Founders' Day

Founders Day 2021

Join us and our more than 60,000 alumni as we observe the 191st-anniversary Founders’ Day.

Founders’ Day Itinerary

12:00 pm - January 11, 2021

Cookies and t-shirts will be distributed throughout campus to commemorate Founders’ Day. You may download the Itinerary for Founders' Day 2021 Here.

  • Locations:

  • College of Arts and Sciences Ambassadors - Science Building: Cookies
  • College of Business Student Ambassadors - Raburn/Keller: Cookies
  • College of Education and Human Sciences Student Ambassadors - Stevens Hall: Cookies
  • Anderson College of
    Nursing and Health Professions Student Ambassadors - Nursing Building: Cookies
  • Honors College - 601 Cramer Way:
    Cookies
  • Student Government Association - Fountain Area: T-Shirts
  • Student Government Association - Amphitheatre: T-Shirts
  • Student Government Association - Opler Clock: T-Shirts

Selected Photos from
Founders' Day

  • The University of North Alabama was founded as LaGrange College.
    1830 image of LaGrange College
  • A grammar school was added to LaGrange College. (Today, UNA's Kilby Laboratory School is the only university-owned and operated elementary laboratory school in Alabama.)
  • The school was re-incorporated as Florence Wesleyan University.
    1854 Wesleyan University
  • The Methodist Church deeded Florence Wesleyan to the State of Alabama and the institution became the State Normal School at Florence, the first state-supported teachers’ college south of the Ohio River.
    Florence Normal College
  • 31 women enrolled and the school became one of the first co-educational institutions in the nation.
  • The first woman joined the faculty.
  • The institution functioned as a normal school for more than 50 years until 1929, when it became a state teachers college offering a four-year curriculum in elementary education.
    Kilby School
  • The Alabama Legislature voted to change the institution's name to Florence State College to reflect its expanding academic mission.
  • Wendell Wilkie Gunn became the first African-American student to enroll at the college.
    Wendell Gunn
  • The Alabama Legislature removed jurisdiction for the college from the State Board of Education and vested it in a Board of Trustees. A year later, the new board voted for another name change to Florence State University, once again symbolizing the steady expansion of the institution's academic offerings and mission.
  • The university underwent another change of name to the University of North Alabama, symbolizing its coming of age as a comprehensive, regional university.
  • 191 years since our founding. Give today at una.edu/givingday