The Uintah Basin Area Vocational Center began operation in September 1968. A $100,000 Federal Vocational Grant was matched by Duchesne County School District to establish a center for adult and high school vocational and technical education at a time when the Central Utah Project was just getting started and the Bluebell oil field was coming into production. George Thatcher was the first director of the Center, as well as, the part-time electronics instructor. The school districts operated the Center during these early years.

In 1972, the Utah Legislature put all three existing Area Vocational Centers (Sevier, Uintah Basin, and Bridgerland) directly under the State Board for Vocational Education. A local governing board was appointed consisting of members from Duchesne, Uintah, and Daggett County School Boards. During that same year, planning had begun for a new, larger building and campus so that the Center could serve both adult and high school students. Property was donated jointly by Uintah and Duchesne School Districts for a facility that would serve multi-district needs, and ground was broken at the present Roosevelt site on November 7, 1975.

Effective July 1, 1990, the name of the Center was changed by the Utah State Legislature to the Uintah Basin Applied Technology Center to more accurately reflect the purpose and philosophy of the Center in this modern technological age.

In June of 2001, a special Legislative Session was called by Governor Michael Leavitt resulting in legislative approval of HB 1003. This long debated legislative action resulted in the creation of the Utah College of Applied Technology effective September 1, 2001. This college is now governed by the Board of Regents and consists of nine regional campuses that collectively have the highest student enrollments of any college or university within the State of Utah. The Uintah Basin Applied Technology College is one of the nine campuses. The new college status will allow students an additional educational option of earning a competency based Associate of Applied Technology Degree in selected technical specialties.

In February 2007, with the help of the community and the Legislature, funding for a new campus in Vernal was approved. It is located across the street from Uintah High School. The groundbreaking was held April 12, 2007 and the campus was completed July 1, 2009 with ribbon cutting ceremony taking place August 7, 2009