University of Texas El Paso - Flowsheet Yearbook (El Paso, TX)

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Dzong La, newly named yearbook of the University of Texas at El Paso, is be- ing introduced some sixty-five years after the first such publication at what was then the Texas School of Mines, (TSM). That first edition, at the end of the 1919-20 academic year, was a special issue of The Prospector, which a few months earlier had changed from maga- zine to newspaper format. The editors described it as “a souvenir of a year spent in TSM, and if, in times to come, it affords some pleasure to those who at- tended the Mines ... then it will have amply served its purpose.”’ By 1921-22, the school, having be- come a college of The University of Tex- as, material about its 93 students was sent to Austin for inclusion in the Cac- tus. But the following year, Mines stu- dents staffed their own yearbook under a name borrowed from ore milling reports: Flowsheet. It is to the Flowsheets of the years through 1972 that we turn for informa- tion that only yearbooks provide about educational institutions: names of faculty members and students, organizations and their activities, sports events, the appearance of the campus, the tone of the period as reflected in clothing and cars, and the people recognized as role models in the yearbook dedications. During the late twenties, the Flowsheet put on weight and adopted a heavy embossed cover. The school had expanded liberal arts offerings after the El Paso Junior College closed in 1927 and sent its faculty and students to the College of Mines. Then came the Depression years of the early thirties, when editors apologized for the small books that were the best they could af- ford in lean times. At the close of World War Il, with pa- per available and a potential readership of more than 2,000 students (many of them veterans), the Flowsheet adopted a larger format. As tastes changed in the sixties, editors began looking beyond the campus to social issues that were affect- ing students everywhere. In the 1968 Flowsheet, for example, was a special report that begun: ‘1968 is the Year of the War. It is the Year of Pot. It is the Year of the new draft laws ... The time in which the University students exist, this world of 1968, is unlike any other period in the history of our nation.” Dramatic photos and serious essays were interspersed with the usual records of university life in the last Flowsheet in 1972. By that time, the University had more than 10,000 students. The trend around the country was away from long-accepted traditions of aca- demic life, and yearbooks were among them. The pendulum began swinging in the early 1980's. This year, at last, a group of students felt the time was right to start anew. No change of name had oc- curred in the yearbook when the College of Mines became Texas Western in 1949, or UT El Paso in 1967. But now, in a doctoral degree-granting institution of 15,000 students, one that has awarded more than 40,000 degrees since 1916, a new identity was called for. With Dzong La, “The Fortress at the Pass,” the unique qualities of the University can live on for future genera- tions to enjoy. Then this book, like that of 1920, “will have amply served its purpose.” Opening Dzong La 3

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Journey Through the Seasons Although fall traditionally signifies the waning of life, it is only the beginning of life on the UT El Paso campus. We welcome old friends as well as make new ones. Students stand in long lines to buy expensive books after struggling through registration. Getting back into those forgotten study habits fills the first few weeks of school. Of course the students cheer with high hopes through another football sea- son while waiting with great expecta- tions for another exciting basketball sea- son. Icy cold weather is the dominant feature of winter. Students wear warm wooly sweaters and skis, whenever the opportunity arises. Students have a good reason to snuggle close to their favorite somebody while sitting in front of a roaring fire, sipping hot chocolate. Winter is time for taking time for special family gatherings like Christmas. Partying is not passed by though. New Year’s Eve seems to have been invented for the Party Animal. High on the list of activities for the student is registration for another semes- ter at UT El Paso. i | Opening Dzong La 5