University of Alabama System
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The University of Alabama System encompasses three wholly independent universities in Alabama, USA: the University of Alabama, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The schools have a total undergraduate and graduate enrollment of more than 45,000, with 20,000 students on the campus in Tuscaloosa, 17,500 at UAB and 8,000 at UAH.
The system operates on public funds and received more than $400 million in government contracts and grants in 2002. Chancellor Malcolm Portera and a 15-member board of trustees oversee the system. The university presidents, as of 2005, are Robert Witt (UA), Carol Garrison (UAB) and Frank Franz (UAH).
The University of Alabama, founded in 1831 in Tuscaloosa, is the system's flagship campus. A medical extension center created in Birmingham in 1936 eventually grew into UAB, while UAH began as an extension center established in Huntsville in 1950. The Birmingham and Huntsville campuses became autonomous institutions with the creation of the UA System in 1969.
The Tuscaloosa campus has garnered regional acclaim for its academic programs in business, communications and law. UAB has rapidly emerged as a major international medical research institution, and UAH has largely stayed true to its engineering roots in Huntsville, which is also known as the Rocket City.
