City: El Paso, TX

Category: Education

Telephone: (915) 747-5000

Address: 500 West University Ave.

Description: The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public university and a recognized affiliate of the University of Texas system, with an enrollment of more than 21,000 students. UTEP celebrated its 90th birthday in 2004, from humble beginnings in 1914 as Texas’s first mining school. Student life at UTEP is dynamic, with more than 170 organizations ranging from academic and professional to social and service groups. The sprawling campus sits on 366 acres in central El Paso and boasts a unique Bhutanese architectural style that creates an academic, scholarly feel about the campus.UTEP ranks second in the nation of schools awarding undergraduate degrees to Hispanics and combines academic research with innovative programs and services and an outstanding faculty. UTEP has been an important part of the El Paso community since it was founded as the Texas School of Mines and Metallurgy in 1914. The school opened with 27 students and a handful of faculty and staff. Now, more than 75 percent of UTEP’s student population is of Hispanic descent, and it is also well known for its science, computer science, engineering, and mathematics programs. UTEP ranks among the top 7 percent of all U.S. universities in the Carnegie Foundation’s Doctoral/Research University-Intensive category. In addition to the 81 undergraduate degrees and 65 master’s degrees on offer, UTEP boasts 16 doctoral degree programs and much of the faculty research that goes on at UTEP focuses on areas such as environmental science and engineering, Borderlands history, and manufacturing engineering. Because of the university’s strategic location, UTEP students also have many opportunities to participate in binational research programs between UTEP and higher education institutions in Mexico. ‘Binational’ is a word used quite often around El Paso and refers to both U.S. and Mexican joint programs or events that occur in both countries simultaneously.UTEP has a beloved local athletic program that includes football at the massive Sun Bowl Stadium, as well as basketball in the Don Haskins Center arena. The university’s mascot is the Miners, a nod to its early history, and the school colors are orange, white, and blue.