June 16, 2022

Six Commitments to Our Community

We, the trustees and president of the University of Utah, affirm the role the U plays as the flagship university in our state. This statewide responsibility requires us to deliver excellence in teaching, research, patient care, and community service. It also requires us to collaborate with our sister institutions of higher learning as we help individuals and communities prosper. In our pursuit to become a top ten public university with unsurpassed societal impact, we make six commitments to Utah:

1. COMMITMENT to lead – Founded in 1850, we stand as Utah’s longest-serving, largest, and most prominent institution of higher learning. We represent Utah in the prestigious Association of American Universities and are recognized as a Tier 1 research university. We aim to become a national model of an equitable and inclusive campus where diversity thrives. We improve health and well-being with our top-ranked health system; we compete in the Pac-12 “Conference of Champions”; we contribute to the economy as the state’s largest employer; and we serve as state stewards of outstanding cultural assets. We fly Utah’s flag.

2. COMMITMENT to educate – We extol the promise of education to confer substantial individual and societal benefits and contribute to a better world. We focus on student achievement knowing that our efforts will help increase our students’ lifetime earnings, enhance their social mobility, and help them live happier, healthier, and more fulfilling lives. We serve as the state’s dental school, law school, medical school, pharmacy school, comprehensive cancer institute, and mental health institute, and confer more than half of the state’s graduate degrees. We inspire lifetime success through learning.

3. COMMITMENT to research – We produce two-thirds of the state’s public university academic research, including pathbreaking studies and critical discoveries that prolong and improve people’s lives. The co-location at the U of a comprehensive research university and an academic medical center makes the U one of fewer than 12 equivalent institutions in the country. We innovate, improve lives, and change the world.

4. COMMITMENT to serve – We embrace a statewide service mission that fosters community success. Our societal impact stretches far and wide, including neighborhood partnerships, volunteer service projects, interdisciplinary service teams, contributions to public policy, health charity care, community centers, arts and cultural experiences, and numerous institutes, centers, and programs that help Utah prosper. We embed ourselves in the social, economic, and cultural fabric of Utah and fulfill our responsibility as a model public university. We impact Utah through service.

5. COMMITMENT to patient care – We provide excellent care for approximately two million patients annually. Staffed by more than 20,000 health care professionals in five hospitals and 12 community health care centers across the state, U of U Health serves as a nationally recognized and transformative health care system and regionally as a provider of world-class care. We train the majority of the region’s physicians, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, and other health care professionals. We care for all Utahns in sickness and in health.

6. COMMITMENT to unify with sister institutions – We seek to be leaders and stewards of a unified statewide approach to educational success. We support the leadership of the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) and collaborate with sister institutions in both higher and public education to serve Utah. This unified approach maximizes the beneficial impact as each school shares its unique educational strengths for the greater good. We partner as we lead, educate, research, and serve.