Mines establishes Trefny Institute for Educational Innovation

GOLDEN, Colo., Aug. 23, 2007 – To advance its strong leadership in engineering education, the Colorado School of Mines has established the John and Sharon Trefny Institute for Educational Innovation.

John Trefny served as Mines' 15th president from 2001 until his retirement in 2006. In recognition of the Trefnys' outstanding service to Mines and in recognition of Dr. Trefny's vision for outstanding applied science and engineering education, the Institute comprises the Center for Engineering Education, the Office of Innovation in Learning and Teaching, and the Center for Assessment of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

By integrating these programs, the Institute seeks to foster the cycle of discovery, innovation, application, and evaluation and ensure the curricula at Mines are based on best practices and the latest educational research.

The Institute will have the resources of the Trefny Endowment and an endowment established by alumni and friends who contributed more than $800,000 in honor of John and Sharon Trefny in 2006.

The Institute will use these funds to support curriculum development mini-grants, guest speakers, faculty workshops, travel to promote the activities of the Institute, seed money for new research and assessment projects, and stipends for undergraduate and graduate researchers.