president George H. Denny extolled the university as the "capstone of the public school system in the state", thereby establishing the university's current nickname, The Capstone. As of June 2024 UA has produced 65 Goldwater Scholars, 16 Rhodes Scholars, and 16 Truman Scholars.
== History ==
=== Establishment ===
In 1818, the United States Congress authorized the newly created Alabama Territory to set aside a township for the establishment of a "seminary of learning". When Alabama was admitted to the Union in 1819, a second township was added to the land grant, bringing it to a total of 46,000 acres (186 km2). The General Assembly of Alabama established the seminary on December 18, 1820, named it "The University of the State of Alabama," and created a board of trustees to manage the construction and operation of the university. The site the board chose for the campus was, at the time, outside the city limits of the erstwhile state capital, Tuscaloosa. William Nichols, the architect of the Alabama State Capitol …
