OREM — The message is getting a massage.

Just months ago, Utah Valley State College President William Sederburg was touting the benefits for Utah County of the school having university status.

At Tuesday's "State of the College" address, Sederburg played up the benefits for the state.

"Utah needs this university," Sederburg said as he wrapped up his annual address to about 400 faculty members and students. "The population is growing dramatically. This is not an issue of Utah County. This is an issue for the entire state of Utah."

After the address Sederburg said that 2,000 of UVSC's 23,000 students are from Salt Lake County. As the population in south Salt Lake County booms, UVSC is nearby to provide students an education, he said.

"You're right, the sales pitch is more statewide," Sederburg said, adding that he is reminding members of the Utah Legislature who are not from Utah County that thousands of students commute to the Orem campus from areas they represent.

Sederburg is lobbying on Capitol Hill for SB70, a bill that would make UVSC a university and provide $10 million a year in additional funding to start graduate programs.

But Bruce Handley, chairman of the Faculty Senate at Weber State University, notes that enrollment in Utah's public colleges and universities is down, and the necessity for a "Utah Valley University," isn't immediate.

"I think it would be a really hard sell in northern Utah if money comes out of the appropriations for Weber State and Utah State universities," he said.

For the majority of the address, Sederburg argued that UVSC is prepared to become a university, based on increases to the number of bachelors' degrees offered (51), the school's cooperation with state higher education leaders in working toward university status and a new library under construction that could facilitate graduate-level research.

Sederburg is proposing masters' degrees in education, nursing education and business administration.

"Now, I hear rumors from time to time that all sorts of people are putting together master's degrees (in other disciplines)," he said as audience members laughed. "Don't send us your proposals."

Sederburg also promised "we are absolutely committed in maintaining the trades."

Just weeks ago a former UVSC president voiced concern that university status would diminish courses in trades and technology.

If UVSC receives the additional $10 million in funding, some of the money will go to hiring additional faculty to reduce the burden on current teachers.

Faculty at most community colleges teach about 30 credit hours a year. UVSC faculty loads average 27.5 credit hours a year, Sederburg said.

But faculty at Weber and Southern Utah universities average 24 credit hours a year — a number UVSC would like to match, Sederburg said, since UVSC is proposing a teaching-oriented mission similar to Weber and SUU.

"We also need to reduce the number of adjunct (faculty) to 45 percent ... We need to add 62 faculty positions and it would cost $5.4 million."

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com