University of Alabama System

The University of Alabama System encompasses three 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 43,000, with 20,000 students on the main campus in Tuscaloosa, 16,000 at UAB and 7,000 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 2004, are Robert Witt (UA), Carol Garrison (UAB) and Frank Franz (UAH).

The University of Alabama, founded in 1831 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is the system's flagship campus. The state established a medical extension center in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1936, and the medical school eventually grew into UAB, a separate institution under the UA banner, in 1966. Likewise, an extension center established in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1950 also became a separate school in 1966.

Athletics has brought national attention to the University of Alabama, home to the Crimson Tide football team that has won 12 national championships and 21 Southeastern Conference titles. The Tuscaloosa campus has also garnered regional acclaim for its academic programs in business, communications and law. UAB is rapidly emerging as a major national medical research institution, and UAH has largely stayed true to its engineering roots in the Rocket City.