The University of Texas at El Paso

The University of Texas at El Paso was founded under Senate Bill 183 in April 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy. The idea for a school of mines in El Paso was first suggested by Hughes Slater, editor of the El Paso Herald, in 1902. William B. Phillips, director of the University of Texas Mineral Survey, concurred in remarks to the International Miners Association convention held at El Paso the following year. In 1914 the school opened under the supervision and control of the University of Texas Board of Regents with Sidney Mezes as its first president and Steve Worrell as dean. Citizens of El Paso, known as the Eighty Founders, purchased the land and buildings belonging to the El Paso Military Institute and then transferred the holdings to the University of Texas.