Mission, Vision, Strategic Planning

Mines Vision

We, the Colorado School of Mines community, are united by our commitment to our timeless mission of educating and inspiring students from all backgrounds and advancing knowledge and innovations, with the aspiration that our graduates, ideas, actions and innovations will have a transformative impact on individuals and society, leading to shared prosperity and sustainable use of the Earth’s resources.

Mines@150

As Colorado School of Mines celebrated our 150th anniversary in 2024, dynamic and disruptive change was all around us. We worked towards navigating an increasingly competitive higher education landscape, responded to the changing education and innovation needs of industry and society, and did not become complacent with our accomplishments.

MINES@150 was our plan to position Mines for future success. It called for change, but also for staying true to our timeless mission, pillars, and core values. MINES@150 leveraged our size, location, and history, ensured that our graduates would continue to be distinctive and highly valued, placed Mines at the frontiers of STEM education, research, and innovation, and elevated our status among the world’s top universities.

Based on identified threats, a self-assessment, and campus discussions, we recognized that to succeed as a mid-sized and uniquely focused university, we focused on several goals.

• Be a top-of-mind and first-choice university for students, public and private partners, and faculty and staff.
• Expand offerings and diversify delivery, particularly for professionally oriented pre- and post-graduate education.
• Grow the scale and impact of research, focus on thematic strengths, develop a more social research culture, and diversify funding sources.
• Strengthen affinity for Mines among our students, alumni, and external partners.
• Be more innovative and entrepreneurial, especially in the use of our resources.
• Attract private investment to support our key strategic initiatives.

Each of the values above facilitates our shared success, and the advancement of MINES and its mission; by our examples and by our encouragement we seek to foster these values throughout our community, and especially among our students, so as to inspire them to pursue excellence in our shared lives of inquiry and innovation.