How do you top a yearlong anniversary celebration?
By keeping the momentum going, of course, with record-breaking fundraising, the opening of new living and learning spaces, impactful research and big wins on the field and beyond.
Colorado School of Mines had a lot to celebrate in 2025 – the 151st year since our founding – so let’s tip our Mines Hats to some of the most memorable moments of the past 12 months.
Campaign for MINES@150 breaks fundraising records
The Campaign for MINES@150, the most ambitious and successful fundraising initiative in Mines history closed in June, raising a record-breaking $589 million for the university’s Entrepreneurship & Innovation Ecosystem, signature student experiences, scholarships, endowed chairs and more.
Even more impressive is the fact that Mines has an alumni base of just 40,000 graduates. According to the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and EAB, universities average $1,150 raised per alum per year in a comprehensive campaign. The Campaign for MINES@150 exceeded that figure by 42 percent.
Read more: Record-breaking Campaign for MINES@150 secures $589M
New living and learning spaces open on campus
After two years of construction, the new-and-improved Village at Mines Park opened in August, more than doubling the on-campus housing for graduate and upper-division undergraduate students.
Located off 19th Street on the west side of U.S. 6, the $151 million student housing project increased the bed count at Mines Park from 495 to 1,058 and added a fitness center, indoor and outdoor gathering spaces and Scully’s Cafe, a coffee shop and eatery open to the public.
On the other side of campus, the East Classroom Building also welcomed its first classes in August – and added another 865 parking spaces to campus via its attached parking garage, the second on campus.
Meanwhile, construction continued full speed ahead on the Energy and Materials Research Facility and Lookout Apartments, a seventh residence hall that will allow Mines to house the sophomore class on campus starting in Fall 2026.
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#HelluvaEngineer: Orediggers win on and off the field
We already knew Mines students are out of this world, but the Mines Rocket Club went even further, achieving one of the highest collegiate staged rocket flights in recorded history. This spring, the team sent their two-stage Fever Dream rocket 43,476 feet above the Mojave Desert in California.
That was just one of many big wins for Orediggers on and off the field in 2025. Other firsts:
The women’s club rugby team won the program's first-ever national title, beating defending champion Endicott College 38-29 in the final of the National Collegiate Rugby Division III Championship in December.
The women’s varsity cross country team finished second in the nation at the 2025 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships in November – the best team performance by an Oredigger varsity women’s team in any sport ever.
Mines students left their mark on the survey field, too, taking third place in the 2025 National Utility Engineering and Surveying Institute Surveying Competition, hosted by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The survey team was one of three that Mines sent to the ASCE national championships in 2025, the only university in Region 7 to send teams to the three society-wide national finals.
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Mines names new provost to lead academic enterprise
After a nationwide search, Mines named its new provost in February – a familiar face in Stefanie Tompkins.
Mines' former Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer returned to Golden this spring after serving as the 23rd director of U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). As provost, Tompkins leads the university’s academic enterprise, responsible for shaping the faculty, students and academic programs so that Mines continues to excel in its mission of producing the talent, knowledge and innovations that industry and society need and continues to advance toward its aspiration of being a top-of-mind and first-choice university for students, faculty and external partners.
Read more: Colorado School of Mines names Stefanie Tompkins as new Provost
New educational partnerships, pathways forged for future Orediggers
On the admissions front in 2025, Mines launched multiple new pathways for future Orediggers to earn a bachelor’s degree and increase access to a Mines education.
In March, Mines announced its first-ever guaranteed admissions pathway with a local high school district. Starting with the Class of 2026, qualified students at Jeffco Public Schools who maintain a certain GPA, complete advanced math and science coursework, and graduate with a STEM-endorsed diploma from any high school in the district will be eligible for guaranteed admission into any four-year Bachelor of Science degree program at Mines.
For community college transfer students, Mines launched its third Mines Academy program in the Denver metro area in November, in partnership with Arapahoe Community College.
Through the Mines Academy at ACC, students will complete the majority of Mines’ core curriculum at ACC while pursuing their Associate of Engineering Science (AES) degree, ensuring a smooth transfer of credits between the two institutions. In addition to guaranteed admission into Mines, students accepted into the Mines Academy at ACC will also receive additional academic support at ACC and broad access to Mines’ student services through specialized workshops and tours.
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Critical minerals research makes impact in Washington and beyond
A team of Colorado School of Mines researchers is impacting the critical minerals conversation in Washington, D.C. and beyond, thanks to a high-profile paper published in the journal Science in August.
Led by Elizabeth Holley, associate professor of mining engineering, the Science analysis showed that all the critical minerals the U.S. needs annually for energy, defense and technology applications are already being mined at existing U.S. facilities – but these minerals, such as cobalt, lithium, gallium and rare earth elements like neodymium and yttrium, are currently being discarded as tailings of other mineral streams like gold and zinc.
Since the paper’s publication, the researchers have published an opinion piece in the Washington Post and conducted high-level briefings with multiple federal agencies and Congressional committees. In addition, the research has served as the foundation for bipartisan legislation, recommendations from the House Select Committee on China and opened doors for collaboration with industry and federal partners.
It’s just one example of the real-world impact of Mines research in energy, critical minerals, quantum and beyond – in 2025, our researchers made headlines for their work to confirm the existence of freshwater under the ocean, PFAS treatment and remediation and more.
Read more: U.S. already has the critical minerals it needs – but they're being thrown away, new analysis shows
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.