Founders' Day
Join us and our more than 60,000 alumni as we observe the 193rd-anniversary Founders' Day.
Give today at una.edu/givingday
-
The University of Â鶹Éç Alabama was founded as LaGrange College.
-
A grammar school was added to LaGrange College. (Today, UNA's Kilby Laboratory School is the only university-owned and operated elementary laboratory school in Alabama.)
-
The school was re-incorporated as Florence Wesleyan University.
-
The Methodist Church deeded Florence Wesleyan to the State of Alabama and the institution became the State Normal School at Florence, the first state-supported teachers’ college south of the Ohio River.
-
31 women enrolled and the school became one of the first co-educational institutions in the nation.
-
The first woman joined the faculty.
-
The institution functioned as a normal school for more than 50 years until 1929, when it became a state teachers college offering a four-year curriculum in elementary education.
-
The Alabama Legislature voted to change the institution's name to Florence State College to reflect its expanding academic mission.
-
Wendell Wilkie Gunn became the first African-American student to enroll at the college.
-
The Alabama Legislature removed jurisdiction for the college from the State Board of Education and vested it in a Board of Trustees. A year later, the new board voted for another name change to Florence State University, once again symbolizing the steady expansion of the institution's academic offerings and mission.
-
The university underwent another change of name to the University of Â鶹Éç Alabama, symbolizing its coming of age as a comprehensive, regional university.
-
195 years since our founding. Give today at una.edu/givingday