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BRIEF HISTORY OF UA

The Capstone Expands Its Scope

The University continued to grow throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with increases in enrollment, expansion of graduate and adult education, and initiation of innovative learning programs such as New College, now part of the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1971, University enrollment reached 13,055 - 412 of those students were African-Americans. The School of Social Work opened in 1965, the College of Community Health Sciences in 1971, the School of Communication (now the College of Communication and Information Sciences) in 1973, and the Capstone College of Nursing in 1976.

The 1980s and 1990s saw continued growth across campus. By 1981 total enrollment had increased to 16,388 with 1,659 black students enrolled; in 1991, 1,891 of the 19,366 students enrolled were African-Americans. The College of Continuing Studies opened in 1983 and several major buildings were also completed during the 1980s, including the Moody Music Building; the Angelo Bruno Business Library-Sloan Y. Bashinsky Computer Center complex and Alston Hall; the Rodgers Library for Science and Engineering; and the Bryant Conference Center complex and Alumni Hall. Projects in the late 1990s include renovations to the Ferguson Center student union, expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium, and construction of the Student Services Center.

In 1989, The University of Alabama, in conjunction with Stillman College and Shelton State Community College, sponsored the first Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Concert. Also known as the Realizing the Dream Concert, this annual event — which presents some of America's best-known performers from the stage, screen, and recording studio — honors the essential legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.: nonviolent social change and an untiring struggle for freedom and justice through the transforming power of love.

The Department of American Studies began offering a minor in African-American studies in 1991 under the guidance of a committee of UA faculty dedicated to expanding the University's curriculum offerings. In 1997, the African-American Studies Program was established and its first director was hired in 1998.

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