When the University of Texas at El Paso announced last month that it planned to restart its mining engineering degree program, one of the affirmative voices belonged to Walter Vernon Kramer.
Kramer, 84, is considered the last person to earn a mining engineering degree in 1966 from Texas Western College, now UTEP, as well as the first to receive a master’s degree in geology from the university in 1970.
He said that his UTEP education set him on a path to an exciting – and sometimes dangerous – 30-year career that took him around the globe several times, as well as his current job as a professor of geology at Del Mar College near Corpus Christi, Texas.
Kramer shared his support for the planned program and stories of his life as a geologist/mining engineer during a recent phone interview from his home in Ingleside on the Bay, Texas.
“With a mining engineer, you’re a jack of all trades,” he said. “You have to do some civil (engineering), some mechanical, some electrical. You had to do a little bit of everything, and that’s what makes it exciting.”
The UTEP alumnus, who worked his way through college with engineering jobs to include some as far away as Idaho and Colorado, said he helped design exploration projects and often was the one who would investigate and clear old, abandoned underground mines or trek down into open pit mines to evaluate a sales price.
Kramer acknowledged that his work could be hazardous, but it was part of what attracted him to the profession.
“I got to do things that nobody else got to do,” Kramer said. “I could not believe that I was actually getting paid to do this. It was just thrilling.”
The native of Victoria, Texas, said that he has worked on every continent except Australia and Antarctica, and was part of teams that discovered major deposits of gold, oil and gas. He also recalled how he led a team in Thailand and as they cut away brush, he found himself face-to-face with a venomous king cobra. His men killed the snake and ate it.
His initial interest in mining was a result of an episode of “The Lone Ranger” radio program in the 1940s. One of the characters in an episode was a mining engineer and Kramer thought the man’s job was interesting. As he matured, he read newspaper accounts about deadly mining accidents. He wondered how he might be able to prevent those disasters and save lives as a mining engineer.
Mining engineers ensure that underground assets such as oil, gas, metals and minerals are unearthed safely and effectively. The mined minerals could be utilized for energy, electronics, national security and many essential technologies.
The university plans to launch its new mining program in fall 2027 and produce its first graduates in spring 2031. Once established, officials expect to generate 100 graduates annually. According to UTEP, U.S. universities graduated 312 mining engineers in 2023 and the field expects to need about 500 new engineers annually to replace those who retire or leave the field.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook from 2023 states that there were 7,100 mining and geological engineers working around the country at that time. The median annual salary was about $100,600. There is an expected 2% employment growth in the number of jobs in this field through 2033.
Raul Valencia, 30, said that UTEP made the right decision to restart the program. He earned his bachelor’s degree in environmental science with a focus on hydrology in spring 2024 and is pursuing his MS in geological sciences.
Valencia said UTEP is the perfect place for such a degree because it already has a strong foundation, a supportive faculty and access to eager students.
“I’m sad I won’t be part of it,” Valencia said.
At the time of the announcement Sept. 9, Kenith E. Meissner II, dean of the College of Engineering, said that the university needed to raise additional funds, hire a program director and six faculty for the departments of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences, as well as Metallurgical, Materials and Biomedical Engineering, and seek program approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
University of Texas System Chancellor James B. Milliken, who was present for the announcement, said that mining is an $8 billion industry in Texas and he was glad that UTEP would take an active role in training the next generation of mining engineers. He called the restoration of the mining degree “an important strategic component of competitiveness globally.”
UTEP President Heather Wilson said there was strong support within the university and the UT System as well as strong interest from industry partners for this program.
“They’re all facing the same problem, an aging workforce and a need for 21st century mining engineers,” Wilson said.
A change of pace
Kramer decided about 20 years ago to slow down, but not retire. He earned a teaching credential from what is now Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi and later began to teach at Del Mar.
He peppers the curriculum with stories of his adventures as well as mining terms and methods from past generations. He also takes students to mining and geological sites within a few hours of the campus.
It was during his time as a college professor that The Mars Society tapped him to lead a simulated 30-day mission to the Red Planet represented by the Haughton crater on Canada’s Devon Island. The professor used his engineering background to help the team overcome technological difficulties to complete the operation.
Despite his students’ focus on geology, Kramer encouraged those who would continue their education at four-year institutions to take a few engineering courses to strengthen their marketability. He knows that some students are against mining, but he reminds them how the excavated minerals are used for technology.
“If you don’t want (cellular phones and the like), then you should look into a crank hand telephone,” said Kramer, who referenced phones used in America from the late 1800s to early 1900s.
The post Texas Western College’s last mining engineering graduate loved career thrills, risks appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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