student majoring in mathematics and physics, has received the prestigious Churchill Scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He is one of only 17 students nationally to receive the award this year and is the sixth consecutive Churchill Scholar from the University of Utah. Martin's designation ties Harvard's six-year run of consecutive Churchill Scholars (1987-1992) and is second only to Princeton's seven-year streak (1994-2000).

Nine students from the College of Science were selected to join the student ambassador team for the 2021-2022 year. Our student ambassadors are strong leaders, excellent communicators, and well-rounded students from one of our four departments: Biology, Chemistry, Math, and Physics & Astronomy. They will work hard to recruit new students, help incoming students find their passion, and support current students through their entire undergraduate career.

Seven students from the College of Fine Arts were recently selected as Spring 2020 scholars in the University of Utah's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). UROP gives undergraduate students and faculty mentors the opportunity to work together on research or creative projects. The program provides a stipend and educational programming for students who assist with a faculty member's research or creative project or who carry out a project of their own under the supervision of a faculty member. Students may apply for UROP any semester and may be eligible for a one-semester renewal. UROP awardees are hired as temporary, part-time UROP Participants by the Office of Undergraduate Research and are paid $1,200 for 120 hours of research or creative work during the semester. These incredible students, along with their dedicated faculty mentors, are making us proud. Read about each of their projects: Alan Chavez, Music Recording the History of the University of Utah Department of Music Faculty mentor: Elizabeth Craft "My project this semester is to begin an oral history for the SoM Piano Pedagogy program. It was one of the first of its kind and has a unique influence on SLC and Utah. I will be interviewing past and present faculty and seeking information on the program's founding." Nate Francis, Art Queer Isolation Faculty mentor: Jaclyn Wright "As a photography student here on campus, I've been so honored to have the opportunity to conduct research related to imagery, identity, and loneliness and create imagery that contains my findings. I grew up in Provo, Utah, not far from the U of U campus. As a queer person, growing up in an LDS family and culture has not been an easy journey, and I know I'm not the only one who has experienced the loneliness that comes with growing up queer in Utah. My research is an exploration of Utah's landscapes, the photographic studio, and my own identity. The work features many iconic Utah landscapes and elements that are used as visual analogies for desolation, weight, and solitude, but which appear from the surface to be beautiful and other worldly. The work also includes the use of the photographic studio, which is a sort of sanctuary and place of self-creation, and my own body in relation to all of the above." Ashley Goodwin, Theatre Teaching The Not Broken Monologues Faculty mentor: Alexandra Harbold "My UROP project is called "The Not Broken Monologues", which is a performative theatre piece that I have written and am now working on producing this semester. As a member of the arts community with disabilities I have developed a passion for inclusion and advocacy, and I am a firm believer that there can be space for everyone within the arts. "The Not Broken Monologues" is a piece that embodies that idea, while telling a wide range of stories of the disabled experience and fostering a sense of community and support. With my own experiences and dozens of hours of one-on-one interviews as source material I hope to convey the message that we (people with disabilities) are not just our disabilities, and most importantly - we are not broken." Connor Johnson, Theatre Of Ronald and Edith Faculty mentor: Tim Slover "My project is full production of a play called Ronald and Edith which I wrote and workshopped at the U of U in 2020. The play is about J.R.R Tolkien and his wife Edith, and it centers around a story that Tolkien wrote in his earlier years called Beren and Luthien. The performance is going to be outdoors, hopefully with a small, socially distanced audience in the beginning of May." Matt Peterson, Art Mokume allow compatibility Faculty mentor: Paul Stout "I am working on a Japanese metalworking technique called mokume gane. The process involves taking dissimilar non-ferrous metals, stacking and firing them, and then manipulating the resulting billet through forging and gouging, into a sheet of patterned metal. If you have ever seen damascus steel, or pattern welded steel, the patterns in the metal look similar. The process itself has been around for about 400 years, so what I am working on specifically is trying out some newer alloys of silver to see how well they work in the process itself. Making mokume is rather time consuming and challenging, but I think the results are worth it." Duke Ross, Film & Media Arts "Osaru-Chan" Short Film Faculty mentor: Miriam Albert-Sobrino "Osaru-Chan follows the story of two brothers who steal a valuable family heirloom from an elderly Japanese woman, and in the process, awaken her demigod son, who exacts prompt retribution. The film explores concepts of familial relations, Americana, and colonialism, and utilizes the visual style of high contrast black and white widescreen used in many of Akira Kurosawa's early films. I thoroughly enjoy the East/West blending of cultures and film genres seen in some of Shinichiro Watanabe's work ("Cowboy Bebop," "Samurai Champloo,") and I would love to see more of that in the American cinema. Additionally, due to the rising anti-Asian sentiment in the United States following the COVID-19 pandemic and the Trump Administration, I feel as though it's essential to see more Asian people in the media. The project is currently in post-production and should have the picture locked within the next month or so." Paige Stephenson, Music Power and Patronage: A Study of Female Leaders in Early European Courts Faculty mentor: Jane Hatter "While musicology as a discipline is beginning to recognize the key role of female musicians in all eras, there is still a tendency to evaluate their significance using the same criteria used to understand the musical work of men. In Early Modern Europe, women of various social levels had significantly different modes of accessing and participating in musical activities from their male counterparts. My research project explores females as patronesses of music in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth century. I am discovering how women used their role as a music patroness to further advance their personal goals and ideals."

