Student Success Stories
McKay Stevens
When McKay Stevens ’04 first moved to Orem he planned to attend UVU for a semester then transfer to BYU, but once he started getting involved with the behavioral science program and faculty at UVU he “absolutely loved it” and decided to stay. He has been loyal to UVU’s academia ever since. In addition to his academic involvement, Stevens is also in the music business. Two years ago, he and Joshua James, also a former UVU student, started their own record label called North Platte Records. When they released James’ first record, it hit number one on the iTunes folk charts and sold more than 20,000 album copies.
They recently signed on a new artist, RuRu, and are looking at other acts to sign and produce. “It’s been the greatest adventure I could possibly imagine,” Stevens said.
Before Stevens’ success, he was an undergraduate at UVU where he received a full-ride, four-year scholarship from the Department of Behavioral Science and was involved in various research projects.
His research projects included the UVU Health and Wellness Center with Dr. Ron Hammond, the 4th district in Provo with Dr. Cameron John and the “Expanding Your Horizons” UVU program. He also presented his work at the Conference for Applied Sociology Society in Washington D.C., LDS church headquarters, Rocky Mountain Psychological Association Conference and the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.
For his senior research project he studied various mentoring programs. From his findings, he created a mentoring program for the Department of Behavioral Science. The program provides an academic relationship between the lowerclassmen and upperclassmen to share with each other knowledge for success in college.
Stevens graduated from UVU with a 4.0 GPA and received numerous offers from graduate schools. He decided to join the Ph.D. program in applied social psychology at BYU. Stevens didn’t forget his roots at UVU though, as he continues to serve in the Department of Behavioral Science as an adjunct instructor.
In his classroom, Stevens gives back to UVU by creating the same experience that he had as a student at UVU. “I attribute all of my academic success to my professors at UVU and the small student to teacher ratio,” Stevens said.
Stevens plans to graduate with his Ph.D. in a year and will then apply to universities for a teaching job. UVU is appropriately at the top of his list. “I love the environment at UVU and the amazing people,” Stevens said. “We really do have the best school in the state.”