Mining Engineering to launch professional master's degree

The Mining Engineering Department at Colorado School of Mines has received approval from the Board of Trustees to launch an innovative new graduate degree program. The Professional Masters in Mining Engineering and Management is an advanced degree that focuses on the practical integration of the technical, financial, management and other linked disciplines that make up the mining industry today. The program will be delivered exclusively online and will be among the first online programs offered by the School of Mines.

 “This is a one-of-a-kind program that we are really excited about,” said Dr. Priscilla Nelson, professor and head of the Mining Engineering Department. “It focuses on those things that industry executives tell us they wish they would have learned during their academic careers.  We have wrapped the business and management elements into a mining engineering degree that emphasizes where the industry will be in the future instead of where it has been in the past.  And, because it is delivered online, students don’t have to quit their jobs and come to campus to get their advanced degree – they can do this program from anywhere and receive their degree from one of the best mining schools in the world.”

Successful candidates for this program will have an undergraduate degree in engineering and at least five years of professional experience in the mining sector. Applications are being accepted for Fall 2018, pending final confirmation from the Colorado Department of Higher Education and online accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission. 

The online program will be comprised of twelve 8-week courses plus an independent project, for a total of 33 credit hours. Courses are intended to be taken in a fixed sequence, one course at a time, with program completion in two years. Courses will cover mine-related engineering and technology, mine support services, and mine-applied business and management. Each course will address the state of the practice, the risks and uncertainties, and the innovations and trends that will impact the mining industry in the future.  Courses will also address the use of information systems to organize and use the huge amounts of data the industry generates, and how best to integrate important linked disciplines like social and environmental responsibility, occupational and community health and safety, project security, water and waste management, internal and external communications, and life-cycle planning and closure.

Colorado School of Mines has been providing specialty knowledge to mining industry professionals since 1874. The Mining Engineering Department has offered on-campus Master of Science degrees with an academic focus and research activities for many years, and will continue to do so. The Industry Advisory Committee to the Mining Department and Mining Department faculty have strongly advocated for a professional, practice-centered program that will help advance mid-level professionals into senior and executive-level leadership roles – this Professional Masters in Mining Engineering and Management is just that program.

CONTACT
Emilie Rusch, Public Information Specialist, Communications and Marketing | 303-273-3361 | erusch@mines.edu
Barbara A. Filas, Mining Engineering Department | 303-941-9140 | bfilas@mines.edu

 

About Mines
Colorado School of Mines is a public R1 research university focused on applied science and engineering, producing the talent, knowledge and innovations to serve industry and benefit society – all to create a more prosperous future.