Chap. 7: Stately Mansions, Phase II

[College on the Rio Grande: The Story of A Small School was written in 1989, New Mexico Tech's centennial year, by Paige W. Christiansen, emeritus professor of history at New Mexico Tech. It was published in a limited edition and is now out of print. Prof. Christiansen has given his permission for this web edition, to make Tech's history more widely available.

Please acknowledge him if you use material from this book. Please be aware that all references to "the present" in this book refer to 1989. Thank you.]

The year 1939 must be considered the watershed year in the school's history. It was prophetic that President Wells' life ended just that year, the school's 50th anniversary. From this time on, the school was on a new course, one that would make the second 50 years vastly different in almost every respect from the first half century. It is almost like telling two stories, not one. The School of Mines had struggled for five decades and was still small, very small. It had a narrow, limited academic curriculum, and it lacked the qualities that could carry it successfully into the scientific age that was about to dawn in America.

Edgar Wells was succeeded by Professor C. E. Needham in 1939. Needham had served many years as a Professor of Geology. He was a geologist with the Bureau of Mines and was director of the Bureau of Mines at Wells' death. Needham immediately faced all sorts of problems at the school. The approaching war in Europe and Asia was already threatening student enrollments, and when the United States entered the war, there were few students left to attend the school. Needham also got in trouble with the regents over policy and politics. His tenure as president was stormy from the start and finally he resigned in anger. Needham's letter of resignation read as follows:

It is evident from recent events that some of the Regents of the New Mexico School of Mines are working under cover relative to the institution; that they are keeping certain information from the president of the institution to embarrass him; that they are attempting to set up policies that will react unfavorably toward the institution; and that these regents consider themselves more able educators than the president and his faculty; believing that it is unwise for me to compromise my convictions and that nothing but stormy days lie ahead as long as these members are on the Board, I hereby tender my resignation as President of the New Mexico School of Mines and Director of the State Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, effective at the close of business on April 30, 1942.

The Board of Regents made no comment on Needham's resignation, at least for public consumption. His resignation was accepted. Little was accomplished by Needham and the regents during this short presidency, and in fact, there was deterioration at the school.

The stormy days predicted by President Needham did indeed come, and very soon. They were not, however, brought about by the Board of Regents but rather by the paralyzing effects of World War II. To hold the presidency of the school during these years was a trying experience.

It became his task to keep the school going during these difficult years. With civilian enrollment dropping to very low levels, President Reece contracted with the military for an Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) at the School of Mines. This was a program designed to give special college training to young men already in the military. Many colleges and universities across the nation had similar units. The ASTP supplied the great majority of students to the School of Mines during the years 1943 to 1945.

There were few changes in the basic curriculum during the Reece administration. The demands of the ASTP were narrow, prescribed, and fit what the school already did. The lack of a civilian student body eliminated any possibility of progress. It was fortunate that the school was able to survive at all. There does appear to have been a subtle change in emphasis at this time, however. The traditional emphasis on engineering courses gave way to a policy of more physics and mathematics to supply the basic knowledge in the engineering profession. President Reece once said, "As truly as a building is dependent upon its foundation for any strength and stability it may possess, an engineer's education is founded upon his knowledge of mathematics and physics. Without a thorough understanding and a ready working knowledge of these tools of science, all subsequent studies, which are in reality applications of these basic principles, are valueless." This new emphasis, while tenuous during the Reece administration, became a fixed pattern of the school's development after the war. President Reece retired in 1946.

In the immediate postwar period, the school underwent a number of basic changes. The Bureau of Mines was expanded, the Research and Development Division became part of the school, and the Graduate Program came into existence. The man largely responsible for these major changes, and many more, was the new president, E. J. Workman.

Workman came to Socorro from the University of New Mexico where he had served as chairman of the Physics Department. He also headed a research organization with a national reputation. When he came to the Socorro school, he brought the research team with him. It became known as the Research and Development Division and was attached to the School of Mines in 1946. A new era in the history of the school began.

