UTEP | College of Engineering

Estate Gift Highlights UTEP’s Mining Heritage

Watercolor Lithograph

An alumnus of The University of Texas at El Paso has donated 11 watercolor lithographs to the College of Engineering from the estate of his uncle, a former UTEP dean.

Jay Thomas, who graduated from Texas Western College (now UTEP) in 1951 with a bachelor’s in mining, asked that the prints of his late uncle, Eugene M. Thomas (1905-1980), be displayed on the campus.

Eugene Thomas attended the College of Mines and Metallurgy (now UTEP) from 1922-26 and later served as a professor, dean of the College of Engineering and interim president of the University.

The color prints depict Japanese copper mining operations. When arranged in order, they show the mining process from excavation to ore smelting and casting the metal into a mold. They are displayed in the conference room of the dean’s suite in the College of Engineering.

The College’s current dean, Richard Schoephoerster, talked about what the lithographs meant to the College of Engineering and to UTEP.

“When I tell the UTEP story to visitors of the College, I always start with ‘It all started with Engineering,’” he said. “For people to understand who we are now, and where we are going, it is important to know where we came from. That’s true for the faculty and students of the College as well.”