HILARITAS

The University of Alabama is a student-centered research university and an academic community united in its commitment to enhancing the quality of life for all Alabamians.

Founded in 1831 as Alabama's first public college, The University of Alabama is dedicated to excellence in teaching, research and service. We provide a creative, nurturing campus environment where our students can become the best individuals possible, can learn from the best and brightest faculty, and can make a positive difference in the community, the state and the world.

The University of Alabama family has always expected great things. After all, we are our state's flagship university - the Capstone of higher education.The University of Alabama, the State of Alabama's oldest public university, is a senior comprehensive doctoral-level institution. The University was established by constitutional provision under statutory mandates and authorizations. Its mission is to advance the intellectual and social condition of the people of the State through quality programs of teaching, research, and service.

Historical Timeline:

• 1818-1820
  • In 1818, the federal government authorized Alabama Territory to set aside a township for the establishment of a "seminary of learning." Alabama was admitted to the Union on March 2, 1819, and a second township added to the grant. On December 18, 1820, the seminary was established officially and named "The University of the State of Alabama."
• 1827
  • Tuscaloosa, then the state's capital, chosen as the University's home.
• 1831
  • On April 18, inaugural ceremonies held and the University opened. By May 28, 52 students had enrolled. The campus consisted of seven buildings: two faculty houses, two dormitories, the laboratory, the hotel (now Gorgas House), and the Rotunda.
• 1837
  • The University of Alabama becomes the first in the state to offer engineering classes. It was one of the first five in the nation to do so and one of the few to have maintained accreditation continuously since national accreditation began in 1936.
• 1841
  • President's Mansion completed. Its first occupant: Basil Manly, University president from 1837 to 1855.
  • Total University enrollment: 63
• 1850
  • Alabama Alpha chapter of Phi Beta Kappa established.
• 1851
  • Total University enrollment: 126
• 1859
  • Medical College branch of the University opened in Mobile.
• 1860
  • The University of Alabama became a military school - martial departmental and disciplinary systems established.
• 1861
  • Total University enrollment: 154
• 1865
  • Union troops spared only seven of the buildings on the UA campus. Of the principal buildings remaining today, the President's Mansion and its outbuildings still serve as the president's on-campus residence. The other buildings have new uses. Gorgas House, at different times the dining hall, faculty residence, and campus hotel, now serves as a museum. The Roundhouse, then a sentry box for cadets, later a place for records storage, is a campus historical landmark. The Observatory, now Maxwell Hall, is home to the Computer-Based Honors Program.
• 1868
  • The Medical College reopens in Mobile.
• 1871
  • During the Reconstruction era, a reorganized University opened to students.
  • Total University enrollment: 107
• 1872
  • The School of Law established.
• 1881-82
  • Antecedents of the UA College of Engineering were established with the offering of a formal, two-year course of study in civil engineering under the aegis of applied mathematics in 1837. The College of Engineering was established in 1909 with the opening of B. B. Comer Hall.
• Total University enrollment: 154
• 1891
  • Total University enrollment: 167
• 1892
  • The University's first football team assembled - the "Thin Red Line" that later became the "Crimson Tide."
• 1893
  • The first women students enrolled for the fall semester at the University. This was due in large part to the successful lobbying of the UA board of trustees by Julia S. Tutwiler. Tutwiler, then president of the Livingston Normal College for Girls, was a lifelong advocate of the right of women to be self-supporting members of society.
• 1894
  • The student newspaper, the Crimson White, makes its first appearance.
• 1901
  • Total University enrollment: 396
• 1903
  • In March, the Alabama Legislature decreed that, after thirty years of student protest, the military system of organization at the University be abandoned.
• 1904
  • A summer school for teachers begun in response to a need for better public education in Alabama, becoming the School of Education in 1909. The College of Education was established in 1929.
• 1906
  • At the University's diamond jubilee celebration, President John William Abercrombie presented to the board of trustees his plans for the Greater University fund-raising campaign, thus ensuring that the state legislature would no longer be the primary source for financing the University's growth.
