University of Utah

New Capabilities

Leads the consortium awarded the grant

The Department of Energy gave a University of Utah-led consortium $7.5 million to hunt for critical minerals in places miners usually skip. The target: rare earth elements from unconventional sources, the metals that go into electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, and missile guidance systems.

Updated 4 days ago

Rule Changes

Party to settlement

A fan who said she was racially discriminated against at a BYU-Utah basketball game will receive $15,000 from the University of Utah. The settlement, reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, is one of the few public payouts the athletic department has made over fan conduct allegations.

Updated Sep 22

Rule Changes

Uses the Utes name under a renewable memorandum of understanding

The University of Utah and the Ute Indian Tribe signed a new five-year agreement on Aug. 28, extending the school's right to use the Utes name through August 2031. The university announced the deal Sept. 11. It increases scholarships, extends eligibility to descendants of tribal members, and sends mobile health clinics to the Uintah and Ouray Reservation.

Updated Sep 19

Rule Changes

Dismissed disciplinary cases against Barnes and Beesley

A University of Utah sophomore brought a cake reading "Happy Kirkiversary" to a College Republicans table on Sept. 10 — the first anniversary of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination. A club vice president photographed her, posted it to the social platform X (formerly Twitter), and the post drew 6.3 million views, triggering doxxing and death threats on both sides.

Updated Sep 18

Money Moves

Planning workforce reduction as part of modernization

The University of Utah plans to cut hundreds of staff positions over the next year, the Salt Lake Tribune first reported Tuesday. The cuts follow operational reviews by Huron and McKinsey, national consulting firms with a track record of recommending staff reductions.

Updated Sep 15

Built World

Host of Native Ascent House

Eleven Indigenous students now live in Native Ascent House, a red-brick residential facility on the University of Utah's Officer's Circle geared to Native American students. It is the first Native-focused living-learning community in Utah and the surrounding region.

Updated Sep 6

Built World

Owner of the EPA-funded brownfield parcel

Artspace, the nonprofit that seeded Salt Lake City's Rio Grande arts scene, celebrated the reopening of its first building on September 3. The 62-unit complex at 511 West 200 South—now renamed Norbridge Court—underwent a full renovation with new interiors, a mural, and remade commercial spaces.

Updated Sep 6

Rule Changes

Host campus for licensed address

Olives Oasis, a Middle Eastern-American food truck and catering business run by two sisters originally from Iraq, is now cleared to operate at 50 N Medical Dr in Salt Lake City. The address appeared on the Salt Lake County Health Department's public food establishment list on September 1, 2026.

Updated Sep 2

Rule Changes

Conducted 2026 hair analysis study

For most of the twentieth century, Americans inhaled roughly two pounds of lead per person annually from car exhaust alone. A new University of Utah study analyzing century-old hair samples documents the scale of this unintentional mass poisoning—and the reversal that followed. Lead concentrations in human hair dropped from 100 parts per million before the 1970s to less than 1 part per million today, a 100-fold decline documented through specimens preserved in family scrapbooks.

Updated May 27