Educational Profile of the Mountainland Region

Cory Stahle, Regional Economist

Several of our past blog posts have highlighted the statewide education levels of Utah; however, little has been written about the educational makeup of counties and regions. The 2014 American Community Survey (ACS), released December 2015, provides data that profiles education levels by county. This article will focus primarily on the Mountainland Region and its counties.

Understanding educational attainment for an area is important for two reasons. First, it is generally acknowledged that obtaining higher education yields increased income. This increase can then improve living standards and aid in long-term economic growth. Second, education is both a product and driver of the types of jobs available. A highlight of the educational characteristics in the Mountainland Region follows.

According to the 2014 ACS, 38 percent of individuals 25 years and older held a bachelor’s degree or higher in the region. Of the four counties included, this category was the highest in Summit County at 50 percent and the lowest in Juab County at 16 percent. Utah and Wasatch counties fell near the average with 37 and 34 percent respectively. When compared in the graphic below, all counties are above national and state averages for bachelor’s and higher except Juab. Lack of employer demand for workers with advanced education is one possible explanation for the bachelor’s degree lag in Juab County.

Long-Term Employment Projections

The long-term employment projections have been updated for the time period of 2012 to 2022. Projections are produced for the state of Utah as well as for eight sub-state areas. The areas are determined by population and job density and are not created equal. But rather, types of jobs are determined by the nature of the local area’s economy. Short-term projections for 2012 to 2014 are also provided for statewide.

The value in providing these projections is to help identify which types of jobs are most likely to be in high demand in the future. Ultimately, the long-term employment projections act as a forecasting measure by which individuals as well as organizations and agencies can plan ahead.

See the latest long-term projections produced by DWS for the Provo/Orem MSA, Salt Lake City MSA and Eastern Utah areas. (Wasatch County has been included in the Eastern Utah area and Summit County in Salt Lake City MSA)

A Story of Wage Data

The Wages and Income page has a new look to the wage data that is gathered by the Workforce Research and Analysis division. Along with visualization of the data, you can now read story points at the top of each graph, to help understand what the data is showing you along with highlighting its insights. Just click along the story points at the top of the visualization to follow the story of wages.

Orem considering pedestrian bridge over I‐15

A proposed pedestrian bridge over I-15 at Utah Valley University is now one step closer.

The Orem City Council voted this week to amend the city’s master transportation plan to include the potential development of the bridge that would connect the UVU campus on the east to the commuter rail station across the freeway to the west.

Assistant city manager Jamie Davidson noted that no formal plans have been discussed thus far, but installing a bridge would help alleviate some of the traffic congestion plaguing the area around University Parkway in Orem.

The estimated cost of an enclosed pedestrian bridge would be in the $10 million range, he said. Where the funding would come from is something the city would need to figure out if the project were to come to fruition. Deseret News

Ogden, Provo and Salt Lake City named top cities for career and family

An interactive map from Improvement Center rates the best cities to live in for 35 different categories. Some of the categories include: best holiday spirit, best for couples, best for women, low-stress, best for young professionals, most-caffeinated, most tax friendly and highest paying jobs.

Improvement Center lists Ogden at No. 5 in the category of highest median income.

Other Utah cities placed in the categories of best place to raise a family and best for business and careers. On the family list, Provo is third and Ogden is eighth. For best careers, Provo is first and Ogden sixth. Salt Lake City is also the fourth-best city for young professionals.

To view the map, visit ImprovementCenter.com

Deseret News

Utah’s iSchool Campus gets $2 million in venture capital

Park City-based iSchool Campus said it has received $2 million in venture capital from Crocker Ventures, a privately held Utah-based investment firm that funds promising early stage companies in life sciences, information technology and education.

iSchool said the investment will help it bring its education technology platform to more schools across the county.

Currently being piloted in schools in Utah and seven other states, iSchool has created a learning platform that uses iPads and other technologies to deliver curriculum to students. Salt Lake Tribune

Summit Pushes the ‘On’ Button for Digital Media

Every day, we are surrounded by electronic images, data and sounds. When you pick up your smart phone, turn on the TV or play a video game, you are using digital media. The continued growth and expansion in Utah’s digital media industry is a vital to the state’s economic future.

As part of this growing industry, leading game designers, mobile app developers, digital animators, business executives, entrepreneurs, students, and private investors will come together at the PushButton Digital Media Summit 2012 to shape Utah’s digital footprint.

