OREM, Utah — Leaders from Utah Valley University and Orem City gathered on April 29 to celebrate the continuing growth of the city and UVU by renaming 1200 West, which runs along the west side of UVU’s Orem Campus, to Wolverine Way.

“We are so happy today to be unveiling Wolverine Way,” said Astrid S. Tuminez, president of UVU. “We are so grateful for our students who show exceptional care, exceptional accountability, and exceptional results every single day. That is the Wolverine Way.”

“The name change of this city street reminds us of how far we have come in our 80–year history to arrive at this destination,” said Val Peterson, UVU vice president of Administration and Strategic Relations.

Peterson related the history of the land that Wolverine Way now occupies. In the earliest records of settlements in Utah Valley, it was pastureland owned by the Bunnell family. The road was first paved in the 1960s, and former UVU President Wilson Sorensen persuaded the state to acquire the Bunnell property and surrounding land. A replica of the Bunnell farmhouse sits on the UVU Orem Campus.

Approximately 8,000 vehicles traverse Wolverine Way every day, according to recent counts. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, that number grew to as many as 12,000 vehicles per day.

“No one could have imagined what would ultimately grow from this pastureland, or that a strip of pavement named 1200 West would lead to a remarkable university named UVU — but being surprising is ‘The Wolverine Way,’” Peterson said.

“As I think of the new Wolverine Way, I envision a road or a path to the future where UVU Wolverines will climb over mountains, over problems, over rocks in their ways, and will climb steep cliffs of higher learning to show the way to the future,” said Orem City Mayor Richard Brunst.