University of Utah President Taylor Randall announced a $1 million U Service Corps program that will complement the state’s One Utah Service Fellowship Program.

Randall announced the new program as Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson visited the U campus for a ceremonial signing of several education bills, including the bill authorizing the state’s fellowship program.

“The University of Utah is certainly committed to the community service ideals of the One Utah Fellowship Program,” Randall said. “The U also is committed to addressing tuition affordability while providing students with valuable professional experience.”

The U’s initiative will target students with demonstrated need and who haven’t earned merit-based scholarships. The internship program provides students with opportunities to perform 120 hours of service per semester, gaining valuable work experience and earning $5,000 in scholarships and wages. The initiative joins a suite of signature internship and service programs offered by the Hinckley Institute of Politics, the Bennion Center and U Career Success to support students and serve the community.

The new pilot program, which will be based at the Hinckley Institute, will launch in Fall 2024, with an initial group of 200 students throughout its first year. Morgan Lyon Cotti, associate director at the Hinckley Institute, will oversee the program.

“This ensures that the U is supporting a critical segment of our student population—helping them graduate on time, with less debt and increasing their career readiness as they serve our community,” Randall said.

With the support of state, federal and other sources, the U anticipates expanding the program over the next three years to include 1,000 students engaging in more than 120,000 service hours annually—right here in Utah.

“We’re thrilled to partner with the State and the Governor’s Office on this initiative,” Randall said. “What’s exciting about this is it allows us to attract students that care about our community, that want to serve, that want to get engaged in building what we have here in Utah, and we just want to make sure we support that and hopefully partner with our other sister institutions to roll this out statewide to all.”