Colorado Schools of Mines 1968
Hometown: Golden, Colorado
Inducted May 2016
Lieutenant Colonel Bruce P. Goetz, USA (Ret) graduated 1968 from Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont, and commissioned into the regular Army and on active duty in the Corps of Engineers. He served three years with the 1st Special Forces Group headquartered on Okinawa, Japan; during which he was deployed to the Republic of Vietnam. He later commanded the 642nd Engineer Company, 39th Engineer Battalion, and after his command, he served as the 39th Engineer Battalion Operations Officer (S3), Fort Devens, Massachusetts.
Lieutenant Colonel (Ret) Goetz' graduate school achievements include a Master of Science / Master of Business Administration from the Florida Institute of Technology and a Masters of Arts from the Command and General Staff College.
Lieutenant Colonel (Ret) Goetz served as Captain and Major in the ROTC Program at Colorado School of Mines from 1980-1984. After a duty station assignment as Staff Officer, Department of the Army, Office of Operations Research, Lieutenant Colonel Goetz returned to Colorado School of Mines in 1987, to become the Professor of Military Science. Lieutenant Colonel Goetz retired from the Army in this position in 1991, when he became Director of Admissions for Colorado School of Mines and held this position from 1991 until his retirement in 2015.
Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Goetz was the last Professor of Military Science assigned to the ROTC Detachment at Colorado School of Mines. Lieutenant Colonel Goetz was instrumental in coordinating the smooth transition of the Mines program from an independent ROTC program to that of a subordinate ROTC unit belonging to the parent ROTC program at the University of Colorado Boulder.
As a result of the downsizing of ROTC, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret) Goetz recognized the importance of maintaining an Army presence on the Mines campus, and he was tireless in his efforts to convince the Mines Administration and Mines Alumni that this "cross-town" arrangement was the best way forward. He drew on the fact that Mines is a very unique university with a relatively small undergraduate enrollment but a university whose graduates are tremendous engineers sought after by industry, government, and the Armed Services. The scholarship program offered by the Army provides prospective students and Cadets an opportunity to study at Mines and a strong revenue stream for the university.
Today, through his efforts and those of many others, Colorado School of Mines continues to proudly support an Army Reserve Officers Training Program.