The campus covers , including the Health Sciences complex,
Research Park, and Fort Douglas. It is located on the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley, close to the
Wasatch Range and approximately 2 miles east of
downtown Salt Lake City. Most courses take place on the west side of campus, known as lower campus due to its lower elevation.
Presidents Circle is a loop of buildings named after past university presidents with a courtyard in the center. Major libraries on lower campus include the
J. Willard Marriott Library and the
S.J. Quinney Law Library. at the
Presidents Circle is a center for the performing arts. Lower campus is also home to most public venues, such as the Rice–Eccles Stadium, the
Jon M. Huntsman Center, and the
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, a museum with rotating exhibitions and a permanent collection of American, European, African, and Asian art. Venues for performing arts include
Kingsbury Hall, used for touring companies and concerts, Pioneer Memorial Theatre, used by the professional
Pioneer Theatre Company, David P. Gardner Hall, used by the School of Music and for musical performances, and the Marriott Center for Dance.
Red Butte Garden, with formal gardens and natural areas, as well as the new site of the
Utah Museum of Natural History, is located on the far east side of campus. The health sciences complex, at the northeast end of campus, includes the
University of Utah Medical Center,
Primary Children's Medical Center, the
Huntsman Cancer Institute, the
Moran Eye Center, and the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library. South of the health sciences complex, several university residence halls and apartments are clustered together near Fort Douglas and the Heritage Center, which serves as a student center and cafeteria for this area. In addition, there are 1,115 university apartments for students, staff, and faculty across three apartment complexes on campus. At the southeast end of campus is Research Park, which is home to research companies including
ARUP Laboratories,
Evans & Sutherland,
Sarcos, Biofire Diagnostics, and
Myriad Genetics. Courses are also held at off-campus centers located in
St. George and
Sandy. In July 2017, the Academic Senate bestowed the designation of tobacco-free campus on the university, but rules were not enforced until 2018. The rule prohibits students and faculty from "smoking or using chewing tobacco, electronic cigarettes and all other recreational nicotine-delivery products on any property owned, leased or controlled by the University of Utah."
Student residences The University of Utah provides student housing in a 34-building housing complex on campus. The complex consists of nine housing areas: Chapel Glen, Gateway Heights, Sage Point, Officer's Circle, Benchmark Plaza, Shoreline Ridge, the Donna Garff Marriott Honors Residential Scholars Community (MHC for short), the Lassonde Studios, and Kahlert Village. The MHC is a dormitory strictly for honors students and was completed in fall 2012. Built in 2016, the Lassonde Studios is part of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and houses 400 students; the studios also feature a "creative garage" with 3D printers and spaces for startups. Kahlert Village, completed in August 2020, houses 990 first-year students.
Transportation services the university and other parts of Salt Lake City. A number of campus shuttles, running on biodiesel and used vegetable oil, The
Utah Transit Authority (UTA) runs several buses through the university area as well as the
TRAX Red Line (
light rail), which runs to
South Jordan. Riders can travel downtown, to
FrontRunner (
commuter rail), to
West Valley, to the
Salt Lake City International Airport, or to
Draper by transferring to the TRAX
Green or
Blue lines. Students and staff can use their university IDs to ride UTA buses, TRAX, and
FrontRunner. In 2012, the university unveiled a new plan for a more conducive campus for bicyclists called the "Bicycle Master Plan" which aims to transform the campus into a safer and more accessible place for cycling and to promote bicycle ridership. The plan emphasizes both campus pathways and on-street facilities that connect the core campus area with surrounding neighborhoods. The Bicycle Master Plan gives guidelines for facilities and programs that are within the University's jurisdiction. It also provides recommendations for the University to work with external entities such as UDOT, UTA, and Salt Lake City to improve bicycling conditions in locations that are important to the campus environment, but which are not under the University's direct control.
Sustainability Sustainability efforts include a permanent sustainability office, a campus
cogeneration plant, building upgrades and energy efficient building standards, behavior modification programs, purchasing local
produce for campus dining, a farmers market, and student groups, as well as a branch of the
Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective. Sustainability and transportation are also a large part of the university's campus master plan. The Sustainable Endowments Institute gave the university a "B+" in its College Sustainability Report Card 2011, with A's for
climate change and energy, food and recycling, student involvement, and transportation. The expanded recycling program launched on July 1, 2007. Since its launch, the program has continued to grow and refine its procedures to better accommodate a growing campus' needs. There are programs in place for paper, cardboard, aluminum, batteries, glass, printer cartridges, wooden pallets and plastics #1 and #2.
Renewable energy The university is ranked 8th by the
EPA for annual
green power usage among universities, with 49% of its power coming from
geothermal and
solar sources. The university houses 10 solar array systems, including a 330-kilowatt system on the rooftop of the Natural History Museum of Utah and a 262-kilowatt system at the HPER East building. The combined arrays annually produce 1,096,340 kilowatt hours, and are supported by a student fee sustainability program established in 2008. On November 1, 2019, the university entered into a renewable energy partnership with
Rocky Mountain Power and
Cyrq Energy which allows the purchase of 20 megawatts of geothermal energy for 25 years. The contract offsets half of the electricity produced by the university and reduces the university's carbon emissions by 23%. ==Organization==