Auburn University at Montgomery

AUM was established in 1967 by Act 403 of the Alabama Legislature. [ 4 ] The 500 acres of land on which it is built were acquired by the McLemore family, descendants of James McLemore , which owned 7000 acres of land farmed first by enslaved people, then by sharecroppers and tenant farmers . [ 5 ] In March 1968, Dr. H. Hanly Funderburk, Jr., was appointed vice president and chief administrator of the newly created university. AUM opened its doors in September 1969 with nearly 600 students in the old Alabama Extension Center on Bell Street, next to Maxwell AFB. Two years later, the university relocated to a 500-acre (2.0 km 2 ) campus on the McLemore Plantation tract, 7 miles (11 km) east of downtown Montgomery. The campus' first two buildings were the Administration/Library building and Goodwyn Hall with classrooms and faculty offices. [ 4 ] AUM has been accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) as an operationally separate institution from Auburn University since 1978. [ 4 ]

Ida Belle Young Library Tower (left) and Taylor Center (right) Auburn University at Montgomery earned recognition from U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review for the quality of its academic programs in 2018. U.S. News ranked AUM 22nd among regional universities] in the South for the quality of its undergraduate teaching [ 6 ] and 38th among public comprehensive universities in the South. For the 2018 – 19 academic year, AUM enrolled 4,632 undergraduate and 579 graduate students. The student body is 65 percent female and 34 percent male. Forty-five percent of students are white, 40 percent are black, 2 percent are Asian, 1 percent are Hispanic, and 5 percent are international students. AUM comprises five Colleges (Business, Education, Nursing and Health Sciences, Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, and Sciences) that offer bachelor, master and specialist degree programs. The most popular bachelor's degrees granted are business administration, nursing, liberal arts, biology, elementary education and secondary education. The university's nursing and medical laboratory sciences programs boast placement rates of more than 90 percent. AUM offers a joint doctorate program with Auburn University in Public Administration, and now offers a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. AUM has a continuing education program that enrolls over 10,000 students annually. Continuing Education curricula include certificate programs, corporate education, community education, computer training, languages (including English as a Foreign or Second Language ), online training, and youth programs. AUM's College of Business ranks in the top 5% of business schools in the world, as accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International, and was rated a "Best Business School" by The Princeton Review . [ 7 ]

Annual lectures include the Durr Lectures (since 1992), named for Clifford and Virginia Durr , Montgomery lawyers and civil rights activists; [ 8 ] and the Ingram Lectures (since 1989), [ 9 ] named for Robert Ingram, noted political analyst and journalist. [ 9 ]

More information Race and ethnicity, Total ... Undergraduate demographics as of Fall 2023 [ 10 ] Race and ethnicity Total Black 42% White 42% International student 5% Two or more races 5% Asian 3% Hispanic 2% Unknown 1% Economic diversity Low-income [ a ] 48% Affluent [ b ] 52% Close Housing AUM offers apartment-style residence halls with floor plans including up to four bedrooms. Housing is divided into four communities: P40 Place, The Courtyards, The Commons, and Warhawk Hall. P40 Place, which opened in the Fall of 2016, is named after the P-40 Warhawk aircraft of the World War II era that served as the inspiration for AUM's Curtiss The Warhawk mascot. The Courtyards residence opened in fall 1979 and is made up of seven two-story buildings. [ 11 ] In 2003 the eight-story complex known as The Commons, featuring private 4-bedroom suites, was opened, [ 11 ] and in fall 2013, Warhawk Hall was opened. Approximately 10 percent to 15 percent of AUM students live on campus during the regular school year.