Working with the Board of Regents, Workman was responsible for many substantial additions to the physical plant. During his tenure in office, construction included the Research Building (housing the Bureau of Mines and the Research Division), West Hall (men's residence and dining facility), a swimming center (replacing an earlier one), an extensive faculty housing project adjacent to the main campus, married students' apartments, and a women's dormitory (which became a graduate men's dormitory after Driscoll Hall was given over to women students). In addition, there were a number of improvements in existing facilities: Driscoll Hall was remodeled into a women's dormitory, there were important additions to the Research Building, and Weir Hall was greatly expanded. In addition to all this construction, important changes and improvements were made in other aspects of the campus. All roads through the interior of campus were abandoned and replaced with trees and grass. Recreational fields were developed south of the main campus, and an 18-hole golf course (built in two nines, 15 years apart) was built west of the campus.

The final addition was the Irving Langmuir Laboratory devoted to the study of atmospheric physics. This outstanding facility was located on the crest of the Magdalena Mountains. When one looked across the campus at the end of the Workman presidency it was difficult to find a building that was not constructed either in the Wells or the Workman administrations.

During the Workman years, enrollment rose to figures never before reached by the school. The lowest enrollment during the years 1946-1964 was 145 in 1953. Peak enrollment was in Workman's last year, 1963-1964, when a total of 348 students attended the school. Much of the building became necessary because of the increased pressure on existing facilities.

But perhaps more important than building and enrollment was the fact that the emphasis of the school changed markedly during President Workman's tenure. The scientific advances made as a result of World War II gave a new boost and a new direction to science education all across the nation. Not just the United States, but the world, entered the science age. It brought revolutionary change to the United States and to the small school in Socorro. These national trends affected curriculum decisions. Change at the college began in earnest in 1949, when the Research Division was brought to the campus. With it came a number of highly trained scientists educated in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and the geosciences, who had little or no interest in mining, petroleum, or engineering. It was this group, led by Workman, that forged the new academic direction for the school. As a result of these changes in the nature of the institution, an expanded curriculum was developed with an emphasis toward science rather than engineering.

The new curriculum developed in the 1950s allowed the school to offer degrees in physics, chemistry, mathematics, geology, and geophysics, as well as in the traditional fields of mining, metallurgical, and petroleum engineering. A graduate program in the science fields accompanied this expansion in undergraduate courses. The high point of the curriculum development came with the inauguration of a program leading to a doctor's degree in geophysics, the school's first venture into advanced graduate work. The post-war pattern became clear in the late 1950s. New Mexico School of Mines, now New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, was making an academic transition. Whereas engineering, particularly those branches related to mineral production, had dominated the curriculum prior to the mid-1950s, the basic sciences were given more attention after this date.

The new courses required an expanded and highly trained staff, and with the growth of the school under Workman, the quality of the professional staff in all divisions improved. During the 1950s and 1960s, the faculty and staff of New Mexico Tech gained a reputation for excellence throughout the nation. Thus, it was under the guiding hand of Dr. Workman that New Mexico Tech underwent its most significant growth and its most marked change. His 19 years of leadership came to and end with his retirement in 1964, 75 years after the founding of the school. He must be given a particularly high place in the annals of New Mexico Tech.

Socorro Mountain is located about two miles west of the school. It extends from north to south about eight miles and is about three miles wide from east to west. It has an elevation of 7,200 feet or approximately 2600 feet above the campus. The east front is steep and precipitous. From this side the ambitious mountain climber can reach the summit only with great difficulty unless he is familiar with one of the several winding trails which lead to the peak. From the west side the mountain appears to be a number of low hills as the west slope merges into the Bolson plain known as Cactus Flat, at an elevation of about 6000 feet. The drainage from Cactus Flat finds its way around the mountains through Nogal Canyon to the north and a nameless draw at the south end, which terminates the mountains in these directions. Due to the steep east slope, erosion has cut steep and rugged canyons and arroyos on this side. Of these, Blue Canyon, near the south end, has eroded its way westward through the mountains and now drains the greater portion of its area, even the western slopes. Through Blue Canyon ran the Ocean to Ocean highway of years past, and the canyon now is the main center for the TERA explosives test site.

