The University of West Alabama history

The school was established by ethnic Scots-Irish Presbyterians, who controlled the majority of seats on the first board of trustees selected in 1836.

As a church-related female academy, it admitted its first students in 1839.

Livingston Female Academy awarded its first diploma in 1843 to Elizabeth Houston, the daughter of M. L. Houston, a prominent local businessman and a school trustee.

In 1853, Doctor Robert Dickens Webb arrived in Sumter County and served as a trustee for more than 40 years.

Although it appears that a few male students were admitted following the reopening, a resolution by the Board of Trustees in 1876 excluded boys, and this policy was followed until the beginning of the 20th century.

In 1878, the institution changed its name to Livingston Normal College.

Education reformer Julia Strudwick Tutwiler joined the faculty in 1881 as co-principal with her uncle, Carlos Green Smith, former president of the University of Alabama.

The first normal school diplomas were granted in 1886.

In 1890, Tutwiler was named president of the college.

During her tenure, Tutwiler aided in establishing the Alabama Girls' Industrial Institute (now the University of Montevallo) and in having the first women admitted to the University of Alabama in 1893.

Livingston Female Academy and State Normal College continued as a private institution with some State support until 1907, when the State assumed full control.

Following Tutwiler's retirement in 1910, Brock assumed the presidency.

It remained under its own board of trustees, however, until the Legislature created a State Board of Trustees for all the normal schools in 1911.

Foust Hall was built in 1922 as a lab school where college professors taught, and students observed and participated in classroom instruction.

In 1928, both Bibb Graves Hall and Brock Hall were added to the physical plant under this plan.

In 1929, the Alabama State Board of Education took over supervision and renamed the facility the Livingston State Teachers College.

The first homecoming celebration was held in 1939.

When William Wilson Hill assumed the presidency in 1944 after Greenhill left, he commissioned studies to determine if the institution should continue as a four-year college.

Tiger Stadium was built in 1952.

1959 marked the first year in UWA history that the first master’s degrees were awarded to students at the institution.

In 1967 an act of the Legislature created Livingston University, with its own Board of Trustees.

The Ira D. Pruitt School of Nursing was established in 1973.

Pre-professional programs were established, and the first Ira D. Pruitt Division of Nursing class earned associate degrees in 1976.

Not long after the 1977 commencement, history professor William E. Gilbert was found dead off campus.

Finally, in 1995, Livingston University became the University of West Alabama to prove the commitment founded by UWA to its regional roots.

He established the Technology 2000 campaign and helped establish UWA as one of the first wireless institutions in the region.

In 2005, enrollment reached the 3,000 mark for the first time with a combined 3,090 students on campus and online.

That number continued to rise the following year to 3,633 and topped 4,000 in 2007 when 4,186 students were enrolled.

UWA was temporarily on probation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation body in 2011.

However, UWA's board of trustees placed him on paid leave and voted to not renew his contract in March 2014 after he challenged the board's review of his performance.