An all-encompassing Utah Tech University centric app on the way.
When asked about the purpose and benefits this app will provide, Student Body President Devon Rice said, “Me and my team, we want an app that encompasses everything we do on campus.”
Rice said that he hopes the app will be able to answer all questions students might have. Activities, classroom location, how to get free food, etc. Rice said when approached with questions he hopes he can simply ask, “Have you checked the app yet?”
Mark Walton, chief information officer, said he also noticed the lack of an all-encompassing tool for students and faculty early on during his tenure at Utah Tech.
“I noticed that we really didn’t have a centralized portal or engagement hub,” Walton said.
Rice gives Walton credit for having knowledge of the cheapest and most realistic avenue for Utah Tech to get this app done.
Rice said: “He’s got a lot of experience. At his previous role at SUU, he had a lot of experience there in learning how they develop their own app in-house… if we did an app in-house then it would cost a bunch of moves to make it happen.”
While Walton may not have had much direct involvement with the development of the app for SUU, he said he was still close enough to know that doing it in-house like SUU would not work for Utah Tech.
“I don’t think that’s gonna work here at Utah Tech,” Walton said. “We are staffed differently… my goal is to find a third party to develop a framework.”
Rice said the university is reaching out to app developers who specialize in making apps for universities.
Walton said they are looking for developers to offer a customizable framework to best fit the needs of Utah Tech.
While developers are hoping to have it done by fall 2023, Rice said he is more confident in saying it will be done by spring 2024.
With a new tech-forward style of learning being pushed at the university with the name change, Rice said having an app this technical forward would be a great representation of the mission of the school.