To the north, on the southeast slope of the highest peak is the "M" made by the students at the school. It is made upon the rocky cliffs, 120 feet high and I 00 feet wide and is discernible for many miles.

Stirling A. Colgate served as president of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology from 1965 to 1975. These were difficult years for the students at Tech, as they were difficult for students at universities across the nation. They were days of campus unrest, drug experimentation, anti-Vietnam war demonstrations, civil rights movements, and general feelings of discontent and uncertainty among students. Some of the activities across the nation led to ugly incidents that accomplished little; others produced lasting changes in the nation and on college campuses. New Mexico Tech students, although influenced to some degree by the nation's days of discontent, never moved to disrupt the educational processes of the institute. The students, and the times, however, did make changes at New Mexico Tech. Student life became freer, less controlled by forces within the college; there was less formality; co-ed dormitories came into existence; and traditional curriculum and academic procedures were altered. College life was not better or worse, it was different. It was this situation into which President Colgate stepped in 1965. He was flamboyant, informal, and unorthodox. He fit the period well.

This decade was a period of substantial student growth. When Colgate came to the school, the enrollment was 479 students, when he left there were 918 students. The average for the decade was 754. This kind of student growth makes things easier for administrations for it means increasing amounts of money for all things associated with education-buildings, dormitories, faculty.

Expansion of the physical facilities continued unabated under Colgate. Facilities for students were needed and a new dormitory, South Hall, as well as married students' housing were completed. A president's house appeared, built by the Colgates, on land supplied by the institution. There was an expansion of the area set aside for faculty housing and many of the old houses built earlier by the institute as rental units were sold to the faculty. A new library building was constructed in 1969-1970, a major addition to the gymnasium in 1970, and an auditorium, better known as the Tin Can (it was a huge metal Butler Building). A major addition to Workman Center was constructed to house the Bureau of Mines, and an annex was built at the Langmuir Laboratory on the top of the Magdalena Mountains. Almost every old building on campus received some sort of face-lift or renovation. The second nine holes on the golf course, begun during the Workman years, was also completed. The physical plant continued to expand rapidly, even more so than in the Workman years.

The most significant change during this period was in the area of degrees granted to graduates. This fantastic growth completed the broadening of the college curriculum begun after World War II and fixed the nature of the school for years to come. More new degrees and programs were put in place between 1965 and 1975 than during any other period in the school's history. There were 21 new or dramatically revised degree programs established in these years: two bachelor of arts degrees, eight bachelor of science degrees, six master of science degrees, and three doctor's degrees. In addition, a general studies degree was awarded, as was an associate degree (two-year) in general studies. Seven of the degrees were in engineering areas, and 14 were in science or arts fields. The emphasis on science, rather than engineering, which was begun by Workman, was continued by the Colgate administration.

Although Colgate himself was a devoted research scholar, there were no significant changes in the patterns of research during his administration. There was some expansion of activities at the Langmuir Lab, and some new areas were added to the Research Division. The In-Situ Mining Research Center was added to the Research Division, as was a Center for Materials Science. Problems surrounding the growth of the college and its faculty dominated administrative and regents efforts during these years.

There were other things that developed during the Colgate years. A Faculty Club was organized. As the school became larger and larger, separation between the faculty and the students occurred. In the early history of the school, most of the social events involved both groups. This became less and less popular and less possible and hence the separation. The Faculty Club was an effort to supply a social outlet that was not available in the small town of Socorro. It was moderately successful for a few years. A Community College was established during the decade (1968) which opened up college facilities for non-credit courses that were useful to the people of Socorro. It remained an important community service to the Centennial year. In 1967, spurred on by the president, the idea of recognizing outstanding students was incorporated into the idea called formally, Tech Scholar. Students named to this important program had privileges in selecting courses unavailable to other students. It was also during the Colgate years that the first formal Equal Employment Opportunity Policy was put into effect.

But, ten years is a long time to hold things together in such a volatile world, and Colgate and the regents came to a parting of the ways. The students continued to support the president, as did most of the faculty. Without the support of the regents, however, Colgate felt that he could not remain president, and he resigned in 1975. He returned to his research and remains an adjunct professor of the institute.

