IN 2024, COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES WILL CELEBRATE OUR 150TH ANNIVERSARY.
GRIT. DETERMINATION. RESILIENCE.
Honor the past, impact the present and inspire future possibilities—invest in Mines to engineer our next 150 years.
OUR PROUD PAST The spirit of Mines was born when Colorado School of Mines was founded in 1874 to meet the needs of a booming mining industry in Colorado. Mines’ expertise and portfolio of degree programs expanded over time to meet the changing needs of industry and society, playing key roles in the growth of the global energy and natural resource industries. From its inception, Mines has been known for its challenging education, close industry partnerships and graduates who are industry-ready and distinguished by their grit, determination and resilience. Industry partners and alumni are known for saying, “If you have a tough challenge, give it to an Oredigger.”
OUR PRESENT STRENGTH Today, Mines is one of our nation’s top-ranked universities—recognized for the successes and return on investment of graduates; and our unique expertise in the earth sciences and mining, petroleum and metallurgical and materials engineering. Our students win major national and global professional competitions, our student-athletes bring home conference and national championships and our faculty receive the top awards in their fields. Mines partners now include the energy, aerospace, IT, health, defense and civil infrastructure industries. We have become a comprehensive engineering and applied sciences school with rapidly-growing programs in computer science, advanced materials and manufacturing, underground construction and tunneling, public policy and space resources. The number of companies attending our Fall Career Fair has grown by about 50 percent in the past four years. Recruiters say they value Mines graduates for their collaborative spirit, high aptitude, grit and resilience. They also say that our graduates work uncommonly well in teams—and usually that is followed by “don’t ever change that.” These are the same characteristics that lead to professional and personal successes for our alumni.
Mines provides a challenging education that combines rigor and practical experience, close partnerships with industry and bright students with a strong work ethic.
“MINES GRADUATES WORK UNCOMMONLY WELL IN TEAMS...‘DON’T EVER CHANGE THAT.’ ”
FUTURE POSSIBILITIES The MINES@150 Strategic Plan carves out a path for Mines to be positioned among the best in an increasingly competitive higher education landscape. We desire to be a top-of-mind and first-choice university for students, faculty and staff and corporate partners. This means that Mines will have broad public name recognition. We will be our applicants’ first choice among their many options. We will be seen leading in the frontiers of education and research in areas of strategic importance, like advanced materials and manufacturing, space exploration, underground cities and infrastructure, advanced energy systems and sustainable resource management. We will be the go-to preferred partner for industry’s talent, continuing education and research needs. We will also be a launch pad for new innovations, entrepreneurs and companies.
Mines is poised for success. We are small enough to offer unparalleled undergraduate research opportunities, institutional cross-departmental collaboration and nimble programmatic action. We are large enough to attract the best faculty and secure research grants and partnerships to tackle the formidable challenges at the nexus of energy development and environmental sustainability. Mines is doubling down on our commitment to hands-on learning. We live in a rapidly-changing, increasingly-complex and technology-driven world. Many of the jobs of the future that will be filled by engineers and scientists have yet to be created, and we want our graduates to always be the top recruits of their employers. Our past led to today’s successes and must be built upon to lead us to the possibilities for the future. Mines has been a leader for nearly 150 years. Now is the time to exercise our renowned rigor, grit, determination and resilience so we can continue to boldly step forward during this time of tremendous change. We will rely on Oredigger spirit, dedication and resolve as we continue to advance science and empower a new generation of innovative STEM thinkers and doers.
A CALL TO
ACTION
WITH OUR 150TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2024, we have only a few years to achieve our MINES@150 goals, and there is urgency due to rapid changes and increased competition in higher education. We are Mines, a university and community that embraces and takes pride in tackling difficult challenges. It will take new investments and all of us—alumni, students, families, faculty, staff, and industry partners—to drive the successful realization of our MINES@150 vision. The world needs Mines now more than ever. Industry partners and society are demanding a challenging STEMfocused university with unique expertise and research capabilities that builds a strong work ethic, resilience, teamwork, leadership and adaptability into its graduates. We are poised to accept that challenge. We cannot rely on funding from the State of Colorado; today state funding supports less than 10 percent of our operations and it will decrease with time as a fraction of our overall budget. Neither can we rely on tuition increases as we are sensitive to the growing financial burden to students and their families caused by declining state support and economic challenges.
THE MINES COMMUNITY MAKES MINES@150 HAPPEN Our reputation is built on the success of our graduates
Generosity from the Mines community will mean the difference
and our close relationships with industry, which are vital
between status quo and being the exceptional engineering and
components of the Mines community. Together, we will
applied-science university that we aspire to be.
grow our network of external partners and increase alumni affinity, visibility and involvement in engagement programs and signature student experiences. The Mines community will foster loyalty, pride and a pay-it-forward attitude among our students and graduates. To achieve our vision for Mines’ future, we must attract private support through philanthropy and industry research. Philanthropy propels excellence for Mines.
We approach our 150th anniversary with a sense of pride in our PAST, excitement for the PRESENT momentum, optimism for the POSSIBILITIES ahead, and an urgency to deliver on the challenge now placed before us. Imagine what Mines can accomplish in the next 150 years. Together, we can shape Mines’ future, and we will all celebrate our accomplishments in 2024.
To learn about the MINES@150 Campaign priorities and how you can be involved, visit our Campaign site at:
CAMPAIGN.MINES.EDU
Colorado School of Mines Foundation 1812 Illinois Street, Golden, Colorado 80401 Mail: PO Box 4005, Golden, CO 80401 303.273.3275