The Utah Cooperation Cohort brings UVU together with the University of Utah, Utah State University, Utah Tech University, Salt Lake Community College, Snow College, Weber State University, and Southern Utah University in a partnership with Interfaith America, a national nonprofit focused on building cooperation across religious, political, and ideological lines.
The Utah Cooperation Cohort brings UVU together with the University of Utah, Utah State University, Utah Tech University, Salt Lake Community College, Snow College, Weber State University, and Southern Utah University in a partnership with Interfaith America, a national nonprofit focused on building cooperation across religious, political, and ideological lines. The Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) and the University of Utah are backing the initiative alongside campus representatives from each participating institution.
For UVU, that representative is Brian Birch, director of religious studies and the university's Campus Lead for the cohort.
"At UVU, we see students from very different backgrounds and belief systems learning side by side every day,” Birch said. “This cohort gives us a structure to be more intentional about that work, to help students practice the kind of respectful engagement across difference that will serve them long after they leave our campus."
Each participating school has made a presidential-level commitment to the work and will direct grant funding toward a campus project built around cooperation across difference. The University of Utah is matching funds contributed by each institution. Over the course of the 2026-2027 school year, the schools will also meet as a community of practice, supported by Interfaith America staff, to share what they are learning and build on each other's progress.
The projects themselves will look different from campus to campus. Interfaith America has said the initiative is meant to respond to each institution's own students, culture, and goals rather than apply a single template statewide. What ties the eight campuses together is a shared commitment to helping people build respect, form genuine relationships, and take common action across the lines that might otherwise divide them. Birch will work with campus leaders and faculty to identify activities that best enhance our commitment to student success.
Interfaith America Founder and President Eboo Patel has framed Utah as a leader in this kind of work, arguing that the skills students build through cooperation across difference matter both to employers and to a healthy, diverse democracy. Utah's Commissioner for Higher Education, Geoffrey Landward, has similarly pointed to the initiative as a reflection of how the state's colleges and universities are working together to help students engage productively in their communities.
At UVU, the cohort adds to a campus culture that already prizes practical, hands-on engagement across difference, whether that happens in a classroom, a club meeting, or a conversation between two people who see the world in very different ways. Over the coming year, watch for more updates as UVU's specific project takes shape.
