[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 1559-1561]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

  Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, today, the 28th of February, is the 150th 
anniversary of the founding of the University of Utah. We look back 
with nostalgia but also look forward with great excitement at the 
future of that particular university.
  It is a university to which I am attached both in personal life and 
by legacy. Both of my parents graduated from the University of Utah. My 
two brothers and two sisters attended the University of Utah. I 
graduated from the University of Utah. My wife attended the University 
of Utah. We are a Utah family.
  The university started on the 28th of February, 1850. For those who 
understand Utah history, they will realize that the State, at least to 
the degree it is now, began on the 24th of July, 1847. So for those who 
founded the State, to focus on the creation of the University of 
Deseret, as they then called it, so quickly after they arrived in Salt 
Lake Valley is a testimony to their vision and their determination to 
make higher education a very key part of their lives.
  At that time, there was no infrastructure in the community. There 
were barely farmhouses and farms that had been created. The first 
classes of the University of Deseret were held in private homes.
  The university has come a long way since that time. It is now 
recognized as one of the premier universities in the United States in a 
number of areas. The one that they are perhaps best known for is in 
medicine. The University of Utah is the site of the first artificial 
heart. It has been the site of other medical breakthroughs. It is 
currently the home of the Huntsman Cancer Center--a $100 million gift 
from the Huntsman family to fight cancer in the United States. The 
Huntsman family decided that the medical school at the University of 
Utah was sufficiently in the forefront that it would be the place they 
would have the Huntsman Cancer Center.
  One other interesting thing that goes back to the founding of the 
University of Deseret that I think we need to recognize with respect to 
what the University of Utah is and can do in the future is its physical 
proximity to the genealogical records that are maintained by the Church 
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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  A few months ago, I had a medical researcher come into my office in 
Salt Lake City, a man who by virtue of his credentials could have gone 
virtually anywhere in the world, to tell me how excited he was to be at 
the University of Utah.
  His specialty, an area of greatest medical concern, is dealing with 
the disease of diabetes. He went on to point out to me how diabetes 
many times is the disease that then causes other diseases. He said, 
statistically people may die from something other than diabetes but, in 
fact, it was the diabetes in the first instance that caused them to get 
whatever it was to which they were recorded as having succumbed. He 
said: The reason I am excited about being at the University of Utah is 
that the records available in the family history library of the Church 
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints make it possible for researchers 
at the University of Utah to trace the family history of people with 
this particular disease in a way no other body of data can. It is a 
unique experience to be here where you have that kind of link.
  Of course, when the University of Deseret was founded, it was founded 
with the full support and, indeed, almost sole support of the leaders 
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So it is 
appropriate even now, as the university has become a State institution, 
certainly separate from the church and any of its hierarchy, that there 
is still the kind of intellectual synergy that can come out of the 
proximity of the university and the work the church is doing in another 
area.
  The University of Utah stands as the flagship research school in my 
State and, if I may be parochial a little, perhaps for a large part of 
the West. There are many things done at the University of Utah that 
radiate beyond our State borders, not only in medicine but in other 
fields as well. We have a first-class law school to go with the medical 
school. We give Ph.D. degrees in a wide variety of subjects. The 
University of Utah is proud to have been in this business for 150 
years. I am proud, as a Utah man, to stand on the floor of the Senate 
and pay tribute to the university and to those farsighted individuals 
who founded it 150 years ago today.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, today I would like to offer congratulations 
to the University of Utah on the 150th anniversary of its founding.
  In 1850, just three years after the pioneers reached the dusty and 
desolate Salt Lake Valley, the General Assembly of the State of Deseret 
passed an ordinance to create the first university to be established 
west of the Missouri. Despite some stressful financial times, it 
persevered; and, in 1892, the territorial legislature changed its name 
to the University of Utah.
  The Utah pioneers began an institution that would serve as the 
intellectual and cultural cornerstone for the state of Utah and for the 
West. With its humble beginnings in a private home, the University of 
Utah has become the embodiment of the pioneering spirit that conceived 
it.
  The University of Utah--the ``U''--has led the way in a number of 
areas, including research, teaching, and public service.
  Academically, the University makes significant contributions in the 
