Students in front of bassis

Student Life



At Westminster, you are invited to explore and ask questions, getting to know yourself and your peers better while building community and forming long-lasting friendships. On campus, you can find or create a club, program, or organization that fits just about anything you’re looking for. Odds are, if you’re interested in or passionate about something, someone else probably is too. And, if you aren’t sure what you’re looking for, Westminster is a welcoming place for students from all backgrounds, allowing you to meet people that may help you discover something new about yourself and the world around you.

As an added benefit, campus is close to downtown Salt Lake City and is housed within the vibrant Sugar House neighborhood, which means you’ll never run out of new local places to explore or events to attend. And if professional experience is something you crave, the surrounding area offers an abundance of businesses you might explore for internships, job shadowing, and much more.

three female students taking selfie on red bridge on campus

10

ski resorts within an hour's drive

30+

clubs and organizations

10

minutes from downtown Salt Lake


The Westminster University Experience

Westminster's distinctive setting—right in between the business and industry opportunities of the city and the endless expanse of the Wasatch Mountains—provides a prosperous home for interactive, place-based learning as well as picturesque destinations for recreation, art, and entertainment.

Explore Utah

At Westminster, your learning experience is not confined to classroom walls. The campus is a gateway to endless outdoor spaces that offer opportunities for recreation and learning. Forge adventures in local canyons, ski resorts, 5 national parks, and more, and take advantage of courses like Desert Writing and Downhill Skiing and Snowboarding, or multiple courses through a field study opportunity.

Opportunity Central

In addition to outdoor adventure and learning, the opportunity promised by the leaders in the technology, healthcare, hospitality, and financial sectors found in Salt Lake City offers exciting possibilities. You will have access to internships and meaningful jobs through industries large and small in Salt Lake City and Silicon Slopes (Utah’s tech and start-up community).

Local Fun

When you’re not busy with classes or honing your skills with professional experience, you can venture on foot through the friendly Sugar House neighborhood (home to Westminster University) or hop on public transit (free for students) to explore downtown Salt Lake. The local area has plenty of places to add beautiful, eclectic, and delicious flare to your life.

 

Events and Performances

Westminster hosts a variety of social events, concerts, art exhibits, guest lectures, and theatrical performances.

Explore EVENTS

 

three students laughing on bench on campus

Student Involvement and Leadership

Your life at Westminster consists of much more than just going to class and studying in the library. Personal growth and exploring your interests are a fundamental part of your university experience. Bring your curiosity to campus—pick up a new hobbies, develop new skills, and serve as a champion for the causes you care about.

Westminster strives to encourage equity, wellness, and leadership in the community. Your experience should be the most enriching one possible. The learning and development that take place outside of the classroom is are just as important as what takes place inside. Take time to get involved in the many student-focused organizations on campus—immerse yourself in the creative, spontaneous community.



Engagement Opportunities

Bike Collective

The Bike Collective grew out of a desire from Westminster students to minimize campus traffic and reduce their carbon emissions. Expert mechanics can teach you how to maintain your bike or help you rent a bike for free.

Center for Financial Wellness

The Center for Financial Wellness works to improve the community’s financial well-being through a variety of programs that students can get involved with.

Center for Veteran and Military Services

The Center for Veteran & Military Services provides support to veteran students and their dependents as well as Reserve Officer Training Corps students. Westminster also has the Westminster Military Association, an organization dedicated to providing support and camaraderie to all students, faculty, and staff who have served or will serve in the United States military.

Community Impact Scholars

The Community Impact Scholars program features experiential learning opportunities that help students engage with civic engagement and social and environmental justice issues while developing leadership skills. This program is a collaboration between the Dumke Center for Civic Engagement, the Environmental Center, the Gore Giovale Center for Innovative Leadership, and Student Engagement and Belonging.

CPR and First Aid Courses

The Fitness, Wellness, and Recreation Department offers a variety of American Red Cross CPR and First Aid courses to best meet your needs, whether it be for employment requirements, personal knowledge, or to fulfill certain degree requirements/prerequisites.

Dumke Center for Civic Engagement

The Dumke Center for Civic Engagement enhances your education through volunteering, service programs, community-engaged learning, and other activities. The center hosts civic and political engagement events throughout the academic year and also provides funding resources to students to create projects and initiatives.

Environmental Center

The Environmental Center promotes environmental awareness and leadership on campus and offers educational events and services that promote sustainable living. The center also provides support for students who need assistance designing, implementing, and funding environmental projects.

Gore Giovale Center for Innovative Leadership

The Gore Giovale Center for Innovative Leadership connects students with community and organizational leaders to offer hands-on learning opportunities and foster meaningful conversations about leadership. The center is dedicated to ensuring students can move forward confidently in their lives and careers, lead from any place, and make a positive difference in the world.

Great Salt Lake Institute Student Research

The Great Salt Lake Institute welcomes your participation in its study of the Great Salt Lake. Whether you're a scientist, a poet, a performance artist, they are interested in helping you make connections to enhance the study, understanding, and appreciation of the lake and its surroundings.

Office for Global Engagement

The Office for Global Engagement offers programs and services that prepare you to live in a world that is integrated, complex, and interdependent. If you’re interested in studying abroad, international internships, or Westminster’s May Term Study Experiences, the Office for Global Engagement is your destination.

Organic Garden

Westminster’s Organic Garden is a space for students to collectively grow, eat, and learn more about fresh and healthy food. The garden includes raised vegetable beds, a teaching/gathering space, a permaculture spiral, and compost tumblers. You can help plant and maintain the garden, and produce is available to the campus community.

