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The University of Texas at El Paso company history timeline

1914

After reading the April 1914 National Geographic article titled “Castles in the Air,” Worrell’s wife, Kathleen, persuaded her husband that the architecture of Bhutan would suit the rugged terrain of the Franklin Mountains of El Paso as well as it did the Himalayan Mountains.

On September 28, 1914, twenty-one students arrived on the campus of the State School of Mines and Metallurgy for the first day of classes, then located adjacent to Fort Bliss on the Lanoria Mesa.

With 27 students enrolled, the school´s first term commenced in September 28, 1914.

James G. Brann, a sportswriter for the El Paso Herald, first used the Miners nickname to refer to the School of Mines football team on October 15, 1914.

Within a few years of its opening in 1914, TCM began to offer courses that prepared teachers to fill an important regional need.

1916

1916 - The School of Mines held its first commencement in the assembly hall of the Fort Bliss campus on May 30, 1916, when three Miners received their degrees.

In 1916, while preparing for the School of Mines first commencement, a decorating committee selected the orange and white of the University of Texas for the school’s colors.

By 1916, enrollment had grown to 39 students, including its first two female students, Ruth Brown and Grace Odell.

1917

The first cluster of buildings constructed in this style, erected in 1917, included what are now known as Old Main, Graham Hall, and Quinn Hall.

1918

By January 1918, the new buildings were completed and ready for classes, in time for the school to join the University of Texas system a year later as the University of Texas Department of Mines and Metallurgy.

1919

In 1919, the students rejected a faculty proposal to officially designate T as the school’s monogram for athletic uniforms, despite the added prestige of it being the monogram of UT Austin.

In 1919, the institution became a branch of The University of Texas and was renamed the Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy.

1920

El Paso replaced The Eyes of Texas, which UTEP had shared with UT Austin since 1920.

The first yearbooks were annual supplements to the school’s newspaper, Prospector, including the 1920 edition, which was named Adios.

1923

The iconic M was first painted on the Franklin Mountains by students in 1923.

1927

Following the expansion of the curriculum in 1927, the College of Mines (now UTEP) transformed into a general college while maintaining its mining engineering program.

1929

1929 - College of Mines welcomes new band director for Texas College of Mines Band.

1931

1931 - John Gerald Barry becomes College of Mines' first president.

1932

Business and Economics were established as combined departments and, in 1932, the school received authorization to award a Bachelor of Arts degree.

1933

That same year, the Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Economics is approved with the first degree being awarded in 1933.

1936

By 1936, a collection of courses that lead to a teaching certificate had developed into an education major.

1947

When the Miners and the Aggies meet during football season, the winner receives a pair of traveling trophies – the Silver Spade and the Brass Spittoon.The first spade used for this purpose was an old prospector’s shovel dug up from an abandoned mine in the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces in 1947.

1948

Although met with protests by the engineering, geology, and chemistry students, in 1948 all students were unified under the banner of Texas Western College.

1949

The board, however, granted UTEP the right to use its existing seal, which had been designed by Jose Cisneros and Carl Hertzog in 1949.

The school's name was changed again in 1949 to Texas Western College of The University of Texas (TWC).

1952

1952 - Student pranksters "borrow" a live alligator from San Jacinto Plaza.

1955

The current Silver Spade was initiated by UTEP Student Association (today’s Student Government Association) president Don Henderson in 1955.

1961

1961 - TWC trains the nation's first Peace Corps class.

1962

In 1962, Marshall Meece, a civil engineering student, drew a hardhat miner that was adopted by the athletic program.

1965

In 1965, students relocated it to the hillside north of the Sun Bowl.

1966

1966 - Don Haskins leads men's basketball team to NCAA National Championship, stunning Kentucky 72-65.

Glory Road, a movie about the 1966 Texas Western College national basketball champions, premiered in El Paso

President Joseph M. Ray, in 1966, once again reorganized the College breaking the School of Arts and Sciences into four separate schools: Liberal Arts, Education, Science, and Business Administration.

In 1966, the University of Texas Board of Regents saw the need to unite the many educational institutions under their jurisdiction, so for a final time, the school adopted a new banner.

1967

The college was renamed The University of Texas at El Paso in 1967, and four years later saw the College of Education move into its new nine-story Education Building on the north end of the center of campus.

Texas Western College became The University of Texas at El Paso in 1967 and boasted a student population of more than 9,000.

1969

In 1969, UTEP won the first of seven NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships.

