All students at the University of Utah have the opportunity to use a system called Merit Pages to aggregate and share accomplishments throughout their university career. The program allows the university to create personalized stories that put students’ names in the headline and shares news of their achievements with their hometown newspapers, high school, state representatives and family members. Students are also able to customize their profile pages with pictures, work experience and awards earned prior to enrolling at the U.
Erica Hill’s Merit Page
“I remember getting the email the first time I was recognized, which was for presenting at the Undergraduate Research Symposium,” said Erica Hill, a senior majoring in speech and hearing science. “I thought, ‘well this is really cool.’ I started playing around with the service a little bit more and filling out my profile, and I’ve really enjoyed it so far.”
Hill has been recognized by the U for two achievements—presenting at the Undergraduate Research Symposium and making the Spring 2020 Dean’s List. She said each time her parents received an email about her success at the U, they were beaming with pride.
“They were texting all my family members and posting it on social media,” said Hill. “It’s great to be recognized individually by the university too, because even though hundreds of students might have accomplished the same thing, they’re recognizing that you were part of it instead of just putting out a general story about the event.”
Since publishing its first Merit Pages story in 2018, the U has recognized more than 15,000 students for various accomplishments such as publishing research, earning prestigious scholarships and completing community service projects.
“As college students, we’re able to do so much and it’s nice to be able to put that all in one place,” said Hill. “It’s also a great opportunity for students who aren’t in college yet to see the kinds of things you can do as a student at the U.”
After enrolling at the U, students will receive a welcome mail from Merit Pages inviting them to update their profile and privacy settings. Learn more about how to take advantage of the service here.