University of South Alabama

The University of South Alabama (USA) is a public research university in Mobile, Alabama. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in May 1963, and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alabama. The first classes were held in June 1964, with an enrollment of 276 students; the first commencement was held in June 1967, with 88 bachelor’s degrees awarded.

USA is divided into ten colleges and schools that include one of Alabama’s two state-supported medical schools. In the fall semester of 2018, South Alabama had an enrollment of 15,093 students. By the spring of 2019, the university had awarded over 90,000 degrees. It is classified among “R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity”.

USA has an annual payroll of more than $400 million, with over 6,000 employees, and is the second-largest employer in Mobile. The university claims to have an annual economic impact of $3 billion.

University of South Alabama is a public institution that was founded in 1963. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 8,914 (fall 2023), and the campus size is 1,224 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. University of South Alabama’s ranking in the 2025 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, #371. Its in-state tuition and fees are $12,040; out-of-state tuition and fees are $23,260.

Located in the upper Gulf Coast region, the University of South Alabama campus is situated in Mobile, the oldest city in the state. Undergraduate students at South Alabama can choose from more than 50 bachelor’s degree and certificate programs. There are more than 40 master’s degree programs, including those in the Mitchell College of Business and in the fields of medicine, health and education. University of South Alabama, often shortened to USA, also offers career services such as job boards, on-campus interviews with potential employers and career fairs.

On campus, USA students can join nearly 200 organizations, about 18 fraternities and sororities and student government. Student athletes can try out for the South Alabama Jaguars teams, which compete in the NCAA Division I Sun Belt Conference. Jaguar Productions, named after the school mascot, is the USA student activities board that plans many campus events for students, such as comedy shows, concerts, poetry slams and movie screenings.

The university offers a range of undergraduate and graduate degrees in ten colleges and schools. Several programs offer masters level degrees in addition to undergraduate degrees. Doctoral level degrees are offered in several areas, including a Doctor of Pharmacy degree offered in collaboration with Auburn University.

USA also offers classes in nearby Baldwin County at its Fairhope campus, and in 2015 opened Gulf Coast Campus. Students at South Alabama can choose from more than 50 bachelor’s degree and certificate programs and more than 40 master’s degree programs. As of 2011, USA ranks as the 22nd best public university in the southern United States, and 52nd overall in the South. It has an acceptance rate of 86.5%.

The student-faculty ratio at USA is 18:1, and the school has 44.1% of its classes with fewer than 20 students. USA students are 57% female and 43% male. As of 2018, the university had a 44% six-year graduation rate and a 22% four-year graduation rate for bachelor’s degree programs.

University of South Alabama Academics

The University of South Alabama has ten colleges and schools:

• Pat Capps Covey College of Allied Health Professions
• College of Arts and Sciences
• Mitchell College of Business
• College of Education and Professional Studies
• College of Engineering
• Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine
• College of Nursing
• School of Computing
• Honors College
• Graduate School

The university is governed by a board of trustees appointed by and including the governor of Alabama. The board appoints a president of the university. Frederick Palmer Whiddon served as president from 1963 until 1998 and was succeeded by V. Gordon Moulton who served until 2013. John W. Smith, the current executive vice president, served as an interim president until the arrival of Tony G. Waldrop in 2014 and after his retirement in 2021. Jo Bonner was appointed as university president in 2021.

The Jaguars participate in 17 NCAA sanctioned sports (8 men’s and 9 women’s), and are founding members of the Sun Belt Conference. Men’s sports include football, basketball, baseball, tennis, cross country, golf, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. Women’s sports include basketball, softball, soccer, tennis, cross country, volleyball, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, and golf. All sports participate in the Sun Belt Conference, a Division I/FBS conference.

The university announced the creation of an NCAA sanctioned football team on December 6, 2007, with the goal of fast tracking the program to full FBS status by the 2013 season. Since starting the football program from scratch, South Alabama has built a football facility and practice fields. The Hancock Whitney Stadium opened in 2020.

South Alabama men’s and women’s basketball play in the 10,000 seat Mitchell Center.

South Alabama’s home park is Eddie Stanky Field, a 4,500-seat stadium with a natural grass playing surface.

On October 12, 2012, 18-year-old freshman Gil Collar was shot and killed by a campus police officer, after appearing naked outside the police station. The university released a statement saying a campus police officer “was confronted by a muscular, nude man who was acting erratically.” Collar was 5 foot 7 and weighed 135 pounds. Authorities state that Collar appeared to be on drugs when the incident occurred.

The student’s family filed suit against the university, the officer involved, and the police chief, Herbert Earl “Zeke” Aull. In February 2013, a Mobile County judge ruled that the university was not liable for the student’s death. in 2014 the case moved to federal court. In 2015, the officer was cleared in a civil suit. The shooting inspired Brian Burghart, then editor of the News & Review in Reno, to found Fatal Encounters, a database that tracks killings by law enforcement officers.

In 2014, a group of students belonging to Students for Life USA, a pro-life student organization, filed a complaint about alleged discrimination in federal court against University of South Alabama officials. The university later settled the lawsuit, paying the students an undisclosed amount of money.

According to a copy of the settlement document provided by the Alliance Defending Freedom, the university “denied all material allegations and Plaintiff’s claims of constitutional infirmities”.^[29] USA agreed to change a portion of its policy on use of its space and facilities, and to pay an unspecified sum settling “all of plaintiff’s remaining claims, including liability, damages, and attorney’s fees”.^[30][31]

In September 2021, a lawsuit was filed against a former University of South Alabama volleyball coach due to alleged sexual and mental abuse in 2019 and 2020.^[32][33] The lawsuit included eight former players as plaintiffs.^[34] The amendment also alleged that university administrators had knowledge of the abuse and added the university’s athletic directors and coaches as defendants.^[34] A second lawsuit was filed in 2022 by a former player uninvolved in the first lawsuit.^[33] WKRG-TV reported that the claims of abuse made by the second lawsuit was similar to the first and that both allegations included inappropriate touching and overtraining.^[33] The volleyball coach was hired by the University of South Alabama in December 2018 and resigned in February 2021.^[35]

This article’s list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia’s verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (November 2020)

Notable alumni of the University of South Alabama include:

• Tina Allen (1949-2008), sculptor
• Marlon Anderson (second baseman), baseball player
• Kawaan Baker, football player
• Jake Bentley, football player
• Rosalynn Bliss, mayor of Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Glenn Borgmann, baseball player
• Braedon Bowman, football player
• Herbert L. “Sonny” Callahan, United States Congressman
• Terry Catledge, basketball player
• Susan DuBose, American politician from Alabama
• Grant Enfinger, race car driver
• Steve Falteisek, baseball player
• David Freese, baseball player
• Luis Gonzalez, baseball player
• Carolyn Haines, author
• Sam Iorio (born 1998), American-Israeli basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
• Lance Johnson, baseball player
• Michael Kearney, world’s youngest college graduate^[37]
• Jon Lieber, baseball player
• Dan Povenmire, Disney animator
• Adam Lind, baseball player
• Darrell Luter Jr., football player
• Rodger McFarlane, gay rights activist^[38]
• Mark Mostert, professor of education
• Mike Mordecai, baseball player
• Juan Pierre, baseball player
• Heath Slocum, golfer
• Courtney Smith, football player
• Eddie Stanky, baseball player
• Larry Stutts, Alabama state senator
• Jessie Tompkins, athletic hurdler and civil-rights activist
• P.J. Walters, baseball player
• Turner Ward, baseball player
• Jalen Wayne, football player
• Harold G. White, engineer and physicist