Wikipedia states the term geological engineering was not coined until the 19th century and ties the field's formal creation to a run of dam failures in the 1950s and 1960s, but names no single founding year for either the term or the discipline.
What would resolve this A history-of-engineering source naming the specific year the term geological engineering was first used, or the specific year the first dedicated university program or professional body was established.
OpenHistory of engineeringWikipedia contributors, Geological Engineering (Wikipedia)