The school underwent dramatic changes during the Colgate administration, particularly in academic matters. When he left, the school's academic program was unrecognizable when compared to earlier days. But then, all things change, and even the campus took on a new look. The buildings, which had, for many decades been red brick or plaster, were painted white, giving the impression of a new campus to go with the new programs.

In the interim between Colgate and his successor, the school faced one of its periodic crises. The naval contracts awarded to TERA, which at that time kept TERA going, amounted to 1.8 million dollars over a two-year period. Every institution of higher education across the nation that did any federal contracting was required to have an affirmative action plan. Tech had filed a plan with the Department of Labor according to law. The plan, however, had not been reviewed as to compliance with the law. The rule of thumb was to review only those schools receiving contracts in excess of one million dollars. When the TERA contract entered the system, Tech's affirmative action plan was reviewed and found lacking. Tech was given 30 days to come up with an acceptable affirmative action plan or lose the navy contract. Panic on a large scale! A major research facility and the jobs of many highly qualified-professionals were in jeopardy, What to do? The acting president responded quickly, naming a taskforce of administrators and faculty to somehow put together an acceptable plan. It was astounding to see the various diverse elements of the institution come together in a common effort. Secretaries from all divisions labored in Brown Hall typing as fast as those doing the writing could turn out material. It was organized chaos, but it worked. On the day of the deadline, Acting President Kuellmer hand-delivered the manuscript to the compliance office in Dallas. Tech was among 26 universities in the nation that had a grant over one million dollars that year. They included such major schools as MIT, University of California, Berkeley, University of North Carolina, University of Michigan, and, of course, New Mexico Tech. Pretty good for that small college by the Rio Grande.

(See related story on Fred Kuellmer at Fred Kuellmer Reading Room To Be Dedicated.)

Kenneth Ford was president from 1975 to 1983. Like the two presidents before him, he was a physicist. He came to New Mexico from the University of Massachusetts. During these years, students were more conservative, quieter than they had been in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but there were still remnants of student activism about. The faculty, which had undergone considerable growth during the Colgate years, became more independent, and actively demanded a larger share in the governing process of the institution. The Faculty Association, which dated back to the early years of E.J. Workman, had been granted governing powers by the regents over the purely academic affairs of the college; that is, they had the power to recommend to the regents. As divisions were added to the institute, their professional employees were named to the association. During the Colgate administration, the faculty and research professionals were reorganized into an Institute Senate. The bylaws of the Faculty Association and of the first senate named the president of the institute as presiding officer over the faculty. In the first year of the Ford administration, this rule was changed and the presiding officer of the senate was elected from the senate membership. This changed the nature of the senate, and it began to play a more active part in the decision-making process on the campus. It could set its own agenda, with or without the concurrence of the president. The senate would play a dramatic role in the latter days of the Ford administration. A quiet, conservative academic, Kenneth Ford worked within this framework.

Student enrollments reached their highest point in the history of the school during the Ford years. The record peak enrollment at the school was in 1982, Ford's last year in office, when Tech enrolled 1381 students for the fall semester. The average for the eight years of the Ford Administration was 1150 per year, well above the average of any of the previous presidents. Because of the rapid increases in enrollment and the corresponding growth in the faculty, additional space of all kinds was required: new dormitories, classrooms, research facilities, and service buildings.

The capital improvements during Ford's administration were probably the largest of any of the presidents. Thus, he continued a process begun by Wells in the 1930s, and accelerated by Workman and Colgate. The first two phases of the Mineral Science and Engineering Center were completed early in his administration -- the Petroleum Recovery Research Center (PRRC) building, named Kelly Hall (for John Kelly, a regent), and Jones Hall, an office/research facility housing mining, metallurgy, and chemistry departments. Lack of dormitory space became critical, and Tech moved to solve the problem. Baca Hall was added as a women's dormitory, and a new Driscoll Hall was constructed when the old building was condemned. As a stopgap, mobile home units were installed near the playing field as dormitories. They took on the quaint name, U Hall. There were many additions to older buildings, including a major remodeling of Cramer, a major addition to the student union, an addition to the Kelly building, and other remodeling. A new pro shop at the golf course had to be constructed as the PRRC building was constructed on the site of the old pro shop. Perhaps most significant was the construction of the Theater/Convention center, Macey Center. Just as the new library building was often called Colgate's memorial, so Macey Center might be called the same for Ford.