West and in the nation. The Honors Program is the third oldest in the 
nation. The graduate school of Architecture has the Intermountain 
West's only program in historical preservation. The College of 
Humanities has the Intermountain West's only joint master of public 
administration in Middle East studies.
  Additionally, the University of Utah's work in health sciences, where 
the first artificial heart was developed, in supercomputing and 
computer modeling, and in cosmic-ray research, where the U is home to 
the one-of-a-kind ``Fly's Eye,'' has contributed significantly to the 
University's growing reputation both nationally and internationally. 
The University of Utah currently ranks in the first tier of American 
research institutions according to the Carnegie Foundation.
  Henry Eyring, a world renowned chemist and professor noted in 1946 
that, ``the stature of the university would rise through advancements 
of science and technology.'' And so it has. The faculty and students 
representing all 50 states and 102 foreign countries have built the U 
into a premier research institution.
  A pioneer in computer graphics, David Evans, after studying 
electrical engineering at the University, became chair in 1965 of the 
fledgling department of computer science. He oversaw the education of 
individuals who went on to groundbreaking careers in computing 
including, Alan Kay, vice president of Disney Imagineering; Jim Clark, 
founder of Silicon Graphics, Inc.; John Warnock, co-founder of Adobe 
Systems; and, Edwin Catmull: co-founder of Pixar.
  The medical school, started in 1905, has made great strides in 
medicine that are recognized throughout the world. Dr. Philip Price, 
former chair of the Department of Surgery said, ``The essence of the 
pioneer spirit as I see it, is the courage to tackle an un-ideal 
situation, trying hard with faith and intelligence to build something 
ideal out of it. That's what I would like to see done, and have a part 
in.''
  In 1946, the U.S. Public Health Service awarded its first grant to a 
medical school so that the University of Utah could study muscular 
dystrophy. The receipt of this first grant for medical research set the 
stage for the University's subsequent success in medical research.
  Dr. Willem Kolff began the division of Artificial Organs and the 
Institute for Biomedical Engineering in 1967. His pioneering work on 
both an artificial kidney and heart led to a number of medical 
breakthroughs, including the world's first artificial heart 
transplanted into Dr. Barney Clark in 1982.
  That was a great thrill for all of us from Utah.
  More recently, there have been a number of major leaps taken in 
genetic research at the Eccles Institute of Human Genetics. Scientists 
have found dozens of genes for human diseases including cancer, heart 
disease, neurological conditions, birth defects, and blindness. And, 
the Huntsman Cancer Institute is becoming an international leader in 
the discovery of new ways to diagnose, treat, cure, and prevent cancer.
  The University of Utah has also played a central role in the 
development of Utah in the arts and athletics. In 1948, the Utah 
Symphony was invited to make its home on the campus, establishing the 
University as home for various cultural events for the public. For the 
past decade, the Modern Dance Department ranks among the top three in 
North America along with the ballet program, which is the nation's 
first college ballet degree program.
  The University of Utah's skiing and women's gymnastics programs have 
each won ten national titles, and the Runnin' Utes basketball team made 
it to the NCAA national championship finals in 1998. The football team 
has made numerous bowl game appearances.
  Of course, to me, as an alumnus of BYU, the best thing to come out of 
the University of Utah was in 1875 when the University's Provo branch 
was split off to become the Brigham Young Academy and eventually 
Brigham Young University. It would be impossible for any Utahn not to 
at least mention this historic rivalry.
  It is difficult to do justice to the myriad of accomplishments of the 
University of Utah's faculty and alumni in this brief statement.
  Suffice it to say that, after 150 years, the University of Utah still 
draws on the courageous and adventurous spirit of Utah's pioneers. The 
achievements and ideas of the faculty and graduates have multiplied 
across the geographic and academic frontiers of our country. The 
University's proud heritage and traditions have established its values 
and lighted the path; but, without a doubt, the trail is still being 
blazed.
  I might add that as a young boy living in Pittsburgh, PA, wanting to 
support anything from Utah, I can remember the great University of Utah 
championship basketball teams with Arnie Ferrin, Vern Gardner, Wat 
Misaka, and others who were terrific athletes who made the University 
of Utah a household name in basketball during those

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years. Of course, they have been an inspiration to me ever since. In 
fact, it has been a thrill for me to meet some of those people, and 
especially become a friend of the great Arnie Ferrin who was the 
University of Utah's great All American during those years and later 
played professional basketball as well.
  Again, my congratulations to the students, alumni, faculty, and 
administrators of the University of Utah on reaching this significant 
milestone. It is a great university. I support it very strongly, and I 
think everyone in Utah does as well. I am grateful to be able to make 
this statement on its behalf.
  I yield the floor.

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