The University of Utah congratulates more than 9,700 students who were named to the Fall 2020 Dean's List.

The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, a top-10 ranked program at the University of Utah, awarded $330,000 in scholarships to 109 students for the 2020-21 academic year. The scholarships come with the opportunity to gain leadership skills and experience while managing many activities for aspiring entrepreneurs.

The Honors College at the University of Utah welcomes 2,321 students for the Fall 2020 semester.

Despite nationwide concerns over declining enrollment for institutions of higher education due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Utah saw its largest total enrollment in its 170-year history for the Fall 2020 Semester. It also welcomed its largest, most diverse freshman class.

The Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy at the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business welcomed the second class of founders in the new Master of Business Creation (MBC) program this fall semester for the 2020-21 academic year. The program is offered in partnership with the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute.

The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute-a top-10 ranked division of the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah-welcomed the inaugural group of Lassonde Founders for the 2020-21 academic year. Thirty-one students and two student directors were admitted into the new residential entrepreneur program for undergraduate students. They moved into Lassonde Studios in August for the Fall 2020 semester.

Three University of Utah engineering students research ways faculty can improve teaching skills amid the global pandemic

The University of Utah congratulates 8,628 graduates in first-ever virtual commencement ceremony on April 30, 2020.

The University of Utah College of Social Work recognized the outstanding work of 16 graduating social work students with awards presented virtually at the end of the spring 2020 semester.

The University of Utah congratulates more than 7,500 students who were named to the Spring 2020 Dean's List.

Well-being Elevated, a project aimed at boosting mental health well-being, will join four other teams selected by the Alliance for the American Dream to participate in the final pitch competition in September.Well-being Elevated addresses the unmet need for mental health services, especially among college students, that can lead to emotional suffering, lost earnings and problems such as homelessness, suicide and mental illness.

More than 200 University of Utah undergraduate students presented their research projects in the 2020 Undergraduate Research Symposium, held virtually April 20, 2020. Even under the difficult circumstances of a cancelled in-person event due to the COVID-19 pandemic, University of Utah undergraduate researchers and their mentors made it happen-featuring oral, poster and performance presentations via video or audio recording.

University of Utah College of Fine Arts congratulates the outstanding achievement of the graduating class of 2020!

Two University of Utah students have received highly competitive Fulbright U.S. Student Program grants from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board for the 2019-20 academic year. The flagship international educational exchange program is designed to build relationships between people in the U.S. and in other countries with the aim of solving global challenges. It is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State. At the U, the Fulbright program is directed by Howard Lehman and is sponsored by the Office for Global Engagement and the Graduate School.

Elise Scott, a political science and communication double major at the University of Utah, is a recipient of the 2020 Harry S. Truman Scholarship. She is one of 62 students from across the nation to receive the award that is the "premier graduate scholarship for aspiring public service leaders in the United States."

Three students from the University of Utah have been selected as Goldwater Scholars for the 2020-21 academic year. Congress established the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation in 1986 in honor of the former Arizona senator, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman-including 30 years as a U.S. senator. The foundation awards scholarships to college sophomores and juniors who show exceptional promise of becoming the next generation of leaders in the critical fields of natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.

A group of University of Utah art students is reacting to the COVID-19 crisis with photography. They are basing their group project on a work of classical Italian literature: "The Decameron" by Boccaccio that aptly reflects the circumstances of a pandemic. The project photographically tells the stories of this time and the students are creating a book to document what it is like to live in this pandemic crisis.

A new Associated Students of the University of Utah (ASUU) presidency has been sworn in for the 2020-21 academic year.

True Adherence, a fitness-tech startup and one of the companies in the new Master of Business Creation program at the David Eccles School of Business, won first place and a $15,000 cash prize at the University of Louisville Brown-Forman Cardinal Challenge during the final event in Louisville, Ky., on Feb. 28-29.

Seven students from the College of Fine Arts were recently selected as Spring 2020 scholars in the University of Utah's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). UROP gives undergraduate students and faculty mentors the opportunity to work together on research or creative projects. The program provides a stipend and educational programming for students who assist with a faculty member's research or creative project or who carry out a project of their own under the supervision of a faculty member. Students may apply for UROP any semester and may be eligible for a one-semester renewal. UROP awardees are hired as temporary, part-time UROP Participants by the Office of Undergraduate Research and are paid $1,200 for 120 hours of research or creative work during the semester.