Now in its third year, the PushButton Summit will be held on November 28-29 at the Rialto Studios at Jordan Commons in Sandy, Utah.

The summit is centered on encouraging new ideas and building relationships inside and outside the industry. “PushButton brings together the creative innovators of the latest technology driving the future of the digital media industry,” said T. Craig Bott President and CEO of Grow Utah Ventures. “It’s all about discovering what is happening when creativity and technology intersect.”


This premier digital media event will focus on expanding the digital media industry in Utah and shine the spotlight on local companies, organizations and educational institutions.

Steven Roy, associate vice president of economic development at Utah Valley University and USTAR regional technology outreach director said, “The PushButton Summit is a celebration of the past, present and potential future of the digital media industry in the state of Utah.”

A 2011 report on Utah’s Digital Media industry showed digital media accounts for 1,500 jobs and $415 million in revenue for the state. Forty-one percent of these jobs are in the video gaming sector. Based on this study, a strategic plan was developed to increase the number of jobs to 3000 by the year 2016, and raise the direct revenue to Utah’s economy to $800 million.

The summit will facilitate a global forum for industry experts, innovators, and technologists. Last year’s summit had over 500 attendees and organizers are hoping for just as a large of a turnout at this year’s event.
“This year will focus more heavily on showcasing Utah’s digital media superstar companies and the educational connections with the industry,” Roy said. “We are heavily targeting students, faculty, and industry professionals.”

Digital media is part of the information technology and software cluster focus for the Governors Office of Economic Development (GOED). GOED serves as a catalyst to align necessary resources and policies that contributes to successful economic clusters and is a sponsor of Push Button Summit, along with Grow Utah Ventures and Zions Bank, USTAR, Epic Games, EDC Utah and Utah System of Higher Education. Utah Policy

UVU gets $3 million grant for cybersecurity training

The cybersecurity program at Utah Valley University will be adding new classes, expanding current ones and creating more offerings for students over the next few years, thanks to a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.

UVU's program was chosen for the grant through the Utah Department of Workforce Services, which took applications from colleges from throughout the state and then made recommendations on who should receive the money.

The National Security Agency is building a state-of-the-art facility at Camp Williams, which should be completed by next September, meaning jobs for those with cybersecurity training will be plentiful in the coming years.

Keith Mulbery, chairman of the Information Systems & Technology Department, said UVU's cybersecurity program has many entry and exit points, making it ideal for those looking to get training quickly or to advance in their career field. Daily Herald

Construction on Museum of Natural Curiosity starts with a bang

Fireworks kicked off the official construction phase of the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point. Gov. Gary Herbert, members of state government, museum donors and Alan and Karen Ashton joined nearly 150 guests to mark the milestone.

The estimated $27-million museum will be housed in a 45,000-square-foot building and will feature 150 exhibits where families can explore and discover arts, sciences, history and culture. The overall goal is to make educational topics more fun for kids.

Natural Curiosity will also boast a rainforest and five acres for the Children's Discovery Park.

Plans for the museum have been in the works for about seven years, and it's expected to open its doors to the public in the spring of 2014. An estimated $3.6 million is still needed for the museum's completion. KSL

Aim of new state program is to create "smart schools"

For years, teachers have handed out word-search worksheets to kids.

Students hand them in, teachers correct them one-by-one and return the assignments to children days later, when errors can finally be reviewed.

But in Leann Moody’s class for struggling readers at Dixon Middle School in Provo, students perform word searches on iPads. They race against a timer, flicking their fingers to choose letters and earn points. When they make spelling errors, the app on their iPad immediately tells them so, then urges them to try again.

Dixon has more than 70 iPads, but the school is about to get hundreds more — one for each student — as part of a new state program. Dixon is one of three Utah schools that have been selected to receive $3 million worth of technology, training and support to become a "smart school" over the next three years. North Sevier High and Gunnison Valley Elementary will also get iPads for each student, along with more desktop computers, a technology infrastructure, audio systems, teacher training, Apple TVs and high-definition TVs for classrooms.

The schools were chosen from among 49 statewide that applied for the technology as part of a program passed into law earlier this year. Salt Lake Tribune

Five Utah School Districts to Apply for Millions in Federal Cash

At least five Utah school districts plan to vie for millions in federal cash as part of the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top District program.

