Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a state university locate in Auburn, Alabama, U.S. With more than 24,100 students and 1,200 faculty, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 1, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts school affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The college was donated to the state of Alabama in 1872, when it became the state's public land-grant university under the Morrill Act and was renamed the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama. In 1892, the college became the first four-year coeducational school in the state. The college was renamed the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (API) in 1899. In 1960, its name was officially changed to Auburn University; it had been popularly known as "Auburn" for many years. Auburn is one of only 13 American universities designated as a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research center.