Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é

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HISTORY IS A WOVEN FIGURE

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.

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1914

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.

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1917

Raul R. Barberena, the school’s first Mexican student and the first Hispanic instructor within The Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Texas System, graduates from the School of Mines.

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1955

Twelve African-American students are admitted to Texas Western College. The college is the first undergraduate institution in Texas to de-segregate.

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1966

The Texas Western College men’s basketball team makes history when it starts five African-American players and wins the NCAA championship.1966_NCAA

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1967

The name changes to “The Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Texas at El Paso.”

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1989

UTEP becomes the largest university in the United States with a majority Hispanic student body.

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1992

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 Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é to add more doctoral programs.

The Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é creates a first-in-the-nation bilingual MFA program in creative writing.

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2002

Hispanic Outlook Magazine ranks UTEP the No. 2 university in the nation for Hispanic students.

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2010

UTEP earns the Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

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2011

UTEP awards its 100,000th degree.

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2017

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.

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2019

UTEP achieves Carnegie R1 status (very high research activity), an accomplishment rendered especially significant by the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é’s unwavering commitment to access.

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2020

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.