1970

In 1970, the Board of Regents adopted the seal of UT Austin for all of its components.

The UT System Board of Regents officially confirmed the selection of the burro fifty years later in 1970.UTEP’s athletic program, however, had long grown disenchanted with the burro mascot as a symbol for their teams.

Despite its official designation by the regents in 1970, athletics began promoting various caricatures of miners and prospectors in their promotional materials.

1972

Students produced Flowsheet annually until 1972, when it was discontinued.

1973

COBA’s dean, Doctor John Marvin Richards received approval to create the MBA degree on April 13, 1973 and launched the program in fall 1973 with five evening courses.

1974

In 1974, the University painted an updated version of Meece’s caricature on the Sun Bowl field.

Also in 1974, UTEP won the first of seven NCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships.

1975

In 1975 UTEP won both the NCAA Men's Outdoor and Indoor National Championships.

1976

The campus expanded in 1976 with the completion of the Engineering-Science Complex.

1977

In 1977, the Special Events Center (now the Don Haskins Center) was built, featuring a 12,000-seat capacity for sporting events, live concerts, and other performances.

1980

During its long history, the University had lacked a set of official regalia, so in the summer of 1980, C.L. "Larry" Etheridge, a Drama Department faculty member, suggested it was time to acquire accoutrements specific and unique to The University of Texas at El Paso.

1982

An expansion of Sun Bowl Stadium followed in 1982, increasing its capacity to 52,000.

1984

Alumnus Bernie Lopez created a new rugged prospector caricature, which UTEP adopted in 1984.

Research in the business disciplines was woven into the fabric of CoBA. In 1984, the Bureau of Business and Economic research published the El Paso Economic Review and the Southwest Journal of Business and Economics.

The six-story University Library opened its doors to the public for the first time in 1984.

1985

In 1985, the UTEP Alternative Certification Program was initiated with 16 interns; today it has more than 100 interns.

1986

In 1986, it published its revision of the Statistical Abstract of El Paso, Texas, the first in 10 years.

1988

In 1988, Diana Natalicio became UTEP's first woman president.

1990

1990 - Minerpalooza festival created

1991

In 1991, Doctor Timothy P. Roth became Interim Dean and was followed by Doctor Frank Hoy.

1993

1993 - Heritage House opens

1996

Tom Fullerton joined the UTEP Department of Economics & Finance in 1996.

1997

1997 - Don Haskins inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame & Special Events Center renamed Don Haskins Center

1998

1998 - UTEP celebrates its 100th commencement

1999

In 1999, UTEP launched its MBA online degree program.

2001

Information obtained from The University of Texas at El Paso, Class of 2001.

2002

In 2002, the $11 million Larry K. Durham Sports Center opened and the Sam Donaldson Center for Communication Studies was established.

2003

Doctoral programs in international business, civil engineering, and rhetoric and composition were started in 2003.

2004

The Ph.D. program in International Business started in 2004 and graduated its first doctoral student four years later.

2007

2007 - Alumnus & NASA astronaut John "Danny" Olivas traveled to the International Space Station abroad the shuttle Atlantis (www.utep.edu/dannyolivas)

2008

2008 - Diana Natalicio marked her 20th year as president of UTEP

In fall 2008, another large AMBA cohort was launched through a hosting partnership with GECU.

2010

In spring 2010, COBA celebrated the grand opening of a 12,000 sq. ft. facility in the Chase Building downtown that featured three classrooms, student collaboration areas, and administrative offices.

2011

2011 - UTEP Master Plan 2011 (PDF available on website)

2012

The Mike Loya Center for Innovation and Commerce was founded in 2012 through generous contributions from UTEP alumnus Mike Loya.

2013

Former Miner Sean Kugler was named the 25th head football coach (UTEP Magazine Winter 2013 pg.

2014

UTEP launched At the Forefront: The Centennial Campaign for UTEP, the most ambitious fundraising campaign to date witha goal of raising $200 million by 2014

The Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness, founded in 2014, serves as a multi-disciplinary research platform for the creation and application of practical research in order to help foster the region’s competitive capacity.

2019

In August 2019, Heather Wilson, Ph.D., became UTEP's 11th president.

2021

While teams shone bright on the court during the recent 2021 NCAA Final Four men’s basketball championship, a faculty member from The University of Texas at El Paso used his skills to enhance the participants for specialty shoots that augmented the CBS Sports coverage.

2022

University of North Texas Libraries. https://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/partners/UTEP/ accessed July 12, 2022.

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