Brief Profile of The University of Alabama
Official Name: The University of Alabama
History: In 1819 the Congress of the United States donated 46,000 acres of land within the State of Alabama for the endowment of a seminary of learning. The General Assembly of Alabama created the Board of Trustees in 1821, and on April 18, 1831, the University was opened for admission of students. On April 4, 1865, most of the University buildings were burned to the ground by a body of federal cavalry. The new buildings were begun in April 1869. On February 25, 1884, the federal government donated 22 sections of public land within the state to the University in restitution of its loss in buildings and equipment when the campus was destroyed in 1865. The institution is located in Tuscaloosa, a west central Alabama city of about 90,000 residents. University grounds comprise approximately 1,000 acres.
Type of Control: The State of Alabama chartered The University of Alabama (UA) with authority vested in a Board of Trustees that is self-perpetuating. The current Board elects new trustees from congressional districts, subject to confirmation by the State Senate.
Instructional Schools, Programs and Degrees: The instructional schools are Arts and Sciences, Commerce and Business Administration, Communication and Information Sciences, Community Health Sciences, Continuing Studies, Education, Engineering, Human Environmental Sciences, Nursing, Law, and Social Work.
UA offers about 151 graduate degree programs, that include masters, educational specialist and doctoral programs. In 2008-09, UA awarded 1,261 master degrees, 51 educational specialist degrees, 192 doctoral/first professional degrees.
Faculty: In Fall 2008, there were 1,067 full-time faculty; the student/faculty ratio was 20:1 with both full-time and part-time faculty members. (Source: UA Office of Institutional Research & Assessment).
Enrollment: In Fall 2009, UA's overall enrollment crossed 28,807, which includes about 4,300 graduate students. Out of all graduate students about 40.56% are male students and 59.44% are female students; 12.68% students are African-American. In addition, there are 58.69% in-state students, 30.22% out-of-state students and 11.09% international students.
Finance: For 2008-09, total operating revenues were $389.8 million. Net non-operating revenues were $120.6 million, including $199.4 million from state appropriations. Total operating expenses were $608.8 million (Source: UA Office of Institutional Research & Assessment).
Institutional Affiliations: UA is a member of the National Association of State Universities & Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). In athletics, UA began football competition in 1892, and started NCAA Division I competition for men in 1906 and for women in 1974. UA is a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) for all sports.
Libraries: In addition to the Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, which serves the humanities and social sciences, there are five separate discipline-related libraries (Business, Education, Science and Engineering, Health Sciences, and Law) and a special collections library. The total library system holds approximately 2,400,000 catalogued items (books, journals, etc.) and over 3,900,000 microform units. The libraries hold more than 1.2 million U.S. Government publications in print.