While our cross-town counterparts, BYU’s Cougars, have a lovely campus, we Wolverines have been graced with incredibly unique facilities. While students at Utah’s other universities study on more “traditional” grounds, that’s just … well, it’s boring. Because UVU has grown so steadily since its establishment as Central Utah Vocational School in 1941, our campus is as eclectic as our student body.
A campus with a history like ours is accompanied with a number of eccentricities. As you’re spending more time at the grounds, you may find yourself curious as to some of the more interesting things you’ll encounter. Here’s a handy guide to a few of the more fascinating things you may see around.
Q: Why does UVU have an art museum in a shopping mall? Isn’t that sort of … what’s the word … ironic?
A: UVU’s Woodbury Art Museum is indeed located on the second floor of the University Mall, just up the street from campus. Orrin and Wally Woodbury, the owners of the Woodbury Corporation and the namesakes of the museum, donated space on the second floor of what used to be JC Penney. A proposed on-campus Center for the Arts building may eventually be the home of the Woodbury, but for now, you can enjoy a cinnamon roll and a corn dog in the food court before heading upstairs to check out the museum’s expansive permanent collection and incredible rotating exhibits.
Q: People keep telling me to go to the Liberal Arts building, the Science building, the Trades building, etc., but as far as I can tell, for the most part, there’s really only one “building.” What’s the score with that?
A: Because of UVU’s expansion from a small trade school to Utah’s second-largest public university, campus itself grew from one building. While people may refer to the Liberal Arts building, the Pope Science building, Gunther Trades building, etc., you can think of these more like “wings” of the main campus building. UVU does, however, have additional buildings, including the McKay Education building on the north side of campus, the Extended Education building on the south side of campus and a complete other campus in Heber City.
Q: What’s the deal with those multi-colored pipes running across the ceiling all over campus? Does following them lead me to Candyland or something?
A: Ha ha ha, you joker. When UVU first started on its original campus, students actually worked on the maintenance of facilities, like heating, air conditioning and what have you. They kept track of which pipes served which functions through color-coding, i.e. red is heating, green is cooling, etc. When the current UVU campus was built, they kept the tradition alive.
