81% support UVSC quest

OREM — While higher education chiefs prepare to ask Utah lawmakers for an influx of cash to launch Utah Valley State College toward university status, a new poll shows the majority of Utah County residents support the Orem school's campaign to become a university.

Eighty-one percent of Utah County residents believe UVSC definitely or probably should become a university, according to a Dan Jones & Associates poll commissioned by the Deseret Morning News and KSL-TV.

Some 203 people were interviewed for the telephone poll. The error margin is plus or minus 7 percent.

The pollster also has done polling work for the college.

"We're very pleased (with the results of the poll)," UVSC President William Sederburg said. "That shows strong support for that initiative."

The Orem college, which counts 24,000 students, officially began studying university status last year when Sederburg hired an education consultant to interview state leaders and assess UVSC's strengths and weaknesses.

In September, a letter from Utah Higher Education commissioner Rich Kendell listed eight points that UVSC needed to improve upon before the school could begin to make the next step.

And in November, three higher education experts visited the campus for a more in-depth study: The report from the November visit is expected at the end of the month, Kendell said.

Kendell was not too surprised by the poll numbers. Any community surrounding a college would support an expanded mission, he said.

The Utah System of Higher Education is trying to help UVSC with the eight points for improvement. One of those points is a larger, more modern library.

Utah lawmakers this year gave UVSC $46.75 million for a Digital Learning Center, which will become the campus library. Construction is scheduled to start this summer.

Another improvement point: UVSC needs to have a lower ratio of adjunct to full-time faculty.

In addition, UVSC should be prepared to start offering graduate-level courses.

"We'll make a proposal for funding this session ... to say, 'Would you like to provide an increment toward university status?'" Kendell told the Deseret Morning News. "I wouldn't call it a down payment, as much as you are in agreement that we are on a path toward university status, and this is an installment toward that process."

Higher education chiefs have not decided on a specific dollar amount.

Sederburg believes it will cost UVSC $8.4 million to become a university.

The college needs $6.9 million to hire more full-time professors and $1.5 million to begin a graduate program, college spokeswoman Megan Laurie said.