KeyFacts
The University of Alabama had five students named to the USA Today Academic All-USA Team for 2003—the most awards of any school in the nation. Harvard and Johns Hopkins each had three recipients of the award, and UA had more than Dartmouth and Yale combined. UA's Sarah Adair, a microbiology major from Hartselle, was named to the first team. UA's Kana Ellis, Allison Kellogg, Gabriel Walvatne, and Laura Medders were also among the honorees. USA Today selects the All-USA Academic Team from students throughout the country. They are recognized for grades, awards, leadership roles, and ability to use their academic skills outside the classroom.
The University of Alabama is ranked among the nation's top 50 public universities in U.S. News & World Report's 2002 edition.
The University of Alabama's graduates include 15 Rhodes Scholars, 15 Goldwater Scholars, and nine Truman Scholars. Our most recent Rhodes Scholar is Bradley Tuggle, an English major who received the award in 2001.
The University of Alabama's chapter of the prestigious liberal arts honor society Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest of the three chapters in the state.
Approximately 66 percent of UA's undergraduates receive some type of financial aid.
UA ranks as one of the top public universities in enrollment of National Merit, National Achievement, and National Hispanic Scholars. Our fall 2000 freshman class accounts for 94 of these 300 outstanding undergraduate students.
For over a decade, The University of Alabama has been one of the top public flagship universities in the Southeast in enrollment of African-American students. In fall 2000, African-Americans comprised 14.9 percent of freshmen and 14.5 percent of total undergraduate enrollment, and 13.6 percent of the student body overall. Enrollment of African-American students in UA's Graduate School has increased by 44 percent since 1996.
U.S. News & World Report has ranked the University of Alabama School of Law among the top 50 in the nation for three consecutive years while our undergraduate business program has made the top 50 nationally for two years.
Across our beautiful 1,000-acre campus, several buildings dating back to the founding of the university are still in use today—alongside other historic structures and recent construction housing state-of-the-art technology. We offer excellent facilities for study and research, including campus-wide computer labs, multimedia classrooms, and online libraries.
More than 20 percent of the university's entering freshmen and 22 percent of all undergraduates received merit scholarships for the academic year 2001-02.
The University of Alabama debate team holds 14 national championships—two more than our football team!
UA offers 215 degree programs.
Founded in 1831, The University of Alabama was the state's first university.
UA Students Study Systems Maintenance on NASA's Reduced Gravity Flight
A group of University of Alabama engineering students recently conducted a series of experiments designed to help in the maintenance of the International Space Station's systems. The group also experienced what few people ever will—weightlessness.
Under the direction of Dr. Beth Todd, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, the students performed experiments on a bolt tension-testing device that measured an operator's ability to install a threaded fastener in a variety of foot positions while in a reduced-gravity environment. The project aimed to address access issues related to maintaining the International Space Station and other long-duration orbital vehicles. The experiments, named TARGET for Threaded Assembly Reduced Gravity Environment Testing, provided a unique academic experience for undergraduate students to propose, design, fabricate, and evaluate reduced-gravity research.
"Conducting this experiment on the KC-135 allowed the TARGET team to determine if a platform with variable foot positioning improves the efficiency of maintenance in reduced gravity," says Dr. Todd. "Mimicking the environment of space is really the only way to get practical results, and you can't do that in a regular college laboratory setting."
Team TARGET spent almost two weeks at NASA's Johnson Space Center during the spring semester. Before performing the experiment, each team member had to undergo physiological training to prepare for the rigors of weightlessness, and their experiment went through a safety review. The students experienced a weightless testing environment by spending several hours aboard a Boeing KC-135A jet, which performed parabolic maneuvers to create reduced-gravity conditions. The same type of aircraft is used in training astronauts for space travel.
The team included:
Darrin Alcorn—a resident of Colorado Springs, Colorado, majoring in computer science
Drew Cromer—a resident of Birmingham, Alabama, majoring in electrical and computer engineering
Ashley Erickson—a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, majoring in mechanical engineering
Heather Hendrix—a resident of Dothan, Alabama, majoring in mechanical engineering
Warren Keith—a resident of Hope Hull, Alabama, majoring in mechanical engineering
Kathryn Lancaster—a resident of Gadsden, Alabama, majoring in industrial engineering
Christopher McDaniel—a resident of Birmingham, Alabama, majoring in electrical and computer engineering
Destin Sandlin—a resident of Priceville, Alabama, majoring in mechanical engineering
Justin Sheffield—a resident of Dothan, Alabama, majoring in mechanical engineering
Anne Thomas—a resident of Hatley, Mississippi, majoring in computer science
In 1837, UA became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five universities in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering, with almost 1,900 students and more than 90 faculty members, is one of the three oldest continuously operating engineering programs in the country and has been fully accredited since the accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.
