About Westminster

Founded in 1875 by the Presbyterian Church as the Salt Lake Collegiate Institute, Westminster moved to its present location in 1911, becoming the first accredited two-year junior college in the Intermountain West. In 1945, Westminster became a four-year liberal arts institution offering baccalaureate degrees in the arts and sciences.

Today Westminster is an independent, nondenominational, comprehensive liberal arts college. We offer more than 70 academic programs housed within our four schools: The Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business, The School of Education, The School of Nursing and Health Sciences, and The School of Arts and Sciences.

Westminster College is a private, independent college dedicated to student learning. We are a community of learners with a long and honored tradition of caring deeply about students and their education. We offer liberal arts and professional education in courses of study for undergraduate, selected graduate, and other innovative degree and non-degree programs. Students are challenged to experiment with ideas, raise questions, critically examine alternatives, and make informed decisions.

We encourage students to accept responsibility for their learning, to discover and pursue their passions, and to promote more equitable and sustainable communities. Our purposes are to prepare students to lead lives of learning, accomplishment, and service and to help them develop skills and attributes critical for success in a diverse and interdependent world.

The college is nationally recognized for its commitment to student learning and affordability. The Princeton Review ranked Westminster in the top 15 percent of all four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. and also ranked us 13th in the nation for “Quality of Life.” Westminster consistently ranks in the top tier of colleges and universities in the West and as a “best value” by U.S. News & World Report.