MinerAlert
MinerAlert
Toward the end of the 19th century, El Paso’s location on the Rio Grande, at the terminus of four major transcontinental railroads and a Mexican national railroad, placed it at the center of the region’s mining industry. El Pasoans worked to create a “university of the first class,” and, in 1914, established the State School of Mines and Metallurgy. In more than a century since its founding, the School of Mines has transformed into a top-tier doctoral research university and America’s leading Hispanic-serving institution.
September 28, 1914: First day of the first class at the State School of Mines and Metallurgy (now UTEP). All students are required to study Spanish.
Raul R. Barberena, the school’s first Mexican student and the first Hispanic instructor within The University of Texas System, graduates from the School of Mines.
Twelve African-American students are admitted to Texas Western College. The college is the first undergraduate institution in Texas to de-segregate.
The Texas Western College men’s basketball team makes history when it starts five African-American players and wins the NCAA championship.
The name changes to “The University of Texas at El Paso.”
UTEP becomes the largest university in the United States with a majority Hispanic student body.
The federal government recognizes UTEP as a Hispanic-serving institution.
In LULAC v. Richards, a state district court rules that the Texas higher education system discriminates against UTEP and other border institutions. This opens the path for the University to add more doctoral programs.
The University creates a first-in-the-nation bilingual MFA program in creative writing.
Hispanic Outlook Magazine ranks UTEP the No. 2 university in the nation for Hispanic students.
UTEP earns the Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
UTEP awards its 100,000th degree.
UTEP is ranked No. 1 in the nation for its success in achieving both competitive research and student social mobility, according to a Brookings Institution study.
UTEP achieves Carnegie R1 status (very high research activity), an accomplishment rendered especially significant by the University’s unwavering commitment to access.
UTEP becomes one of only 28 institutions in the U.S. and 3 in Texas to hold both top tier research and community engagement distinctions from the Carnegie Foundation.