Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 22,000 undergraduate students and a total of more than 28,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the state's largest universities as well as one of two public flagship universities in the state.
Auburn was chartered on February 1, 1856, as East Alabama Male College,a private liberal arts school affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1872, under the Morrill Act, it became the state's first public land-grant university and was renamed as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama. In 1892, it became the first four-year coeducational school in Alabama. In 1960, its name was changed to Auburn University to acknowledge the varied academic programs and larger curriculum of a major university. In 1964, under Federal Court mandate AU admitted its first African American student.
Auburn is among the few American universities designated as a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research center.