Alabama A&M University

Alabama A&M University International Student Insurance

General Information

Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M), located in Huntsville, Alabama, is a public, historically black university established in 1875. It opened as the Huntsville State Normal School for Negroes, a teacher training institution whose first class consisted of 61 students. In 1881, the faculty pooled money together to purchase two and a half acres of land to expand the school. That land became known as Normal, Alabama, and a post office was established soon afterward. The school became a junior college in 1919 and a four-year college in 1939. It changed its name to Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1948, and the school was given university status in 1969.

Alabama A&M offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate programs in the colleges of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, Engineering and Technology, and Graduate Studies and Extended Education. Today, the university enrolls about 7,000 students and counting each year. The school’s colors are maroon and white, and its athletic nicknames are the bulldogs and the lady bulldogs.

On Campus

The campus also participates in the National Space Science and Technology Center, a collaborative project with NASA and six other research universities in Alabama. Its goal is to foster research collaboration between the government, academia, and the industry. Other notable research initiatives on campus include the Center of Excellence in Nonlinear Optics and Nonlinear Optical Materials, the Howard J. Foster Center for Irradiation of Materials, and the Center for Forestry and Ecology.

The school is also home to the State Black Archives Research Center and Museum, which collects information and exhibits related to African-American history and culture. It hosts materials for both local heroes (like Louis Crews or the institution’s First Ladies) as well as Smithsonian traveling exhibits. 

Notable Alumni

Notable Alabama A&M University alumni include musician Ruben Studdard; civil rights figures Vivian Malone Jones and Joseph Lowery; Lietenant Governor of Wisconsin Mandela Barnes; NFL players Robert Mathis, Howard Ballard, and Frank Kearse; and Olympic gold medalist Jearl Miles-Clark.

^{Photo credit}