Academic growth was moderate during Ford's administration. Three degree programs were initiated: a bachelor's degree in technical communication, a master's degree in physics (instrumentation), and a doctorate in computer science.

There were few major changes in research. Ford's interests were primarily in the development of the college, and the problems of the College Division caused by rapid growth took up much of the time of his administration. There were, however, some additions to the research capability of the institute. The New Mexico Energy Institute was founded on the New Mexico Tech campus, devoted to the solution of energy problems. It grew out of the 1973 oil embargo crisis and lasted about 10 years. A Coal Research Center was established within the Research Division. Most important, it was during the late Ford years that the first steps were taken to establish a research park. Ford and the regents set down the basic plan for the park, but the job of creating the park fell to Ford's successor.

Ford was involved in other significant changes in the Tech environment. An administrative computer center was established to free the main computer center of business computing activities. Ford presided over the expenditure of Tech's share of a $25 million equipment bond issue, about $500,000 per year. This was to upgrade teaching and research equipment among the institutions of higher education in the state. The money supplied allowed the universities in New Mexico to bring their teaching and research equipment up to higher standards and to make them more competitive with other schools. There was also considerable administrative expansion during the Ford years, particularly in the College Division. The rapid growth of the student body required more management. Also, a fourth division was added to the administrative structure, the Petroleum Recovery Research Center. Finally, Ford was the first president to seriously seek private funding for the school in addition to public funds available. This remains an important pattern in Tech's development.

Then, something happened. Ford lost contact with the students and faculty at Tech, and there arose a cry for his resignation. When financial problems beset his administration in 1981, the regents were brought into the conflict, and Ford resigned in 1982, after eight years in the presidency.

The Ford years witnessed some of the most spectacular growth in the history of Tech in almost every area -- student enrollment, faculty, budgets, construction, administration. The gains made were made quickly. In trying to keep abreast of the growth, to control costs in a spiraling, inflation-ridden economy, and in trying to consolidate his administration, Ford made enemies. Events moved too quickly, and the various elements of the institution lost contact with each other. The result was a growing unrest and demands for administrative change. The Ford administration achieved many important advances for the school, yet he left the institution under a cloud. During the interim while a new president was sought, Charles Holmes, a long-time Professor of Physics acted as president.

New Mexico is, perhaps, the state with the most experience in scientific research. There are more Ph.D. holders per capita in New Mexico than in any other state. Geologists explore the earth for clues to its very origin, paleontologists pry from the ground the fossils of prehistoric life, and archaeologists seek out the remnants of America's first civilizations.

Then there are scientists and technicians who grapple with the mechanics of explosive force, engineers who examine the intricacies of space flight, radio telescopes that scan the outer limits of the universe, physicists who probe the atom's tiniest particles, and geneticists who tinker with the building blocks of nature.

Science has developed at a frantic pace in New Mexico in the past quarter century. Words like Goddard, White Sands, Oppenheimer, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Teller, Sandia National Laboratories, Langmuir Laboratory, Sun Spot Observatory, the Very Large Array, and the Rio Grande Research Corridor, are names and institutions that are known throughout the scientific world. The advances for science that have been made in New Mexico are probably greater than any other scientific advances in history for a state with the equivalent population and resources.

Laurence Lattman became president in 1983 and served the last six years of the school's Centennial. These were quiet years for the students and the faculty. Students tended to be conservative and were not activists as students had been in the previous two decades. There was a general trend of falling college enrollments in schools across the country due to a shrinking pool of high-school graduates. The school in Socorro faced even a more difficult problem, for petroleum and mining engineering, which had been popular with students and in high demand by industry, declined rapidly. These factors created difficult funding problems for the College Division from 1983 to 1989. Throughout his administration, up to 1989, Lattman was faced with serious financial shortfalls in college funds. This was the first leveling-off in the growth of the college in 25 years. Not so in terms of research facilities: the expansion of research capability at the institute grew at a frantic rate during these years.

