Fall 2026 News Roundup

For more than 22 years, the Westside Leadership Institute—a University Neighborhood Partners program—has helped Salt Lake City’s west-side residents build leadership skills and turn ideas into action, from a maternal health group to a tree-planting campaign. Now a U team led by Professor Stacy Harwood is building the program’s first alumni database.

The University Counseling Center is marking 50 years of accreditation. Last year, it provided more than 15,000 appointments to over 2,800 students, offering therapy, mindfulness programs, and visits with Volley, its certified facility dog. Next year it turns 100, placing it among the oldest such centers in the western U.S.

The National Academy of Inventors named the University of Utah to its 2025 list of the top 100 U.S. universities granted utility patents, as well as to the top 100 worldwide. Based on U.S. Patent and Trademark Office data, the honors reflect U inventions—from medical devices to energy—moving from lab to market.