• 1909
  • To meet the demands for specific training in two professions, the College of Engineering and the School of Education were established. Formerly part of the liberal arts disciplines, these new offspring would function independently of the now-reorganized College of Arts and Sciences.
• 1910
  • The Alabama Museum of Natural History in Smith Hall dedicated. Smith Hall served as a geological museum for the University's growing collections and still houses the Museum today.
• 1911
  • Total University enrollment: 571
• 1912
  • Dr. George Denny became University president; the campus consisted of 652 students and nine principal buildings. His presidency began an era of unprecedented physical and enrollment growth. When he retired in 1936, there were more than 5,000 students and 23 major buildings, which form the central core of the modern campus.
• 1914-15
  • University band organized.
• 1919
  • The School of Commerce founded. It became the College of Commerce and Business Administration in 1929. It was renamed the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration in 1997.
• 1920
  • The Medical College moved from Mobile to Tuscaloosa.
• 1921
  • Total University enrollment: 2134
• 1924
  • The Graduate School officially established.
• 1929
  • Denny Chimes dedicated. Named for Dr. George H. Denny, president of the University from 1912 to 1936.
• 1931
  • The School of Home Economics officially established. It became the College of Human Environmental Sciences in 1987.
• Total University enrollment: 4,639
• 1939
  • Moundville Archaeological Park and its museum opened to the public.
• 1941
  • Total University enrollment: 4,921
• 1945
  • The Medical College moved from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham.
  • The University Press was formed.
• 1948
  • Introduction of doctoral programs authorized; first doctorates awarded in 1952.
• 1951
  • Total University enrollment: 5,269
• 1956
  • UA's first African-American student, Autherine J. Lucy, was admitted. She was expelled three days later "for her own safety" in response to threats from a mob. In 1992 Autherine Lucy Foster graduated from the University with a master's degree in education. The same day, her daughter, Grazia Foster, graduated with a bachelor's degree in corporate finance.
• 1961
  • Total University enrollment: 8,257
• 1963
  • The first sustained enrollment of African-American students at UA - Vivian J. Malone and James A. Hood - was achieved. Vivian Malone graduated in 1965. James Hood returned to campus in 1995 and received a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary studies in 1997.
• 1965
  • The School of Social Work established.
• 1968
  • The Computer-Based Honors Program, in which undergraduate students apply computer technology to research in a wide range of fields, was established.
• 1969
  • The Graduate School of Library Service established by act of the Alabama Legislature. It became the School of Library and Information Studies in 1989. The School merged with the College of Communication in 1997 to become the College of Communication and Information Sciences.
• 1970
  • New College established to allow students to pursue individualized courses of study while maintaining the academic standards of the University.
• 1971
  • The College of Community Health Sciences established.
  • Total University enrollment: 13,055
• 1973
  • The School of Communication established. It became the College of Communication in 1988, and when it merged with the School of Information Sciences, was renamed the College of Communication and Information Sciences in 1997.
• 1976
  • The Capstone College of Nursing established.
• 1981
  • The University celebrates its sesquicentennial.
  • Total University enrollment: 16,388
• 1983
  • The College of Continuing Studies established to provide "learning opportunities that transcend the barriers of distance, time, and accessibility ... (and) education in the technology-based formats that non-traditional learners need, offering courses by satellite, videotape, and the Internet." Its roots reach back to the Summer School for teachers in 1904, becoming the Extension Division in 1919. In the 1970s it was called Extended Services, then the Division of Continuing Education.
• 1985
  • The M.F.A. Program in Book Arts, with specializations in printing and binding, is established within the School of Library and Information Studies. It is one of only three in the country to offer such an M.F.A. and the only one do so within the context of a library school.
• 1986
  • University Honors Program established.
  • The University's computerized library card catalog, AMELIA, available for use.
• 1991
