The First Professional Degrees by:  William Copeland In 1882, Golden was a booming town. An early guidebook credited Golden with a pottery, a paper mill, three smelters, four breweries, three fire brick manufacturers, three flouring mills, stone and rock quarries, railroad shops, car manufacturing plants, an iron foundry, and five coal mines. "There are two banks, a number of business blocks, six church edifices, one large public school capable of accommodating 300 pupils, several hotels, but none worth bragging about." "The School of Mines for the State is located there and has recently erected a fine large brick building. The number of students in attendance is rapidly increasing, while the facilities afforded them for advancements in theory and in practice are not equaled by those of any institution in the country, including the School of Mines at Columbia and Boston Polytechnic." The Graduate School was up-to-date also. The first doctorate in the nation has been conferred in 1876 and only six years later, the Mines catalog started. "The degree of PhD will be conferred upon those graduates of the Colorado State School of Mines in any one of the above named courses (mining engineering, civil engineering, metallurgy) who, after having pursued studies under the direction of the Faculty for three years subsequent to graduation shall pass a satisfactory examination in the subjects investigated, and shall, in addition, present in print a satisfactory thesis upon some prescribed or accepted subjects." The response was not overwhelming. In fact, the first masters degree was not given until 1913 and the first doctorate in 1922—forty years after it was first offered. In 1922, Will V. Norris received his doctorate in chemistry with a thesis entitled, "Flourine-Quantitative Methods of determining Flourine" and George Salzer received his doctorate in metallurgy with a thesis entitled, "Notes on Electrical Precipitation." Graduate work at that time was informal and on an individual basis. Special committees were appointed for each student, and no uniform guidelines were evident. In 1923, President Alderson appointed a graduate committee for the purpose of establishing standards and procedures. This committee was chaired by Clark B. Carpenter. In November 1952, the Board of Trustees established a graduate school, and Clark Carpenter became the first graduate dean. When he retired in 1953, Dr. Truman Kuhn succeeded him and was Dean in 1954 when the Board of Trustees established a Graduate Faculty. One of his first tasks was to establish the bylaws and develop the graduate school structure. Many policies were established or redefined and spelled out for the Faculty and students. After Kuhn became Dean of Faculty, Dr. A. Raymond Jordan became the third graduate dean. In his fifteen-year tenure, the enrollment grew dramatically, and the role of research on this campus was strengthened. Research Services was established to help faculty win research contracts and grants. These, in turn, provided student support and equipment for the various projects. Today the Graduate School is reaching the promise of those busting, optimistic years in Golden 90 years ago. In the intervening years, over 1500 graduate degree have been conferred, but 7.5% of them were granted this past year. Half of the total has been granted since 1970. The enrollment is rapidly approaching the 500 level, which the Board of Trustees approved as part of the 3000-student goal. Keeping the number of eager graduate students working on significant research projects has kept the Graduate Faculty busy. The sponsored research award volume has increased by a factor of ten in the past ten years to over $3 million annually. More faculty than ever before are involved in field or laboratory research. All of this activity has greatly increased the research results for which Mines can proudly accept all credit. Only one brewery remains in Golden, and we no longer have a car manufacturing plant, but the Graduate School of Mines is thriving. Mines Magazine June 1978