Community Engagement

LED bulb exchange program brings sustainability to west side communities

For low-income families, paying the energy bill every month can be challenging, as energy bills can account for up to twice the percentage of income as for families with median income. Further, converting to an energy-efficient lifestyle can come with a steep up-front cost, adding another financial barrier to saving energy. But a recent pilot […]


Utah Coal Country Strike Team awards $50,000 to Carbon and Emery county school districts

The Utah Coal Country Strike Team today awarded two $25,000 grants to Carbon and Emery school districts to help fund high-quality computer and information technology courses at the high school level. These initial funds, which are tailored to align with the IT Pathways program established by the Utah Legislature, will target teacher training so graduating […]


Power to the parents

A new policy memo released this week involving University of Utah and other researchers contends that educational systems need new strategies to meaningfully engage families and communities. In the memo, “Recasting Families and Communities as Co-Designers of Education in Tumultuous Times,” the authors describe how justice-based approaches to family engagement enable parents and families, particularly […]


Utah Coal Country Strike Team’s initiative to help hard-hit rural counties moves ahead in national American Dream competition

The Utah Coal Country Strike Team’s multi-pronged proposal to boost financial prosperity in Carbon and Emery counties resonated with the Alliance for the American Dream on Tuesday, earning it one of five spots in the final pitch competition this summer. The economic vitality that has brought Utah national recognition has bypassed the two counties, where […]


U develops first dark sky studies minor in the U.S.

The W. M. Keck Foundation has awarded $250,000 to the University of Utah to establish a new undergraduate minor in dark sky studies, the first of its kind in the United States. Dark sky studies is an emerging field that explores the impacts of artificial light at night and the loss of our night skies […]


American Dream Ideas Challenge announces top three finalists

The top three ideas in the University of Utah’s American Dream Ideas Challenge aim to boost Utahns’ income by cutting transportation costs, leveraging unused storage space and revitalizing an economically depressed region of the state. The three finalists announced today are: Neighbor, an early stage tech company, allows Utahns with unused storage space to make […]


Consortium for Dark Sky Studies, International Dark-Sky Association bring global conferences to Utah

Worldwide, light pollution is growing twice as fast as Earth’s human population. In many places, artificial light at night has obliterated our view of the stars and impacted wildlife, public health, and air quality. Next week, members of two international organizations dealing with the issue of light pollution will convene in Snowbird, Utah. The state […]


Great ideas: Top 10 finalists in American Dream Ideas Challenge announced

The 10 proposals selected as finalists in the American Dream Ideas Challenge range from helping single parents save money through shared living arrangements and child care to boosting opportunities for freelance workers in the state’s rural areas. University of Utah President Ruth Watkins and Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox announced the finalists at a panel discussion […]


Documenting 75 years at Hill Air Force Base

In time for the nation’s 242nd birthday, the University of Utah’s J. Willard Marriott Library is celebrating an exciting new addition to Utah Digital Newspapers—the complete run of Hill Air Force Base’s Hilltop Times. More than 61,000 pages of the Hill Air Force Base newspapers, covering the period 1943 to 2006, have been digitized by the […]


U students to design and build affordable housing in Salt Lake City

Design+Build Salt Lake is a newly formed partnership, program and immersive experience where University of Utah School of Architecture students will develop, design and construct affordable, energy efficient residential buildings – from the first sketch to the final construction – along local neighborhoods. “Designing a building is one thing, transforming the design into a real […]