University of Alabama

The University of Alabama is an American public institution of higher learning and it is the flagship school of the University of Alabama System. The main campus is located in Tuscaloosa, which is 60 miles southwest of Birmingham. They are a member of the Southeastern Conference for all athletics.

The university opened in 1831, and had to quickly recover in when it was burned to the ground 34 years later during the Civil War. Four buildings that survived the fire are all still in operation today. The University of Alabama currently has eight undergraduate degree programs: College of Arts and Sciences, Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration, College of Communication and Information Sciences, College of Education, College of Engineering, College of Human Environmental Sciences, Capstone College of Nursing, and School of Social Work.

One of the major moments in the American civil rights movement occurred on the University of Alabama campus on June 11, 1963. Alabama Governor George Wallace chose that day to block the entrance of Foster Auditorium to deny two African-American students from registering for classes. Wallace eventually relented in the face of federal marshals sent in by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

While the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door" was a regrettable part of the university's history, the football program has provided some of the best remembered moments in the history of the school. The program, particularly under the leadership of coach Paul Bear Bryant, has won 7 national championships, 21 league championships, and played in 55 bowl games.

• President: Dr. Robert Witt
  • 2003-present: President
    • 1996-2003: President of University of Texas at Arlington