page_title: University of Utah
section_title: Notable programs
hierarchical_section_title: University of Utah / Academics and rankings / Notable programs
caption_attribution_description: English: S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
context_page_description: The University of Utah is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education.
  As of Fall 2019, there were 24,485 undergraduate students and 8,333 graduate students, for an enrollment total of 32,818, making it the second largest public university in the state after Utah Valley University. Graduate studies include the S.J. Quinney College of Law and the School of Medicine, Utah's first medical school.
  The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest institution of higher education. It received its current name in 1892, four years before Utah attained statehood, and moved to its current location in 1900.
  It is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". According to the National Science Foundation, the university spent $552 million on research and development in 2018, ranking it 45th in the nation.
context_section_description: Ballet
  The Department of Ballet offers the top ranked ballet and ballroom dance program in the United States and is one of the oldest and most reputable university ballet departments in the country. The Department was founded by William F. Christensen in 1951, who also founded the San Francisco Ballet and Ballet West companies.
  Biology
  The university has made unique contributions to the study of genetics due in part to long-term genealogy efforts of the LDS Church, which has allowed researchers to trace genetic disorders through several generations. The relative homogeneity of Utah's population also makes it an ideal laboratory for studies of population genetics. The university is home to the Genetic Science Learning Center, a resource which educates the public about genetics through its website.
  Computer Science
   
  The University of Utah was one of the original four nodes of ARPANET, the world's first packet-switching computer network and embryo of the current worldwide Internet. The School of Computing produced many of the early pioneers in computer science and graphics, including Turing Award winner Alan Kay, Pixar founder Ed Catmull, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, and Adobe founder John Warnock. Notable innovations of computer science faculty and alumni include the first method for representing surface textures in graphical images, the Gouraud shading model, magnetic ink printing technology, the Johnson counter logic circuit, the oldest algebraic mathematics package still in use (REDUCE), the Phong reflection model, the Phong shading method, and the rendering equation. Through the movement of Utah graduates and faculty, research at the University spread outward to laboratories like Xerox Parc, JPL, and the New York Institute of Technology. Present graphics research is focused on biomedical applications for visualization, scientific computing, and image analysis at the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute.
  Dentistry
  In March 2012, the university received unanimous approval from the board of trustees to create a new academic college, the School of Dentistry, which is the university's first new college in sixty years. The new school has received funding for a new structure and has started as a debt-free program. The new school enrolled its first students for the fall semester of 2013 and averages the same cost as the university's medical school tuition.
  Law
  The S.J. Quinney College of Law, founded in 1913, was the only law school in Utah until the 1970s.
  Medicine
  The University of Utah has the only accredited allopathic medical school in the State of Utah. The medical school has made several notable contributions to medicine, such as establishing the first Cerebrovascular Disease Unit west of the Mississippi River in 1970 and administering the world's first permanent artificial heart, the Jarvik-7, to Barney Clark in 1982.
  Pharmacology
  The University of Utah College of Pharmacy is 4th in the nation for NIH research grants. The department of Pharmacology and Toxicology within the School of Pharmacy is world-renowned for research in epilepsy treatment with their Anticonvulsant Drug Development (ADD) program.
  Political Science
  The university is host to the Neal A. Maxwell Lecture Series in Political Theory and Contemporary Politics, a forum for political theorists to share their newest theoretical work, and is home to the Hinckley Institute of Politics, which places more than 350 students every year in local, state, national, and global internships.
caption: The S.J. Quinney College of Law.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2015:09:07 14:56:09", "Image ExifOffset": "172", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "310", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5869", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5413", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2983"}