San Juan College breaks ground on geology museum expansion

San Juan College is adding 3,734 square feet to the Sherman Dugan Museum of Geology, a move meant to give students, school groups and visitors more room to see fossil and mineral displays, energy industry equipment and hands-on demonstrations at the School of Energy in Farmington.

The college marked the project with a groundbreaking ceremony on its campus at 5301 College Blvd. The event, listed as “The Next Layer of Discovery,” ran from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on April 8, 2026. The expansion is backed by a $4 million donation from the Dugan family and will extend both indoor exhibit space and exterior areas, including a large terrace designed for public programming and larger events.

College leaders said the project is about more than adding space. Toni Hopper Pendergrass called it “an exciting step forward for San Juan College and the communities we serve,” and said the expansion would strengthen hands-on learning and public engagement. In college materials, she also described it as “far more than additional square footage,” saying it would serve as a hub for collaboration among students, educators and community members. John Burris, a San Juan College geology professor, said the new space will “transform how we experience geology,” pointing to interactive exhibits and real-world equipment as tools that can draw more students toward earth sciences and energy careers.

That workforce connection is central in San Juan County, where the School of Energy serves as a 65,000-square-foot training facility focused on energy-industry programs. By placing the museum next to that school and linking the two with movable window walls, San Juan College is pairing public education with workforce development in one building. The museum already welcomes the public, and the expanded space is intended to deepen that access for classes, campus programming and visiting groups from across the Four Corners region.

The museum’s roots trace back to Sherman E. Dugan, a lifelong Farmington resident who collected rocks, minerals and fossils for decades and amassed one of the largest private collections in the Southwest. After his death in December 2013, the Tom Dugan family donated a large portion of his museum-quality collection to the San Juan College Foundation, forming the base of what the college describes as the most comprehensive mineral and fossil collection in the Four Corners. The museum includes specimens from Mexico, Canada and Africa, along with a newer exhibit on prehistoric animals from the San Juan Basin. San Juan College is working with Dekker Design and Sabatini and Jaynes Corp. as the project moves from groundbreaking into design and construction.