Harry D. Campbell '42: Making a Mark on the Mines Campus

It isn't easy to summarize Harry Campbell's impact on the Mines campus. Having just celebrated his 94th birthday, the successful Mines alumnus has a long history of involvement with the School, which can be traced at least as far back as when he played on the legendary 1939 undefeated football team.

As a 1942 petroleum engineering graduate, Harry's career spanned a critical period for the oil and gas industry, during which he was able to make important contributions. Over the years Harry has made numerous substantial contributions to Mines as well. He is a charter member of the President's Council and, in October, he will be inducted into the Platinum level of the Mines Century Society, with his lifetime giving now exceeding $3 million. He has also maintained his membership in the Colorado School of Mines Alumni Association since the 1950s and has chaired several of his class reunion giving committees.

During his long career, Campbell served as an engineer for Unocal, the president of Franco Western Oil and general manager of the Western Division of Mobil Oil. In 1972, he founded The Campbell Company focused on petroleum exploration. He has remained an active and prominent member of several professional associations, including the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Harry's generosity over the last six decades has helped the School take great strides in both academics and athletics: "Harry Campbell and his family are amont the strongest supporters of Colorado School of Mines' academic mission and athletic goals," said Director of Athletics Tom Spicer.

In particular, Campbell has given considerable assistance to the Mines football team, most recently funding the construction of a new playing field - the Harry D. Campbell Football Field - with a half-million dollar gift. In recognition of his involvement, he holds a place in the School's Athletic Hall of Fame, and Head Coach Bob Stitt attributes the football team's recent advancement in part to Harry's support. "We've been able to hire more talented coaches, increase our operating budget and offer more student scholarships as a result of Harry's longstanding generosity. All of this has enabled us to give our players a truly first-class football experience," he said. Mines' football program moved from the bottom of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference to a 2004 conference championship in just five years.

Harry has also extended his generosity to the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Mines. Last year, he gave more than $1.5 million to establish the Harry D. Campbell Endowed Chair in Petroleum Engineering. An international search is curently underway to fill this position. Campbell has also contributed to the Marquez Hall project, the campaign to raise funds for the new state-of-the-art facility for petroleum engineering at Mines. "Harry has built a living legacy at the School," said Craig Van Kirk, professor and former PE department head. "Dedicated partners like Harry make it possible for Mines to reinforce our academic and research programs and maintain the standards of excellence for which we are known around the world."

Indeed, Mines wouldn't be the distinctive place that it is today without a dedicated community of supporters. Harry Campbell's outstanding philanthropic commitment to the School's people, programs and infrastructure will serve as an inspiring example for generations to come.

McBride Honors Program Students Donate Awards to Start
Washington Internship Fund

When McBride Honors Program seniors Bryan Carruthers, Nathan Hancock and Eirik Pyhtila spent time in Brazil and Washington D.C. studying public policy last spring, they noticed that there were very few policy interns with engineering backgrounds. Along with the rest of their class, they suspected that this was because public policy internships are typically unpaid, whereas most engineering students can secure paid summer internships in industry. To remedy this situation, the McBride students decided to create a paid public internship for Mines students.

When Eirik and Bryan found out they would both be receiving the McBride Philipose Outstanding Senior award, they immediately pledged their $500 awards toward establishing the internship fund. Nathan, the recipient of Outstanding Graduating Senior award in Geophysical Engineering, also jumped on board, pledging his $500 award as well.

“When I was told I would be receiving the Philipose Outstanding Senior award, I felt it was the perfect opportunity to put funding behind an important idea. The value of my award increased exponentially by starting a program that will support numerous future McBride students,” Bryan says.

Not only will a paid internship help future McBride students, it will benefit national public policy as well. “We met many political leaders who expressed the importance of getting scientists and engineers into public policy, especially as our society becomes increasingly dependent on new technologies,” Eirik points out. “In fact, if we had a dollar for every legislator and lobbyist who said this, the money for the internship would already be in the bank.”

“Engineers and people with technical backgrounds are under-represented in public policy. Those with a critical and developed understanding of economics and technology are not contributing their share to the process. Policy suffers as a result,” Bryan adds.  

Bryan, Nathan and Eirik hope that the donation of their senior awards will inspire other alumni, foundations and corporations to support the public policy internship fund. “While our ultimate goal is to build a $100,000 endowment, we hope to at least raise $10,000 in the next year or two. With this initial amount, we want to be able to award a small stipend to a deserving Mines student to help offset the cost of interning for the summer in D.C. Eventually we hope to make an award comparable to what one would earn in industry, about $5,000 for the summer,” Nathan says.

Editor’s note: Shortly before going to press, Mines magazine learned that Jerry ’68 and Tina Grandey have given $20,000 to the Washington Internship Fund that Bryan, Nathan and Eirik started. If you would like to contribute to the internship endowment fund,, please contact the Office of Institutional Advancement at (303) 273-3275.

Reunion Gift

On behalf of the 2007 reunion classes, Reunion Giving National Chair John Lockridge '52 presented a check to the School for more than $2 million. Left to right: President Scoggins, John Lockridge, and Senior Gift Co-Chairs Jennifer Cho and Jenn Crites.

ConocoPhillips Contributes $250,000 to Mines: Other Recent Gifts

Colorado School of Mines recently received three large gifts:

• ConocoPhillips contributed $250,000 to support the ConocoPhillips SPIRIT Scholars Program; the departments of Chemical Engineering, Geology & Geological Engineering, Geophysics and Petroleum Engineering; geoscience graduate fellowships; the Minority Engineering Program; the Society of Women Engineers student chapter; the Society of Petroleum Engineers student chapter; the American Institue of Chemical Engineers studnet chapter; and the Career Center.
• Frank and Dot Stermole gave $132,157 in contiuned support of the Stermole Fund for Athletics.
• Herb '38 and Dodie Young established a trust with a gift of $104,000 to further benefit the Herbert L. and Doris S. Young Environmental Studies Fund.

• The Adolph Coors Foundation continued its support of scholarships with a gift of $75,000
• John H. '57 and Margo Barney donated $70,000 to The Mines Fund in honor of Jack's 50th Reunion, bringing them into the Mines Century Society.
• BP contributed gifts totaling $31,100 to support scholarships; the Minority Engineering Program; lab equipment for Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Petroleum Engineering; the Society of Women Engineers student chapter; and the Society of Petroleum Engineers student chapter.
• The Edna Bailey Sussman Fund contributed $45,360 to support environmental internships.
• EnCana Oil & Gas (USA), Inc. contributed $35,000 to support graduate students in the Department of Geology & Geological Engineering.
• Infiltrator Systems, Inc. continued its support of Dr. Robert L. Siegrists's research and educational activities in wastewater systems with recent figts totaling $48,000.
• With a $25,000 gift, Michael G. Long '72 established the Nations Petroleum Endowed Scholarship Fund in honor of the time he has spent in Kazakhstan working for Nations Petroleum. This scholarship will benefit students from that region who are majoring in petroleum engineering or one of the earth sciences at Mines.
• Phelps Dodge Corporation contributed $71,827 to support a graduate student in the Department of Geology & Geological Engineering.
• The Phelps Doge Foundation contributed $25,000 to support scholarships.
• Harry A. Trueblood, Jr. contributed $30,000 toward the Harry Trueblood Foundation Scholrship for students in the Petroleum Engineering Department.
• Jeffrey Vaughan '82 made an unrestricted gift of $25,000 in honor of his 25th Reunion.
• Terry K. Young contributed $25,000 to establish the Dr. Richard J. Carlson Endowed Rugby Scholarship fund in honor of her late cousin.