UTAH, UNIVERSITY OF

public, coeducational institution of higher education in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. It is a comprehensive university with many research opportunities and academic programs. Through 18 colleges and schools it offers more than 65 undergraduate degree programs and more than 90 graduate degree programs, as well as 50 teaching majors and minors. In addition to the main campus, the university includes the Health Sciences Center. The University of Utah houses the state's Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Natural History, and Red Butte Garden and Arboretum. The campus has a replica of Salt Lake Theater, built in 1862, a significant early theatre in the American West. University libraries contain more than two million books. Notable among the school's research agencies are the Utah Supercomputing Institute, the Advanced Combustion Engineering Research Center, the Institute for Biomedical Engineering, the Utah Human Genome Center, the Hinckley Institute of Politics, and the Middle East Center. Student enrollment is approximately 27,000. The Provisional State of Deseret, a precursor of the state of Utah, established the University of Deseret in 1850. Classes began the same year, but because of insufficient funding instruction was suspended from 1851 to 1867. In 1869 the university was reorganized under the leadership of John R. Park, who added science, education, and classical studies to the curriculum; engineering courses began in 1891. In 1892 the school was renamed the University of Utah and in 1900 relocated to a new campus. The School of Mines opened in 1901 and the School of Medicine opened in 1905. Hotelier J. Willard Marriott was an alumnus. Educators Willam Christensen and Evelyn Wood taught at the university in the 1950s.