UVSC satellite site is in Guard building

OREM —Utah Valley State College officials are opening a satellite campus on the west side of I-15 in the fall that they anticipate will eventually offer enough courses for students to earn associate's degrees there.

The satellite campus in the Utah National Guard building, 987 S. Geneva Road, is the fifth location to offer classes away from the main campus, said Derek Hall, UVSC spokesman. The National Guard building is behind the Mountainlands Applied Technology Center.

"We have an agreement with the National Guard to use their space when they're not there. They're a night and weekend type (of) operation.

This was part of the agreement when they built on our land," Hall said.

It is only about a mile from the main campus. The satellite campus will accommodate students who live in apartments on the west side of the freeway, Hall said.

It also will accommodate dental hygiene students who have been taking major courses at the building, said Farah Chase-Dunn, marketing director for distance education at UVSC.

"The majority (of students) will be residents on the west side, with a small portion being dental hygiene," Chase-Dunn said.

College officials surveyed students living in the west-side apartment complexes last spring to determine whether students there would consider taking classes at the building, Hall said.

Dental hygiene students have had to shuttle between the main campus and the National Guard building to complete their majors. By offering general education courses in one building, they can save time during the day, Chase-Dunn said.

Thirteen courses will be offered in the fall, and 13 different courses will be offered in the spring, with larger class sizes.

"We're anticipating upwards of 400 plus in the fall. And in the spring, we're anticipating 600," Chase-Dunn said.

The courses will be live, broadcast on closed-circuit television through Utah Education Network, with assistants in the classroom to help students, Chase-Dunn said.

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