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Auburn University

Owing much to the past, Auburn’s mission makes its greater debt ever to the future.” Auburn University today is a comprehensive land-, sea- and space-grant institution – among the few holding that distinction – occupying more than 1,843 acres and helping fulfill the dreams of 25,000 students annually. The university began, though, as the small, more humble East Alabama Male College, which was chartered in 1856 and opened its doors in 1859 as a private liberal arts institution. From 1861 to 1866, the college was closed because of the Civil War.

The college had begun an affiliation with the Methodist Church before the war. Due to dire financial straits, the church transferred legal control of the institution to the state in 1872, making it the first land-grant college in the South to be established separate from the state university. It thus became the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama.

A land-grant college or university is an institution that has been designated by its state legislature or Congress to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. The original mission of these institutions, as set forth in the first Morrill Act, was to teach agriculture, military tactics and the mechanical arts, as well as classical studies, so that members of the working classes could obtain a liberal, practical education.

Women were admitted in 1892, making Auburn the oldest four-year, coeducational school in the state, and the second-oldest in the Southeast. In 1899, the name was again changed to Alabama Polytechnic Institute. In 1960, the school officially acquired the name it has long been called and one more in keeping with its location, size and complexity – Auburn University. The institution has experienced its greatest growth since World War II, and today enrolls nearly 25,000 students.

Auburn Montgomery was established as a separately administered branch campus in 1967. The institution has developed rapidly, especially since moving to a 500-acre campus east of Montgomery in 1971. Current enrollment at AUM is approximately 5,800.

Throughout the years, Auburn has had four official names:

East Alabama Male College 1856-72

Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama
1872-99

Alabama Polytechnic Institute
1899-1960

Auburn University
1960-present

Auburn’s current colleges and schools with dates of inception:

College of Agriculture
1872

Samuel Ginn College of Engineering
1872

Graduate School
1872

James Harrison School of Pharmacy
1885

College of Veterinary Medicine
1907

College of Architecture, Design & Construction
1907

College of Education
1915

College of Human Sciences 1916

College of Business
1967

School of Nursing
1979

School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences
1984

College of Sciences and Mathematics*
1986

College of Liberal Arts*
1986

*In 1986, the colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Mathematics were created from the former schools of Arts and Sciences, Agriculture and Biological Sciences, and Architecture and Fine Arts.