The Granite, Ogden and Provo school districts plan to seek $20 million to $30 million each; the Morgan County School District will likely apply for $5 million to $10 million; and the Washington County School District plans to apply for $30 million to $40 million, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

The five districts are among 893 nationwide that have submitted letters saying they intend to apply for a chunk of nearly $400 million meant to support reforms aimed at personalizing learning, closing achievement gaps and preparing kids for college and careers.

The department has previously held Race to the Top competitions for states as well. Utah, as a state, applied for a $175 million Race to the Top grant in 2010 but did not win one. Salt Lake Tribune

Provo named best in country for business and jobs

The nation's business and jobs mecca is located in Utah County, according to one of the country's top business publications.

This week, Forbes released its 14th annual "Best Place for Business and Careers," listing Provo ahead of Raleigh, N.C., and Fort Collins, Colo. Last year’s top city, Raleigh, N.C., dipped to No. 2 as living costs climbed to 5 percent above the national average.

Also cracking the top 10 was Ogden at No. 6, with Salt Lake City coming in at No. 24 on the list of the top metro areas nationwide.

Provo's $16 billion economy was bolstered by Brigham Young University — the third-largest private college by enrollment in the nation. In 2010, the school ranked behind only the University of Utah and MIT in the number of start-up companies produced through university research.

Forbes said Provo also enjoyed the third best job growth in the country last year at 3 percent, as well as the lowest violent crime rate in the U.S. The city also had the tenth lowest overall crime rate nationally, with a population that has doubled in the past 20 years. Deseret News

Utah Valley University childcare center receives $1 million donation

A year and a half ago, Kellie Jeffrey was a single mom with an associate’s degree and a desire to finish her education. But she needed affordable child care for 18-month-old Philip while she took a full load of 12 credits a semester.

After looking at a number of Utah colleges, she found what she was looking for at Utah Valley University in Orem. The school’s 11-year-old Wee Care Center "sealed the deal for me," she said.

That opportunity for affordable child care will expand to many more UVU students, thanks to a $1 million gift from Barbara Barrington Jones that will substantially enlarge the Wee Care Center.

In making the announcement Wednesday, UVU President Matthew S. Holland said one of his top priorities this year is helping women finish their degrees: In Utah, women’s postsecondary participation rate lags significantly behind the national average. Salt Lake Tribune

Sallie Mae Bank Awards $90,000 in Utah Scholarships to Future Engineers, Nurses, Respiratory Therapists and Teachers

Sallie Mae, the nation's No. 1 financial services company specializing in education, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Sallie Mae Bank, has awarded a total of $90,000 in scholarships, the largest award amount in its six-year history. The 21 undergraduate recipients are pursing engineering, nursing, respiratory therapy or teaching programs at a higher education institution in six Utah counties.

Since the scholarship program began in 2006, Sallie Mae Bank has awarded nearly $450,000 in scholarship assistance to students attending colleges in Cache, Davis, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah and Weber counties. Recipients were required to submit a one-page essay detailing their educational goals. MarketWatch

Computer Engineering degree comes to UVU

Recently approved on May 18, 2012, by the Utah State Board of Regents, the UVU College of Technology and Computing worked for seven years to obtain the degree name change to a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering. Previously, UVU only offered a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with an emphasis in Computer Engineering.

“I think right now, this is a major turn for the Board of Regents to let computer engineering come here to UVU,” said Kirk Love, associate professor and department chair of UVU Computer and Networking Sciences. “This is the first time the Board of Regents has allowed, without an act of legislation, another institution to have the degree ‘computer engineering,’ aside from Utah State University and the University of Utah. Those are good schools, they produce good students, but the demand is more general.”

According to the Utah Occupational Projections 2008-2018 report by the Utah Department of Workforce Services, 250 annual openings are projected in Utah for jobs in the computer engineering industry, telling of the current high-market demand and in the years ahead. UVU Review

Covey Center to showcase works by artists across Utah

From Washington County to Cache Valley, Utah is filled with accomplished artists who reside in
many different portions of the state.

And luckily for Utah Valley residents, many of the drawings, paintings and bronze pieces created
by these artists will go on display Friday morning at the Covey Center for the Arts in downtown
Provo. More specifically, the art center, with the support of Provo city, is holding its First
Annual Statewide Summer Arts Showcase in an attempt to congregate some of Utah's best
artwork into one distinct location.

