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UAH Background

The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAHuntsville) is a doctoral-granting, research-intensive university established in 1950 as part of the University of Alabama System. The university became an autonomous campus in 1969. Approximately half of the university's graduates earn a degree in engineering or science, making the university one of the leading producers of engineers and physical scientists in Alabama.

Student body

Total enrollment is about 7,200, including about 1,500 graduate students; 49 percent women, 51 percent men. Incoming freshmen score an average of 24 on the ACT examinations, among the best Alabama's public universities.

Academics

UAHuntsville offers 60 degree-granting programs, including 29 bachelor’s degree programs, 18 master’s degree programs and 13 Ph.D. programs through five colleges: business, liberal arts, engineering, nursing and science. The university has more than 300 full-time faculty members and 90 percent have terminal degrees. The student/faculty ratio is 16:1.

Academic recognition

UAHuntsville is ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the 150 best national doctoral universities — a distinction shared by only 7 percent of the 2,000 four-year colleges in America. UAHuntsville is the only public university in Alabama ranked as “very competitive” in Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges, and is rated among “Top Colleges for Top Students” in Peterson’s Competitive Colleges.

Research

Activities are conducted within five academic colleges, or through 18 independent research centers, laboratories and institutes. Major interdisciplinary research thrusts include: applied optics, propulsion, space plasma and aeronomics, space physics and astrophysics, earth system science, information technology, management of science and technology, microgravity and materials, rotorcraft engineering, biotechnology, modeling and simulation, and nanotechnology and microdevices.

Location

UAHuntsville has a 360-acre campus in Huntsville, Alabama, in the north central portion of the state. Huntsville is a national center of research and development and is home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command and the Army’s Aviation and Missile Command. The university is the anchor tenant for Cummings Research Park, the second largest university-related research park in the United States. Cummings Research Park has 220 companies employing 24,500 employees.

Administration

The university is governed by President David Williams. The president is assisted by the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs; the vice president for research; the vice president for finance and administration; the vice president for university advancement and the vice president for student affairs. The vice presidents, together with the president, the executive assistant to the president and the university counsel function as the university's executive committee.

Accreditation

UAHuntsville is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. At least eight departments or programs also hold accreditation from professional associations, including the American Chemical Society, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board, the National League of Nursing and the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business.

Library

The M. Louis Salmon Library has more than 412,000 books, along with collections of U.S. government documents, sound recordings, microform and microfiche. There are also subscriptions to 2,766 periodicals.

Academic calendar

UAHuntsville is on the semester system, offering a full program of undergraduate and graduate day and night classes throughout the year, including the summer.

Quick facts

UAHuntsville’s graduate level engineering management program has been singled out as being the best in the nation by the American Society for Engineering Management (ASEM).

UAHuntsville’s undergraduate business program has been ranked by business deans and senior faculty at AACSB accredited business schools among the top business schools in the US for 2008; among the top 10 percent, as reported in U.S. News & World Report.

UAHuntsville has been named one of America's Best Value Colleges in the 2007 edition of The Princeton Review.

UAHuntsville has been named as one of “America’s 100 Best College Buys" for 12 consecutive years.

UAHuntsville was cited as the 15th best value for public colleges and universities in the United States by Consumers Digest magazine.

UAHuntsville researchers have gained international reputations in fields as varied as astrophysics, mechanical and aerospace engineering, computer science, electrical and computer engineering, modeling and simulation, optics, Earth and space science and propulsion.

UAHuntsville consistently ranks among the top universities in the nation in NASA-sponsored research.

UAHuntsville’s technology management program ranks in the top 20 in America by the National Research Council

UAHuntsville scientists conducting quantum physics research with the Hubble Telescope was considered by Discovery magazine as one of the top science stories of 2003.

UAHuntsville students have the opportunity to study with faculty possessing academic credentials respected around the planet. Faculty members design experiments that fly aboard the space shuttle and the space station. These faculty members also are responsible for monitoring the world’s climate and studying the characteristics of our solar system.

UAHuntsville's discovery of the first 'high temperature' superconductor is the second most cited paper ever published by the prestigious scientific journal, "Physical Review Letters." The American Physical Society compiled the list of the most-cited papers using data from the Institute for Scientific Information, publishers of the Science Citation Index.

UAHuntsville is the first location in the United States outside of MIT as a Lean Aerospace Initiative Education Network Center. This class provides a hands-on introduction to lean and other continuous improvement fundamentals with a focus on aerospace applications.

UAHuntsville's student chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) placed third among 129 chapters internationally at the recent AMA spring conference in New Orleans.

UAHuntsville ozone research was one of the most popular science stories in 2003, according to Eurekalert!, a science news Web site operated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The story had more than 40,500 readers from the time it was posted in mid-June through mid-November. The next most popular story had more than 23,000 readers.

UAHuntsville's business school has been ranked among the top undergraduate business programs in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2007 Best Colleges Guide.

UAHuntsville has four research disciplines that consistently rank among the top 50 in the nation in federal research funding, according to the National Science Foundation. The atmospheric science program was 19th in the nation in funding, followed by computer science at 20th, mechanical engineering at 26th, and electrical engineering at 49th.

UAHuntsville consistently ranks among the top 20 universities in the nation for awarding bachelor’s engineering degrees to women, according to the American Society of Engineering Educators.

UAHuntsville engineering students routinely launch payloads to the edge of space using both high-altitude balloons and rockets.

UAHuntsville's business school receives certification from the National Information Assurance Education and Training Office for its certificate program in information assurance.

UAHuntsville is home to the National Space Science and Technology Center, a collaborative research and education initiative focused on specific scientific disciplines.

UAHuntsville's business school has consistently been accredited through The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Fewer than 15 percent of business schools worldwide have earned this symbol of the highest standard in management education.

UAHuntsville’s Cooperative Education Program is one of only 13 accredited Co-op programs in the US through The Accreditation Council for Cooperative Education (ACCE).

UAHuntsville is one of only a few universities in America that has developed a master’s level degree in engineering that offers a concentration in rotorcraft systems engineering. The program will stress the integration of avionics, sensors and software.