Outdoor Program

The Outdoor Program takes full advantage of Westminster's unique environment for learning. From world-class skiing, mountain biking, and rock climbing in the local Wasatch Mountains to the red rock deserts, wild rivers, and vast wilderness areas that lie beyond, there is never a shortage of meaningful outdoor experiences.

Student Engagement and Belonging

Student Engagement and Belonging serves the community through programs and initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion on campus, providing opportunities to develop your social identities and spaces for discussion about issues of power, privilege, oppression, and social engagement. They also hosts a variety of campus events.

Undergraduate Research

Participating in an undergraduate research experience at Westminster can help you understand a subject better, but it also can help you explore connections between disciplines or gain experience that will help when it comes time to apply to graduate school or for prestigious fellowships.

 

ASW

ASW Events and Involvement Opportunities

In addition to managing campus clubs, ASW sponsors a wide range of social, cultural, and educational events each year which include dances, lectures, concerts, community service, and more. In addition to attending these events, you can get involved with ASW by applying for open positions in its branches.

Clubs and Organizations

Westminster has more than 40 campus clubs and organizations. From outdoor organizations like the Ski and Snowboard Club to organizations like the Entrepreneurship Club where you can bond with people who share your academic major or professional interests, there are many opportunities to explore. And, if you don’t find what you’re looking for, ASW can help you with proposing, advertising, and funding a new club or organization.

 

Residence Life

Residence Hall Association (RHA)

The Residence Hall Association acts as the voice for students living on campus. Getting involved is a great way to immerse yourself in the community and support fellow residents. Every floor in each residence hall selects a representative to the RHA council.

Residence Life

Living on campus gives you a community of people to study, hang out, and explore with and allows you to take advantage of everything on campus as well as in the surrounding Sugar House neighborhood and nearby downtown Salt Lake City.

 

Fitness, Recreation, and Athletics

Griffin Athletics

Westminster University Athletics is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and NCAA Division II. Westminster currently has 17 NCAA II sports teams and 7 non-NCAA sports teams. The men's soccer club and the spirit team (cheer and dance) are non-affiliated programs within the athletics program.

Health, Wellness, and Athletic Center

The Health, Wellness, and Athletic Center is home to the Fitness, Wellness, and Recreation department and hosts a variety of educational and exercise programs and services that can positively impact your health and well-being. From the climbing wall to group exercise, certifications, personal training, and more, the center has a lot to offer.

Intramural Sports

Westminster’s intramural program provides fun and friendly competition in a variety of individual and team sports and activities. You can join a team or apply for a paid intramural officiating position to build job skills and increase familiarity with a sport.

 

Student Publications

The Forum

The Forum is Westminster’s student news source, providing news coverage on and beyond campus, including written, podcast, and video news pieces.

ellipsis… Literature and Art Journal

ellipsis… Literature and Art Journal is a nationally and internationally recognized journal published by the students of Westminster, featuring poetry and creative writing by Westminster students and guest contributors.

The Myriad

The Myriad is an online journal that showcases the scholarly and creative works published by undergraduate Westminster University students from all academic programs.

 

three students walking around streets of Sugarehouse shopping area

“The small campus here facilitates social connections to the point where it feels like everybody knows everybody else. After you’ve been here for a semester, you’ll start seeing people you know almost every time you walk across campus.”

/ Luke Vayo (’21)


Student Services

Campus Bookstore

The Campus Bookstore is your destination for course materials and Westminster merchandise. In addition to buying items for yourself, your friends and family can even order merchandise online to show their Griffin pride alongside you. And, renting or buying new textbooks online each semester has been made super easy with the online ordering available to you.

Campus Dining

Dining services on campus are provided by Sodexo. You can catch a meal with friends in Shaw or stop by Griff’s Roost for your morning cup of coffee. Daily menus for Shaw and dining hours can be found on the Sodexo website.

Career Center

The Career Center can offer you help with networking, personal branding, interview preparation, and much more! By taking advantage of the Career Center, you’ll be well prepared for whatever career or other professional ventures you seek out once you graduate.

Counseling Center

The Counseling Center assists students in clarifying and accomplishing personal and academic goals and offers individual counseling, group counseling, support groups, referral services, and programming.

Integrated Wellness

Westminster's integrated approach to wellness empowers you to live a healthy life, develop confidence, and create your community on campus. Through prevention and intervention programs, you will learn a holistic approach to well-being that will help you discover health, happiness, purpose, and form connections on campus.

Mail Services

Campus Mail Services can receive, deliver, and hold mail and packages for students in on-campus housing. For your convenience, you can also drop off stamped letters and postage paid packages on campus to be sent out.

Purple Basket

The Purple Basket addresses the impact of hunger, nutrition, housing insecurity, and disparities in access to basic needs. Students can access free sustainable and ethically sourced foods as well as hygiene and basic household items.

Student Disability Services

Student Disability Services provides equal access in higher education to academically qualified students with physical, learning, and psychiatric disabilities and works with departments to help ensure that programs and facilities are accessible to all members of the community.

Student Employment

Westminster hires hundreds of students each year. You can put your skills and passions to work in a variety of different offices and departments on campus, including many positions which offer internship level job opportunities to gain real-world experience while you complete your studies.

Student Health Services

Student Health Services offers quick, convenient, and affordable access to medical care provided by a family nurse practitioner who can diagnose and treat common health problems. Student Health Services offers services for well and sick visits, prescriptions, and family planning as well as certain immunizations, procedures, and testing.

Tutoring Centers

Free tutoring is available for business, math, physics, computer science, and chemistry undergraduate courses through various tutoring centers. Assistance with writing is also available to all students through the Writing Center.