Colleges

The University of Alabama is a major, comprehensive, student-centered research university founded in 1831 as Alabama’s first public college. Dedicated to excellence in teaching, research and service, we provide a creative, nurturing campus environment where our students can become the best individuals possible … learn from the best and brightest faculty … and make a positive difference in the community, the state and the world.

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The United States Sports Academy is an independent, non-profit, accredited, special mission sports university created to serve the nation and the world with programs in instruction, research and service. The role of the Academy is to prepare men and women for careers in the profession of sports. The Academy has a rich history of addressing the need to provide quality, sport-specific programs. The Academy is located in Daphne, Alabama, on the beautiful Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay. The area offers many attractions for tourists as well as those who choose to stay a while.

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Tuskegee University is a national, independent, and state-related institution of higher learning that is located in the State of Alabama. The University has distinctive strengths in the sciences, architecture, business, engineering, health, and other professions, all structured on solid foundations in the liberal arts. In addition, the University’s programs focus on nurturing the development of high-order intellectual and moral qualities among students and stress the connection between education and the highly trained leadership Americans need in general, especially for the work force of the 21st Century and beyond. The results we seek are students whose technical, scientific, and professional prowess has been not only rigorously honed, but also sensitively oriented in ways that produce public-spirited graduates who are both competent and morally committed to public service with integrity and excellence.

The University is rooted in a history of successfully educating African Americans to understand themselves and their society against the background of their total cultural heritage and the promise of their individual and collective future. The most important of the people we serve are our students. Our overall purpose is to nurture and challenge them to grow to their fullest potential. Serving their needs is the principal reason for our existence. A major outcome we seek is to prepare them to play effective professional and leadership roles in society and to become productive citizens in the national and world community. Tuskegee University continues to be dedicated to these broad aims.

Over the past century, various social and historical changes have transformed this institution into a comprehensive and diverse place of learning whose fundamental purpose is to develop leadership, knowledge, and service for a global society. Committed deeply to academic excellence, the University admits highly talented students of character and challenges them to reach their highest potential. The University also believes strongly in equality of opportunity and recognizes that exquisite talent is often hidden in students whose finest development requires unusual educational, personal, and financial reinforcement. The University actively invites a diversity of talented students, staff, and faculty from all racial, religious, and ethnic backgrounds to participate in this educational enterprise.

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Troy University’s tradition of teaching excellence dates to its founding on February 26, 1887, when an act of the Alabama Legislature established Troy State Normal School as an institution to train teachers for Alabama’s schools. Joseph Macon Dill was the institution’s first president. In 1893, the school was renamed Troy State Normal College.

The Normal College offered extension courses for teachers and granted teaching certificates until 1929, when the State Board of Education changed the charter of the institution and renamed it Troy State Teacher’s College. That same year, the college moved to its present site and the first two buildings were dedicated: Shackelford Hall, named for Edward Madison Shackelford, president of the school from 1899-1936, and Bibb Graves Hall, named for David Bibb Graves, Alabama’s “education governor”. Governor Bibb Graves is also remembered for commissioning the Olmsted Brothers architectural firm of Brookline, Massachusetts, to design the campus landscape plan.

Like many American universities, Troy State Teacher’s College enjoyed one of it most prosperous periods of growth in the years following World War II when returning veterans took advantage of the GI Bill. The enrollment of the College more than doubled and this growth led to the introduction of degree programs in disciplines other than education, most notably in business. In 1957, the State Board of Education recognized this expanded role and dropped “Teacher’s” from Troy State College’s name.

The decade of the 1950s also marked the University’s long relationship with the United States Military, as extension courses were offered on nearby bases, first at Fort Rucker, near Dothan, and later at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery. A separate Troy State College teaching center was established at Fort Rucker in 1961, which evolved into the present-day Dothan Campus. A similar center, begun at Maxwell Air Force Base in 1965, led to the creation of the present-day Montgomery Campus. These programs were the forerunners of the modern TROY Global Campus division of Troy University, which operates all TROY teaching sites outside of Alabama. In 1973, the University opened sites at military bases in Florida. Today, TROY Global Campus operates more than 60 sites in 17 U.S. states and 11 nations.

In 1967, Gov. Lurleen B. Wallace appointed eight members to the newly established Troy State College Board of Trustees, removing the institution from the control of the State Board of Education. One of the first acts of the new board was to recommend the change of the name to Troy State University. The new name became official on Dec. 14, 1967.

In 1975, the Phenix City Campus was opened as a branch of the main campus.

In 1982, the Troy State University System was formed, as the campuses in Dothan and Montgomery were granted independent accreditation status. In April of 2004 the Board of Trustees voted to drop “State” from the University’s name to better reflect the institution’s worldwide mission. Starting August 2005, all TROY campuses were again unified under one accreditation.

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Talladega College is located in an historic district of the city of Talladega, Alabama. The campus is on a plateau about 700 feet above sea level in the heart of a fertile valley in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The campus is a quiet place—away from the distractions and fast pace of urban living.

Talladega’s main campus includes 39 buildings on 50 acres, surrounded by the city and gently rolling woodlands. The beautiful oak-lined campus boasts several historic landmarks: Swayne Hall (1852), the original school house has been used for classrooms, but is now undergoing historic renovations; the President’s House (1881); DeForest Chapel (1903), that houses the famous 17 stained-glass windows by David C. Driskell; and Savery Library (1939), home of the Amistad Murals by famed artist Hale Woodruff.

The College has an aggressive tradition of bringing the world to Talladega. This comes in many forms, including workshops, forums and lectures, and a variety of outstanding artists, scientists, and political, business, and civic leaders. Talladega’s neighboring cities also offer many other cultural and entertainment outlets, as well as shopping, restaurants, and theaters. The College is just 25 miles south of the city of Anniston, Alabama, 50 miles east of Birmingham, Alabama, 85 miles north of Montgomery, Alabama, and 100 miles west of Atlanta, Georgia.

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