On a hot June day in West Valley City, Utah, Liliana Martinez BS’14 BS’14 MPH’19 stood at a podium, visibly emotional before the crowd gathered at a ceremonial groundbreaking for a new University of Utah hospital. A health partnership manager with University Neighborhood Partners, Martinez is working closely with fellow residents and community advocates to ensure the Eccles Health Campus and Eccles Hospital addresses the community’s most pressing needs. To her, this is more than just another construction project.
“I see it as an investment for the future,” she said. “This facility is the beginning of new partnerships, economic opportunities, and opportunities for people from our community to grow their skills and knowledge.”
Martinez’s words capture the vision behind Impact 2030, the university’s five-year strategic plan announced this spring. The plan reimagines what a university can be—not just a place that confers degrees or provides patient care, but one that creates lasting, meaningful change. At the U, “societal impact” means just that: measurable progress in the university’s priority areas, from individual student outcomes to statewide economic mobility to breakthrough research that changes lives.
It’s an ambitious vision—especially at a time when the value of higher education is being questioned more loudly than ever. Across the country, public confidence in higher education is faltering, tuition costs are under scrutiny, and universities face increasing pressure from shrinking budgets and shifting expectations. But where other institutions see a time for caution, U leaders see opportunity.
“This is a moment of reinvention, for us, and for universities in general,” President Taylor Randall HBA’90 told university leaders at a meeting to discuss the strategic planning process. “The ones that respond to external forces quicker, the ones that match and meet the needs of their community and also the national audience, are the ones that are going to lead.”
U leaders say the strategy—developed in partnership with more than 10,000 campus and community stakeholders—represents the university’s commitment to improve the life of every Utahn and to advance a new model for how higher education can positively impact society. Impact 2030 crystallizes concepts Randall has championed since his inauguration: inspiring students and supporting their success, growing research and innovation efforts, and serving communities in Utah and beyond. The plan distills those areas into three pillars, bringing together existing initiatives and introducing new ones, and accompanies a physical development framework that will usher campus into the future.
Despite the uncertainty facing higher education, leaders say the U is well equipped to keep climbing toward its goal of becoming a top 10 public institution with unsurpassed societal impact.
“There’s momentum behind the University of Utah,” says Chief Strategy Officer Brett Graham BS’96 MPA’01. “The headwinds are going to impact us less than others because we’re focused, we have clear strength of purpose, and we’re aligning our efforts across the entire university.”
Mileposts
- Enroll 40,000 students
- Improve rate of returning students
- Reach 80% six-year graduation rate
- See 90% of graduates launch careers, grad school, or military service within six months
- Improve students’ “thriving rate” (their belief in their ability to succeed)
U student Maya Bourland started her academic journey in mechanical engineering before recognizing it wasn’t the right fit. The Navigate Hub for Exploring Students pointed her to a major exploration course, where she identified her core values.
“I realized, ‘Maybe I don’t want to build other people’s designs. Maybe I want to make the designs myself.’ ”
An academic advisor helped Bourland shift to a multidisciplinary design major, highlighting which requirements she’d already fulfilled and mapping out a plan for the remaining courses. Now? “I can’t imagine doing anything else,” says the senior, who hopes to intern at Honda and design automotive products someday.
Research demonstrates that support services like academic advising play a crucial role in student success. As costs of college (and everything else) rise, so does the urgency to deliver a clear return on investment. Impact 2030 sets a goal of enrolling 40,000 students by the end of the decade, with targeted growth in areas like graduate programs to help the university boost its research output. The plan also focuses on raising retention, graduation, and job placement rates.
“Our six-year graduation rate stands at 65 percent, slightly above the national average but lower than we would like,” says Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Mitzi Montoya. “That means too many students face barriers that delay or prevent them from earning a degree. Our responsibility is to identify and remove those obstacles.”
That work is already underway through initiatives such as the U’s revamped Career Success Center, with more offerings to support students at every stage of their professional journey, and Navigate U, a comprehensive student success agenda that leverages student data along with staff and faculty expertise to identify gaps and anticipate barriers through preemptive, personalized support.
“We’ve been working to identify and close historic gaps in student services,” says T. Chase Hagood, vice provost for student success. “Our research indicates many students don’t know where or how to access support networks and programs. Even the best-designed resources mean nothing if students are unable to access them.”
Academic advising, for example, was previously run through individual schools and colleges, each with its own procedures. Bourland says it wasn’t always clear who her appointed advisor was. Now, under Navigate U, advising is part of a shared approach of proactive academic advising, with a user-friendly app and data-sharing platform that helps students and advisors manage advising appointments and stay on track.
Navigate U is also implementing a centralized success coaching program to improve student retention rates, especially among those most vulnerable to incompletion. The effort is already producing results. Between fall 2022 and fall 2023, retention rates improved for all coached students when compared to their non-coached peers, with the biggest impact on low-GPA (26 percent), Pell-eligible (21 percent), and first-generation students (9 percent).
Other Navigate U initiatives include a project that addresses classes with higher-than-average failure/incomplete/withdrawal rates and assessments of whether degree programs can realistically be completed in four years given current course offerings.
“The U is hitting its stride with these projects,” remarks Hagood, “and we’re seeing impact.”
TAKING CAMPUS LIFE AT THE U TO NEW HEIGHTS
Imagine finishing your last class of the day and walking to nearby shops, grabbing groceries, then meeting friends for dinner—all without leaving campus. That’s the vision behind the Campus Physical Development Framework, which guides campus planning efforts to support Impact 2030’s goals.
The framework guides the location of future facilities, shaping campus’s different areas into more defined “districts.” That includes a lively, round-the-clock student district that will help the U keep shedding its commuter-campus reputation. More housing and new retail, dining, and recreational spaces will create a “college town magic” vibe that U leaders say is vital in attracting and retaining students.
The plan also includes key investments in research and innovation infrastructure—ensuring that as the campus grows, it continues to support world-class discovery. That includes future growth at Research Park and better connections between academic, clinical, and entrepreneurial spaces.
What about parking and transportation for this growing campus? The framework maps out a more efficient and sustainable system, with strategically located parking, better shuttle routes, and enhanced bike and pedestrian paths. The improvements will coincide with expanded UTA service, including a new airport-to-Research Park TRAX line set to begin operation in 2032.
Mileposts
- Finish the Eccles Health Campus and Eccles Hospital in West Valley
- Increase mental health programs and policies
- Increase availability of research expertise and advanced cyberinfrastructure to support responsible AI research and innovation
- Engage community partners in responsible AI research and innovation
In 2028, phase 1 of the University of Utah Eccles Health Campus and Eccles Hospital in West Valley City will open its doors. The first off-campus hospital in the U’s 175-year history will expand health care access in Utah’s second-largest city, where 725,000 residents are currently served by just 386 hospital beds. That’s about one-quarter of the national hospital bed average for a community that size. Each year, more than 85,000 West Valley residents make 600,000 outpatient visits to U of U Health, collectively driving more than 12 million miles to access care.
The facility will feature 130 patient beds and 206 outpatient exam rooms, offering primary care, emergency medicine, and specialties such as heart care, orthopedics, and women’s health. But it represents far more than infrastructure expansion—it’s a model for meaningful partnership.
“We’re not building this hospital for the community, we’re building it with the community,” says Liliana Martinez, who serves on the planning committee alongside West Valley residents, leaders, and organizations. The group offers insight into community needs, such as employment and education opportunities. The project is expected to create up to 2,000 jobs and open new education and career pathways for westside residents.
“Our hope is that this hospital and health campus will become an indispensable community resource, a hub for superior health care, education, and training, and expanded economic opportunity,” says Spencer F. Eccles BS’56, chairman and CEO of the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, whose landmark $75 million gift helped launch the project.
“This new campus is exciting because it will expand access to comprehensive, top-tier health care,” adds Bob Carter, CEO of University of Utah Health. “We also see this project as key to expanding educational opportunities and helping to address our shortage of nurses, allied health professionals, and doctors.”
The West Valley initiative is just one example of how the U is climbing toward Impact 2030’s “Service to Our Community” goals. Other efforts include expanded mental health care through services like the Kem C. and Carolyn Gardner Crisis Care Center; a statewide network of extension campuses and clinics—including a comprehensive Huntsman Cancer Institute facility in Utah County; and a $100 million push to advance responsible AI research. The overarching goal: improving life for all 3.5 million Utahns.
Impact 2030 makes one thing clear: the climb must happen alongside the communities the U serves. That’s what moved Martinez at the groundbreaking—the partnership with her community and the validation that it’s worth investing in. “What you are saying in this moment,” she remarked, “is that you see the potential and drive of our young people and community leaders and you’re saying, ‘We believe in you. We want to grow with you.’ ”
Lisa Anderson BA’02 is associate editor of Utah Magazine.
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