The University of Utah (referred to locally as 'The U' or 'the U of U'), located in Salt Lake City, is the flagship public research university in the state of Utah, and one of 10 institutions that make up the Utah System of Higher Education. As of Fall Semester, 2007, the university currently enrolls 21,421 undergraduate and 6,604 graduate students and has 1,419 regular faculty members.
The state-owned University is referred to colloquially as "the U." The university has a ferocious athletic and (some might say) cultural rivalry with its neighbor to the south, Brigham Young University (aka "the Y"), which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (members of which are commonly known as Mormons).
Of the more than 3,500 colleges and universities in the United States, the University of Utah is one of only 88 which are classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as Research I universities — those which offer a full range of undergraduate programs, are committed to graduate education, and give research high priority.
