OREM — Graduates of Utah Valley State College — or any of the vocational, trade or tech schools from which the college emerged — can now order a Utah Valley University diploma.
Orders are on sale at www.uvsc.edu/alumni. The cost is $25, which includes the cost to mail the diploma.
UVSC will officially become a university July 1, which is when the new diplomas will be mailed.
UVU will be the sixth transformation of the school. In 1941 it began as Central Utah Vocational School, then became Utah Trade Technical Institute, Utah Technical College at Provo, Utah Valley Community College and finally UVSC.
Jerri Allphin, UVSC director of alumni relations, says the goal of re-issuing the diplomas is to connect with alumni and promote pride in the school. "It's a way to show you are committed to us," Allphin said.
The UVU diploma is still in the design phase. There will be a line at the bottom of the diploma stating when the student graduated and from which UVSC-related entity, she said.
"I've ordered mine," Allphin said. She graduated with the first batch of bachelor's candidates in 1995 in business management.
People who graduated earlier than 1985 are advised to attempt ordering online. If the search doesn't go through, it may mean an official will have to look up their graduation records since they may not be in the computer system.
Call the UVSC alumni relations office at 863-8179 for help ordering the diploma.
Students who are graduating from UVSC this spring can also order the UVU diplomas.
UVSC senior Travis Thompson, 24, of Alpine, majoring in English, says he definitely wants a UVU diploma to add to his UVSC one.
"People see a university as something with more credentials than a college," Thompson said. "It's status."
UVSC's commencement is planned for April 25. The graduation speaker will be announced later this month.
UVSC received the green light to become a university from the Legislature in March 2007. Regents finalized the institutional mission in December 2007.
UVSC will officially become UVU with a celebration in July.
This fall the school will welcome its first master's degree cohort in education.
E-mail: astewart@desnews.com