"This is going to provide opportunities for young people to graduate with a university diploma from a great school that will continue to grow and is going to fulfill the needs for young people all over the state," said Stephen Clark, who called SB70 a "momentous and historic bill."

Sederburg said the real work now begins at UVSC to become a university. About $1.1 million of the $8 million state investment would go towards new graduate degrees, with the remainder strengthening current undergraduate offerings, he said. The school also needs to pare down its reliance on adjunct faculty, increase advisers and lessen the teaching load of full-time faculty.

The campus will celebrate its new status when Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. visits March 19 to ceremoniously sign the bill, college spokeswoman Megan Laurie said.

On campus Tuesday, students voiced support for the school's new status.

"I think it'll open opportunities for people who want to stay local but don't want to go to BYU," said Valeria Garcia, a sophomore studying community health. "They (now) have to travel to the U."

The word "university" will "look better on my transcript," said Blaine Awerkamp, a sophomore studying health.

Nancy Rushforth, a professor of humanities and integrated studies, hopes the $8 million will be used to hire more full-time faculty.

"We were concerned about getting the status without the funding," Rushforth said. "That will put us in the position of getting a task without the possibility of achieving it."

UVSC's budget director Linda Makin said the goal with the $8 million is to reduce the number of adjunct faculty from 50 percent to 46 percent.

"To do that we'll be hiring about 60 new salaried faculty," Makin said.

Surveys have shown that many Utahns do not know UVSC offers bachelor's degrees. The word "university" attached to the name will reduce such ambiguity, said Brian Whaley, an English and literature professor.

"I think it's an exciting moment to be part of this place as it's in transformation," Whaley said.

---

E-mail: estewart@desnews.com; lhancock@desnews.com