OVERVIEW
Learning — and living — through the decades
By Cindy Ramirez

   The past ninety years have seen economic depression, war and civil unrest.

   Skirts went from poodle to mini; hairdos from bouffant and Afro to feathered and gelled. On the airwaves, Bing Crosby, Elvis, the Beatles and Madonna defined decades.

Hamilton

Our city, nation, and world changed. People and cultures changed. The University of Texas at El Paso changed.

"It's a wonderful trip through time when you sit here and look at all the transformations of our students over the years," says Nancy Hamilton, who graduated from Texas Western College in 1949 and now chairs the university's Heritage Commission. "Their dress, their demeanor, their battles. They're the ones who were part of our history. They made our history."

   Through all the changes, however, one thing remained a constant.

   "We are the source of education and opportunity in this region," UTEP President Diana Natalicio says. "We are the center of intellectual capital in this region. We have to harness that, not only to achieve all the university's goals, but to help the region's development."

   From its beginnings, the university has been molded by history, even as it helped shape the future.

Gomez

History in the making

   Riding street cars and walking nearly a mile through the desert, 27 students made their way to the Texas State School of Mines on Sept. 23, 1914. It was the first day of classes at the college that sat alone in the desert east of Fort Bliss.

   By 1916, enrollment had grown to 39—and for the first time included women. Over the next 90 years, the student body evolved. The school's location and name changed.

   "I think the bond throughout the years was that everyone here was striving for education," says Joe Gomez, a 1970 UTEP graduate and member of the university's Heritage Commission. From the beginning, the community wanted a school, a place to grow minds and create opportunity.

   By the 1930s, the Great Depression had hit. As Bing Crosby crooned on radios across the nation, students like Eleanor Duke scrambled to earn $50 for tuition.

Duke

   "We rationed our food, watched every penny," says Duke, a professor emeritus who came to UTEP as a student in 1935 and retired in 1985. "But we knew that we had to come and get a degree if we wanted to pull ourselves out of the depression."

From depression to war

   The Second World War began, mobilizing the United States out of economic depression. By 1943, enrollment hit a 10-year low of 561 students.

   "You'd see the military boys all across campus, and then they'd be gone from one day to the next. They'd been called into action," Duke remembers.

   That same year, the War Department assigned an Army Specialized Training Unit to the College of Mines, reinforcing the ties between the university and Fort Bliss.

   After the war, a new breed of students began to enroll. By the late 40s, the veterans' GI Bill pushed enrollment past 2,000. Veterans with families, seeking a better tomorrow, came here for education and opportunity.

Poodle skirts and civil rights

   Then came the 50s. There was Elvis, Bill Haley and His Comets and Fats Domino. And closer to home, one misplaced alligator.

   In 1952, student pranksters moved an alligator from San Jacinto Plaza in Downtown El Paso to the office of geology Professor Howard Quinn.

   That's one of the favorite stories here at UTEP, says Hamilton.

"It was, in a way, a symbol of some lighter times here and in the nation. There was more of a sense of fun after all those years of depression and war."

   Still, there was a sense of conservatism: Blue jeans were rolled up to the ankles and poodle skirts stretched below the knees.

   The war was over, but a civil rights movement was brewing. Texas Western College would have its share of battles.

   Thelma White, valedictorian of Douglass High School in El Paso, was denied admission to Texas Western because she was black. She filed a lawsuit in 1955, but 10 days before her case was to go to court, Texas Western College became the first white Texas public college to admit black students.

   "This was not a city or a university that was racist, but rather places where change and transformation occurred with respect," says Maceo C. Dailey, director of UTEP's African-American Studies program. "El Paso was a city modernizing and moving progressively to address the dictates of democracy."

   Dailey says having Fort Bliss nearby helped prepare the community and the university for diversity. Already, he says, Mexican Americans had been pushing for desegregation and fighting for civil rights, though their notable movement would come decades later.

Peace then unrest

   In 1961, the college made history along with President John F. Kennedy's Peace Corps. Thirty volunteers arrived on campus and became the first Peace Corps class in the nation to complete their training.

   But following the more conservative 50s, what were supposed to be the peace-and-love 60s brought civil unrest. Everyday fashion also rebelled against the establishment: Go-go boots, bouffant hair dos and mega Afros.

   The Beatles invaded America. It was a musical revolution in tune with the times.

   But what really had El Pasoans dancing in the streets was not music or fashion.

   It was basketball. In 1966, Coach Don Haskins started an all-black Texas Western team against an all-white Kentucky squad in the finals of the NCAA. The city celebrated for days when the Miners won the national championship.

   "If you think of what was happening all across the nation at that time, you see that the significance of that stretched past the basketball court," says Charles Martin, associate professor of history. "It was certainly a momentous occasion and more than an athletic triumph."

MEChA

The 70s, too, were marked by more than disco, bell bottoms and platform shoes.

   While movies like Kramer vs. Kramer and Rocky played on movie screens, a different kind of battle was being fought across California—and on the UTEP campus.

    Chicanos, Hispanics, were not being represented.

"We had one of the largest populations of Hispanics in college and no one had really recognized that," says Dennis Bixler-Marquez, a 1971 UTEP grad and now professor and director of Chicano Studies.

   In 1971, two student groups—MEChA and La Mesa Directiva—took over the administration building and staged a sit-in. Soon after, a Chicano Studies Program was established.

   The university was gaining national recognition for serving Hispanics. "Taco Tech" might have been its nickname, but the university was looking beyond stereotypes to become a model institution focused on educating successful Hispanic professionals.

Bigger and better

   The next two decades were identified by two words: Bigger. More.

   Bigger hair, more makeup, bigger blockbusters. Think Madonna, 80s rock bands, Top Gun, and of course, MTV.

   At UTEP, that translated into bigger dreams and accomplishments.

Martin

Enrollment grew as more and more students sought university degrees. And more and more of them were Hispanic, as the minority group became the majority of students at UTEP.

   The dynamics of the campus reflected the dynamics of the community, says Martin, co-editor of Diamond Days, An Oral History of the University of Texas at El Paso. The university never waited to follow trends and didn't separate itself from the community.

   By the mid-80s, UTEP led the nation as the top producer of Hispanic engineers and in cooperative U.S.-Mexico research. A second doctoral program was added. A new university library was built, the Sun Bowl expanded.

   And in 1988, Diana Natalicio became the university's first woman president. Her mission and goals were clear: Increase access to first-generation students, support their pursuit of an education, become a national model in educating Hispanics.

   The 1990 U.S. Census confirmed what many in El Paso already knew: Hispanics were becoming the fastest-growing minority in the nation. The entertainment world embraced names like Selena, Gloria Estefan and Ricky Martin. Politicians spoke Spanish, reaching out to Hispanics as never before.

   The nation began looking at UTEP not only as a model for educating Hispanics, but for graduating some of the country's most sought-after professionals. In 1995, UTEP was designated as a Model Institution for Excellence by the National Science Foundation.

   In the early 2000s, stocks plummeted and terrorists attacked. UTEP students stood in shock, but didn't let those events interfere with their pursuit of education.

   Enrollment hit a record-high 18,542 students in fall 2003, well ahead of state projection.

   And as students walk across campus today, they see more than $50 million in construction projects. The university is adding high-tech labs, classrooms and facilities to meet the demand for new programs and expanded opportunities.

   “Our students, our community, are the reason we've always been here,” Natalicio says. “All around us, they are the reason we exist. They're the reason we'll celebrate 100 years and more.”