Founded in 1914, The University of Alabama’s Student Government Association (SGA) was established as a central advocacy organization to give the student body representation in university decisions. In an effort to provide a unified voice for students, the university recognized the student body as one of the shared governance groups at The Capstone. Today, the shared governance of the university is composed of UA Administration, the Faculty Senate, the Professional Staff Assembly, the Office, Clerical, and Technical Staff Assembly, and The SGA.
Since its inception, the SGA has fostered an experiential learning environment for students at the university to train themselves in democratic proceedings, student self-governance, community-oriented programming, and servant leadership. The SGA has seen several of its notable predecessors go on to serve in Alabama state and federal offices, including: J. Lister Hill, the organization’s founder, who served for the state of Alabama over 45 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate; Libby Anderson Cater, the first female to serve as SGA President, who served on former POTUS Jimmy Carter’s Commission on Women;
Robert Smith Vance, U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge; Don E. Siegelman, who served Alabama as Secretary of State, Attorney General, and governor; John Merrill, who served as Alabama’s Secretary of State; and Katie Boyd Britt, at the time of this publishing, current candidate for U.S. Senate representing the state of Alabama. The University of Alabama’s SGA strives to continue promoting a culture that instills servant leadership in its members so that its constituents may serve societal needs on a larger scale beyond the institution.
Below are the 111 past SGA Presidents to date.
*1915-1916, 1st President, Lister Hill
1916-1917, 2nd President, Henry B. Love
1917-1918, 3rd President, Wrightman M. Rayburn
1918-1919, 4th President, Whit M. Windham
1919-1920, 5th President, Alfred M. Boone
1920-1921, 6th President, Joseph W. Sewell
1921-1922, 7th President, Paul Trammell Sessions, Sr.
1922-1923, 8th President, Willard McCall
1923-1924, 9th President, John J. Sparkman
1924-1925, 10th President, Roy Lee Smith, Jr.
1925-1926, 11th President, James M. Burt
1926-1927, 12th President, John L. Goodwyn
1927-1928, 13th President, E. Vernon Stabler, Sr.
1928-1929, 14th President, Albert Boutwell, Sr.
1929-1930, 15th President, Lewis A. Smith
1930-1931, 16th President, Orville F. Rush
1931-1932, 17th President, James O. Smith
1932-1933, 18th President, James Theodore Jackson, Jr.
1933-1934, 19th President, Joe G. Burns, Sr.
1934-1935, 20th President, Thomas Winston Starlin
1935-1936, 21st President, Hugh Davis Merrill, Jr.
1936-1937, 22nd President, Carl A. Elliot
1937-1938, 23rd President, Mortimer Harvey Jordan
1938-1939, 24th President, Henry Francis Reid, Jr.
1939-1940, 25th President, C. Roy Lewis
1940-1941, 26th President, Charles H. Davis
1941-1942, 27th President, Grady G. Cleveland, Jr.
1942-1943, 28th President, Robert Clifford Fulford
1943-1944, 29th President, John William McConnell, Jr.
1944-1945, 30th President, Robert Haden King
1945-1946, 31st President, Grover C. Murchison
*1944-1945, 32nd President, Libby Anderson Cater
1944-1945, 33rd President, Grover C. Murchinson, Jr.
1945-1946, 34th President, Thomas E. Holloway
1946-1947, 35th President, John Andrew Reynolds, Jr.
1947-1948, 36th President, Robert Foster Etheredge
1948-1949, 37th President, Roy William Killingsworth
1948-1949, 38th President, William E. Johns
1950-1951, 39th President, Tommy King
1951-1952, 40th President, Oakley W. Melton, Jr.
1950-1951, 41st President, Jerry Dee Worthy
*1951-1952, 42nd President, Robert Smith Vance
1952-1953, 43rd President, William J. Edwards III
1953-1954, 44th President, John Wallace Wilson
1954-1955, 45th President, James Myles Wright, Jr.
