The university has a splendid Music Department, and the faculty and visiting musicians frequently give performances in the state of the art Moody Music Building. The University of Alabama was founded in 1831, just twelve years after Alabama gained statehood. Most of the campus was burned to the ground by Union troops during the Civil War, but was quickly rebuilt and has grown into a major teaching, research, and service institution made up of seventeen colleges, divisions, and schools with more than 120 academic departments and 270 accredited undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The nation's twelfth chapter of the academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa was established at the University in 1851. Total student enrollment on the Tuscaloosa campus is about 19,000, of which about 3,000 are graduate students, representing all 50 states and more than 65 countries.
University faculty excel in teaching, research, and service.
With a range of endowed chairs and professorships in fields ranging from creative writing to environmental geology to real estate, the University attracts internationally-known scholars. Th th e amount of external support for faculty has tripled in the past five years. Faculty receive national awards for teaching excellence and service to their fields every year. The University of Alabama Libraries are one of the select 100 nationally holding membership in the Association of Research Libraries. Currently the library houses over two million volumes.