Student enrollment, always a barometer of the health of the college, dropped slowly but steadily from the high of 1381 students in 1982, reaching 1218 in the fall of 1988. This drop in students, while alarming because of reduction in funding that resulted, was not a severe drop in terms of percentage. The enrollments, on average, remained the highest in the school's 100-year history. In its past, particularly in the early days of the school, it was not unusual for there to be variations of 50 to 100 percent from year to year. Nevertheless, the College Division remained troubled by money problems but remained relatively stable during the last six years of its first century.

Capital growth patterns continued under Lattman. Phase III of the Mineral Science and Engineering Center was completed, as was a new building for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. The buildings, grounds, and maintenance functions moved into new quarters west of the golf course, taking that operation away from the heart of the campus. The married student housing units built in the early Colgate years had simply worn out, and a whole new complex of student family apartments was constructed on the southwestern part of the campus. Near the swim center, a Student Activities Center was built which now serves as home for student government and student activities of all kinds. Roads were redesigned and rerouted to fit the new facilities.

Development in degree programs was difficult because of declining enrollment, but there were several programs initiated. In 1984 a doctorate in petroleum was initiated, and in 1987, a master's degree in materials engineering. An R.O.T.C program was established as a branch of the unit at New Mexico State at Las Cruces. Geologic engineering, which had been in and out of the curriculum several times, was given new life and a new curriculum. The technical communication degree approved in Ford's last year was installed and promoted during Lattman's first year. Also, the bachelor of arts degrees in history, social science, and mathematics disappeared from the curriculum.

The big story of the Lattman administration was in the area of research. Growth in research and research facilities was as great as any in the history of the school over its hundred years. TERA led the way. The growth of the federal defense budget in the 1980s brought significant gains in weapons and explosive testing, and TERA grew by leaps and bounds. The research park, closely related to TERA activities, brought to reality during Lattman's years, succeeded in attracting important private facilities, particularly those relating to explosive research and development. Both Aerojet and Honeywell Corporations established facilities in the park. Access roads were built to the new facilities, utilities put in place, and preliminary site preparation was all supplied by the institution. A large piece of land was consolidated and acquired in a complex arrangement with the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, and private landowners. The entire deal was approved by the United States Congress. All of Socorro Mountain was now within the confines of institute lands, and the research park facilities surround the mountain. The acquisition allowed the research park adequate space and allowed the continued expansion of the TERA facilities. Also connected with explosives research was the Center for Explosives Technology Research (CETR), established by state funding as a Center for Technical Excellence and a part of the Rio Grande Research Corridor. It is a unique research facility, and an important component of the research park. In addition, the traditional divisions devoted mainly to research -- the Bureau of Mines, the Petroleum Recovery Research Center, and the Research and Development Division -- grew steadily as the reputation of the institute became nationally recognized. Despite federal and state budget problems, Tech research funding grew substantially. The components in the institute budget for research were larger by several times than those relating to the college.

The Lattman years continued and reinforced the processes set in motion after World War II. The school grew as a center for science and engineering education and research. Its reputation for both was enhanced and prospered. Despite the small decline in students, overall growth was still the pattern. But the hallmark of the Lattman years was a strong research emphasis.

It has been quite a century, 1889-1989. Fifteen presidents, 25,000 students, so many faculty, nearly 5000 graduates, traditions that were here and then gone, and so much more. The school today is different, yet there remains much of the old in and among the new. If one seeks ties with the past, they will not be disappointed. If one wants to measure the school's importance to the present, it is there. And if one wants to peer into the future, the school's course is set and its expectations are optimistic.

And thus we return to where we started. A small college on the Rio Grande in Socorro that has added to the sum total of scientific and technical knowledge about the planet earth. This has been the story of that small school.