ALABAMA, UNIVERSITY OF

state university with campuses at Tuscaloosa (main campus), Birmingham, and Huntsville. All three branches offer a wide university curriculum and programs for bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees. The University of Alabama School of Law is in Tuscaloosa; the School of Medicine is in Birmingham; and the Huntsville campus offers advanced degrees in sciences and engineering. Total enrollment at the three campuses is about 45,000. The Japan Program Center in Tuscaloosa provides students with the opportunity to study at Kansai University in Osaka, Japan. Walker College, Jasper, Ala., is a two-year liberal arts school affiliated with the Birmingham branch. The University of Alabama, the state's oldest public university, was originally located in Tuscaloosa. The U.S. Congress provided land for the university in 1818, and it was chartered in 1820, when it received a land grant from the state. Instruction began in 1831. In the late 1850s the university became a military school, eventually providing officers for the Confederacy. Union cavalry destroyed much of the campus in 1865, and instruction could not be resumed until 1869. Women were first admitted to the university in 1893. The court-ordered end of racial segregation at the university in June 1963 was initially met with protest by Alabama governor George Wallace. The Huntsville campus opened in 1950, and the Birmingham campus joined the university in 1966. The Alabama football teams have won seven national championships, six under coach Bear Bryant.