75th anniversary year brings a slew of events

 

This January marks the beginning of the 75th anniversary year of Utah Valley University, and much of the year’s events on and off campus revolve around the idea of ‘75 years of strength’.

Officially, the precise anniversary lands on the first day of class of the fall semester in 2016, leading to a large amount of events culminating in the fall semester.

“Our big, final events will be in the fall,” said Matthew Holland, “with our homecoming, UVUphoria event, and Scholarship Ball and then, finally, the unveiling of the Holdman Windows. We hope to have the other presidents of universities visiting here, the governor will be here and other figures from in the state.”

UVU has already hosted events celebrating the 75th anniversary. The first on-campus event being the Martin Luther King celebration Jan. 14th with speaker Will Haygood followed by the Engineering Fair and the unveiling of the new Veterans Success Center.

Details about the 75th anniversary were shared at the State of the University address Jan. 26 given by Matthew Holland.

Specific upcoming events include: The 75 hours of Giving campaign starting Feb. 16, the release of the UVU history book taking place in March, Homecoming and UVUphoria in Sept., the Presidents scholarship ball Oct. 8 and the Unveiling of Holdman windows in the Library Nov. 16.

Aside from the events highlighted by President Holland, the 75th year contains a variety of other events taking place each month, both on and off campus, with live dance competitions in the spring, firework shows in April, parades in the summer, groundbreakings and on-campus showings of films throughout the year.

“I think its cool we have all these activities,” said Matthew Graham, a student at UVU. “We are the biggest school in the state now. It’s good to have some pride in our school.”

These 75th year anniversary events will illustrate UVU’s diversity, growth and influence, which the university has acquired from its beginnings in 1941 as a vocational trades school, to the modern-day institution it is today.