  • Total University enrollment: 19,366
• 1994
  • The Stallings Center opened as the new home of the RISE Program.
• 1996
  • Blount Undergraduate Initiative established. (First freshman class accepted in 1999.)
• 1998
  • Second Capital Campaign concluded having raised a total amount $224 million in gifts and pledges.
  • International Honors Program established.
  • Modeled on UA's RISE Program, the RISE School of Dallas, Texas, opened.
  • Renovation of Bryant-Denny Stadium completed, increasing capacity to 82,000.
• 1999
  • Student Services Center completed.
  • Renovation of Sewell-Thomas Baseball Field to a capacity of 6,000 seats begun.
  • First freshman class accepted in Blount Undergraduate Initiative. Parker Adams Hall serves as its temporary headquarters.
• 2000
  • English major Bradley Tuggle from Decatur, Ala., named UA's 15th Rhodes Scholar.
  • Historic Barnard Hall rededicated as Oliver-Barnard Hall, the first of two Blount Undergraduate Initiative academic houses.
  • Construction of 1,500-seat UA Softball Complex completed.
  • Blount Living-Learning Center opens to its first resident class.
  • Construction of Alabama Institute for Manufacturing Excellence (AIME) completed.
  • Morgan Auditorium reopens after $1 million renovation, the first since its construction in 1911.
• 2001
  • UA alumnus Lieutenant Colonel Jim Kelly pilots a Discovery space shuttle mission.
  • For the third consecutive year, the UA School of Law ranked among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.
  • UA and Auburn University form the "Alabama-Auburn Alliance" to support fair funding of higher education.
  • Tide Navigator, a web-based registration system that is the first of its kind in the United States, debuts with incoming freshmen.
  • Enrollment: 19,633
• 2002
  • UA Alumni Association establishes FATE: Future Alumni for Tradition and Excellence.
  • Crimson Tradition Fund established with $10 million gift by Paul Bryant Jr.
  • UA named one of the top 50 public universities in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 2003.
  • UA student Kana Ellis of Northport, Ala., selected as as the first recipient of the Honors Student of the Year Award by the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC)
  • College of Community Health Sciences breaks ground for its $12.6 million facility, designed to consolidate all services and operations of the Tuscaloosa medical campus.
• 2003
  • Greensboro East High School, in collaboration with UA, became the first high school in Alabama to establish a state-of-the-art Math Technology Learning Center.
  • Five students from UA named to the 2003 USA Today All-USA College Academic Team. UA students garnered the most awards of any college or university, claiming five of 83 spots on the list.
  • UA recognized 40 "pioneers" during three days of events to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gov. George C. Wallace's "stand in the schoolhouse door." Opening Doors, 1963-2003
  • UA named one of the top 50 public universities in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 2004.
  • UA senior Rob Davis selected as one of three 2003 Portz Scholars in the National Collegiate Honors Council's competition for outstanding undergraduate Honors papers.
  • Enrollment: 20,333
• 2004
  • Four UA students named to the 2004 USA Today All-USA College Academic Team. UA came in second only to Harvard for 2004, and UA's two-year total of nine leads the nation.
  • University Medical Center, UA's new multi-specialty clinic and home of the College of Community Health Sciences, opened on May 11.
  • Shelby Hall, UA's new 200,000-plus square foot interdisciplinary transportation and science complex, dedicated on May 14.
  • UA named one of the top 50 public universities in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 2005.
  • Enrollment: 20,969
• 2005
  • Five UA students named to the 2005 USA Today All-USA College Academic Team, the most of any school in the nation. UA's three-year total of 14 also tops all other colleges and universities.
  • Based on documentation from the following sources:
  • History of the University of Alabama, volume I, 1818-1902 by James Benson Sellers, University of Alabama Press, 1953
  • History of the University of Alabama, volume II, 1902-1952 by James Benson Sellers, revised and edited by W. Stanley Hoole, unpublished manuscript in The William Stanley Hoole Papers, The W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library (Ready Reference Section)
  • The University of Alabama: A Pictorial History by Suzanne Rau Wolfe, University of Alabama Press, 1983
  • The University of Alabama Factbook, Office of Institutional Research
  • News releases from the UA News Center, Office of Media Relations

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