The juried event, which will run until the end of July, received 110 entries from many different
artists -- 57 of which were chosen by a committee to be shown in the exhibition. While eight of
these pieces are of the 3D variety, the majority of those that made the cut were 2D pieces. Daily Herald

UVU adds bachelor's degree in computer engineering

The towers of Utah tech companies aspired above the morning mist Friday as Utah Valley University announced a new program to help them hire local talent.

According to UVU spokesman Brad Plothow, the university's board of regents approved a new bachelor of science degree in computer engineering. The program goes into effect in the fall and is designed to serve the needs of the state's growing technology industry.

UVU previously offered an emphasis in computer engineering as part of its computer science program. But according to Ernest Carey, dean of the College of Technology and Computing, that emphasis still left some graduates at a disadvantage because some employers only want people who have computer engineering on their degrees.

Carey estimated that the program has 105 students who will now be able to graduate as computer engineers. And because the program already existed as an emphasis, developing it into a dedicated bachelor's degree won't require additional facilities, equipment or faculty. Daily Herald

Utah scores high for quality school access, economic integration

Provo has the fourth lowest levels of economic segregation in the U.S., which translates into smaller gaps in elementary school test scores between low- and high-income students, according to a study from the Brookings Institute Metropolitan Policy Program, an organization working to provide economic and demographic research on metropolitan areas.

Salt Lake and Ogden-Clearfield are also among the 10 U.S. metropolitan areas where housing costs near high-scoring schools is not much different than property near low-scoring ones, which contributes to low elementary test-score gaps, according to the study.

Housing in the Provo-Orem area is 1.4 times more expensive near high-performing schools rather than low-performing alternatives compared to the national average of 2.2 times more. That means a low-income family in Provo would have to pay $4,921 more to move closer to a high-scoring school.

This low gap has resulted in only a 14.1 percentile point spread in state-mandated test scores between low-income, which is defined as those who qualify for reduced lunch, and middle/high-income students. That’s lower than the national average of 26 percentage points between low income and high-income students.

The Provo-Orem metro area had the lowest housing-cost gap in the state, and the third lowest in the country, according to the Brookings report. Deseret News

School for autistic children getting a new building

Autism is a group of developmental disabilities that affect how children perceive the world. Autism impacts each person differently, but common symptoms include significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. Today, it is estimated that nationally one in every 77 children will be diagnosed with autism. However, in Utah the rate is one in 47 children.

With that many children in Utah needing focused instruction, Sondra Hurst (the mother of two autistic children) and her family got to work. In seven short years, they've outgrown their space.Since opening its doors, Clear Horizons Academy has more than quadrupled in size. It has a growing waiting list, leaving children unable to access the specialized services that could benefit them the most.

Brent Wood, Hurst's father and president of the Hurst-Wood Education Foundation, said they started a $6.54 million project and have been working on building a new school on family property sold to the foundation at 1875 S. Geneva Road.

"The building has unique features including classrooms that have their own observations rooms, quiet rooms, a sensory room with occupational therapists. It has a life skills room that teaches students self-care," director of development Christopher Lindsay said. "It's set up like a home, where they can even learn to make beds, set the table. It helps them acquire skills to become independent adults." Daily Herald

Why Does Utah Thrive?

The Utah state symbol is not just displayed in front of the capitol building in Salt Lake City, it is also embodied in the industry that exists in this state.

But another beehive of activity are the labs at the University of Utah. These aren't just college students preparing some abstract academic exercise. They're inventing biomechanical medical products the university plans to patent and spin off into Utah-based companies.

"We've averaged over 20 a year for the past six years. We've had over 120 since I came in in 2005," said Jack Brittain with Utah Technology Venture Development.

It's Brittain's job to develop Utah's tech industry. South of Salt Lake City in the cities of Provo and Orem, entire technology business parks have recently opened. Paying for all the university professors training a high-tech workforce is a program called USTAR.

"If you look at what's happened around the country, many states have looked to their universities to do that. But what they've tended to do is build buildings. Building buildings is fine and we have a couple of buildings in our USTAR program, but unless you have the money to recruit the people to work in those buildings, it will never be successful," said University of Utah President Dr. Lorris Betz. KLAS-TV Las Vegas