A Customizable Education at UVU

Growing up in Utah, David Shelley never really felt like he fit in. But after several years and lots of experiences outside the state, he’s found a new home in Utah Valley University’s integrated studies program.

   

Growing up in Utah, David Shelley never really felt like he fit in. But after several years and lots of experiences outside the state, he’s found a new home in Utah Valley University’s integrated studies program. 

“I’m a nontraditional student, meaning I’m older than most,” Shelley says. “I’m in my 40s, and I felt like I was too old to go back to school in my early 30s. This program has been a way for me to integrate and ground different components of my life experience.”

Shelley dropped out of high school as a teenager and didn’t stick with college for long at the time. Pursuit of diverse interests such as Eastern philosophy, yoga, spirituality, LGBTQ+ culture, fashion, and design took him to New York City, where he spent several years “floundering with varying degrees of success and failure.”

"I’m a diverse guy who has lived a life that’s something of a master class in diversity,” Shelley says. “I have a sort of painful and magical past. My search was based on a foundation of trauma which led me to support groups, therapy, and various phases of deconstructing painful experiences and reconstructing a more meaningful existence for myself and working to help others do the same.” 

Shelley eventually returned to Utah, seeking more education but concerned about how he would fit into an environment he had left behind years ago. But UVU’s programs and culture encouraged him, especially the integrated studies program.

Rather than transferring elsewhere after a few classes, Shelley found himself “selecting and continuing to select” education at UVU.

“There’s a lot to like,” he says. “I realized there were classes and teachers far beyond what I imagined would be available locally. There are professors from out of state and country with backgrounds that make it feel not so regional. The philosophy and religious studies departments are large and diverse. Nontraditional and older students are welcome and incorporated well.”

Integrated studies especially suits Shelley because of its flexibility. He says he feels free to mix courses in business with courses in cultural and religious studies. “Friends from out of state and out of country are often blown away by the course subjects I’m able to take here — for example, themes like North Africa and philosophy of psychology — how they fit together to form a quality education.”

“The program is designed to help you see across different disciplines. You end up going between three departments: the integrated studies department and the two departments of your emphases. Structurally, you see and feel things you wouldn’t otherwise. Your final project helps you consider how to organize and apply your education.” 

Looking ahead, Shelley plans to graduate in 2023 with emphases in philosophy and leadership. And wherever his future leads him, he’ll be blending his eclectic experiences together — just like his UVU education.

"There’s an emerging field known as philosophical counseling that I have my eye on, and I understand that a lot of executive coaches and consultants have a background in psychology, so I may pursue a degree in that,” Shelley says.

“The integrated studies program is one of the best-kept secrets. It allows a profound, heavily customizable education. It’s not for everyone, but it’s an incredible opportunity for the right people.”