1955-1956, 46th President, Walter W. Flowers
1956-1957, 47th President, Cecil C. Jackson, Jr.
1957-1958, 48th President, Donald H. Patterson
1958-1959, 49th President, Ben Chapman Reeves
1959-1960, 50th President, Max Cleveland Pope
1960-1961, 51st President, Julian David Butler
1961-1962, 52nd President, Gary Carlton Huckaby
1962-1963, 53rd President, Tom Brooks Vaughan, Jr.
1963-1964, 54th President, Donald Wilbur Stewart
1964-1965, 55th President, Fred Don Siegel
1965-1966, 56th President, John Z. Higgs, Jr.
1966-1967, 57th President, Ralph Irving Knowles, Jr.
*1967-1968, 58th President, Don E. Siegelman
1968-1969, 59th President, Joseph Cleodus Espy III
1969-1970, 60th President, Warren Chandler Herlong, Jr.
1970-1971, 61st President, James W. Zeigler
1971-1972, 62nd President, H. Thomas Wells
1972-1973, 63rd President, Robert Wayne Lee
1973-1974, 64th President, Larry Britt Childs
1974-1975, 65th President, William Bell Blount
1975-1976, 66th President, Richard Dale Wallace, Jr.
1976-1977, 67th President, Cleophus Thomas, Jr.
1977-1978, 68th President, Vaughn M. Stewart II
1978-1979, 69th President, A. Jerry DeVaney
1979-1980, 70th President, James L. Priester
1980-1981, 71st President, Harris Vaughan Morrissette
1981-1982, 72nd President, Gordon G. Martin
1982-1983, 73rd President, Thomas Franklin Campbell
1983-1984, 74th President, John N. Bolus
1984-1985, 75th President, Donald Ray Pate, Jr.
1985-1986, 76th President, George Bryan Harris
*1986-1987, 77th President, John Harols Merrill
1987-1988, 78th President, Robert Renfroe Riley, Jr.
1988-1989, 79th President, William Carrol Attinger
1990-1991, 80th President, Lynn Slayton Yeldell
1991-1992, 81st President, John Charles Coleman
1992-1993, 82nd President, Hugh Chester Boston III
1993-1994 83rd President, Charles Mark Bain
1993-1994 SGA Shutdown
1994-1995 SGA Shutdown
1995-1996 SGA Shutdown
1996-1997, 85th President, Jessica Lynn Medeiros
1997-1998, 86th President, John Harlan Foster
1998-1999, 87th President, William R. Hankins, Jr.
1999-2000, 88th President, Matthew Reeves Taylor
2000-2001, 89th President, Emily Luckett McMurphy
2001-2002, 90th President, Jonathan W. Macklem
2002-2003, 91st President, Jeremiah Arsenault
*2003-2004, 92nd President, Katie Boyd Britt
2004-2005, 93rd President, Hal Mooty
2005-2006, 94th President, Mary Margaret Carroll
2006-2007, 95th President, Justice Smyth
2007-2008, 96th President, R.B. Walker
2008-2009, 97th President, Kason Kirby
2009-2010, 98th President, Steven Oliver
2010-2011, 99th President, James Fowler
2011-2012, 99th President, Grant Cochran
2011-2012, 100th President, Stephen G. Swinson
2012-2013, 101st President, Matt Calderone
2013-2014, 102nd President, Jimmy Taylor
2014-2015, 103rd President, Hamilton Bloom
2015-2016, 104th President, Elliot Spillers
2016-2017, 105th President, Lillian Roth
2017-2018, 105th President, Jared Hunter
2017-2018, 106th President, Casey Nelson
2018-2019, 107th President, Price McGiffert Jr.
2019-2020, 108th President, Harrison Adams
2020-2021, 109th President, Demarcus Joiner
2021-2022, 110th President, Jillian Fields
2022-2023, 111th President, Madeline Martin
2023-2024, 112th President, Collier Dobbs
