University of South Alabama


The University of South Alabama 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. USA is divided into ten colleges and schools and includes 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.
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 US$3 billion.

Academics

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 offers classes in nearby Baldwin County at its Fairhope campus, and recently opened its new Gulf Coast Campus in Gulf Shores. In all, undergraduate students at South Alabama can choose from more than 50 bachelor's degree and certificate programs while there are 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. It has an acceptance rate of 86.5%.
The student-faculty ratio at USA is 18:1, and the school has 44.1 percent 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.

Colleges

The University of South Alabama has ten colleges:
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. Since the founding of the university, there have been three presidents: Frederick Palmer Whiddon and V. Gordon Moulton. John W. Smith, the current executive vice president, served as an interim president until the arrival of Tony G. Waldrop in 2014.

Athletics and traditions

The Jaguars participate in 17 NCAA sanctioned sports, 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 school is often referred to as simply "South", "USA", or the "Jags", but the more formal South Alabama is often used as well.
The university announced the creation of a NCAA sanctioned football team on December 6, 2007, with the goal of fast tracking the program to full FBS status by the 2013 season. The school's first ever game was played on September 5, 2009 in front of 26,000+ fans. The Jaguars football team is led by head coach Steve Campbell. The Jaguars lost at NC State 35-13 during the 2011 football season, the program's first game against a FBS opponent and its first loss after going a combined 19-0 during its first 2+ seasons. While the games for the football team are currently played at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, South is in the middle of constructing an on campus stadium, Hancock Whitney Stadium. It is scheduled to open in September 2020.
The Jaguars have future football contests scheduled with Mississippi St, NC State, Hawaii, Navy, Tennessee, LSU, Oklahoma St, Tulane, South Carolina, Nebraska, Louisiana Tech, and Southern Miss, including home contests with Mississippi State, NC State, Oklahoma State, Louisiana Tech, Tulane, and Navy.
The Jaguars include current players David Freese, who was both the 2011 National League Championship Series MVP and 2011 World Series MVP for the St. Louis Cardinals, and Juan Pierre, a World Series winner with the Florida Marlins in 2003. Coach Steve Kittrell retired at the end of the 2011 season and handed over the position to the coach in waiting, Mark Calvi, who had been on staff for that final year. Calvi was the pitching coach at the University of South Carolina when the Gamecocks won the College World Series in 2010.
The basketball program has reached the NCAA tournament eight times, with its only win coming against the University of Alabama in 1989. The Jaguars have been beaten by the eventual national champion 3 of those 8 times, with the Michigan loss occurring in the second round.

Campus life

Housing

The Grove: is a privately owned apartment complex on campus that offers individual leases of 2br/3br apartments to only USA undergraduate and graduate students.

Greek life

Organizations

The following are Greek organizations that existed at the University of South Alabama that are no longer active sorted by the date they received their national charter
Notable alumni of the University of South Alabama include: