TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A $35 million gift commitment from University of Alabama alumnus J. Frank Barefield Jr. to name UA’s College of Arts and Sciences has helped The Rising Tide 2.0 Capital Campaign reach yet another fundraising milestone.
The J. Frank Barefield Jr. College of Arts and Sciences was announced on campus Friday, June 6, following approval by The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees. During the board meeting, UA President Stuart R. Bell also announced that The Rising Tide 2.0 Capital Campaign reached its $1.8 billion goal more than 15 months ahead of schedule.
The Barefield College of Arts and Sciences is the second college at UA to be named. It has 9,140 students enrolled across 80 majors, minors, concentrations and graduate programs.
“Mr. Barefield’s remarkable generosity reflects the spirit of giving that defines The University of Alabama,” Bell said. “His gift further elevates the College of Arts and Sciences, which educates thousands of students across disciplines and fosters excellence in research and creativity.”
Barefield holds a bachelor’s degree in finance (‘68) from UA and is the president of Abbey Residential, LLC, a multifamily real estate firm headquartered in Birmingham. He said his motivation in making the gift was to help UA students “dream big, because anyone can achieve their goals.”
“My experiences at the University are some of the best of my life,” Barefield said. “I want everyone to have that same experience and the same learning opportunities, so they’ll understand how to focus, work in the world we have and be successful.”
Barefield College of Arts and Sciences Dean Joseph P. Messina said Barefield’s gift provides the College with a fully discretionary endowment that allows its leadership to “act quickly, think boldly and lead purposefully” with initiatives such as:
- Launching innovative research the moment opportunity strikes,
- Retaining top scholars with competitive support,
- Intervening when students face unexpected hardships, and
- Investing in bold, high-impact initiatives across Alabama and beyond.
“With this support, the College is poised to elevate its excellence in teaching, innovation, research and creative endeavors, reinforcing its commitment to meaningful impact and academic distinction,” Messina said. “Mr. Barefield’s belief in our work affirms our mission. We are profoundly grateful for this support and look forward to the remarkable progress it will inspire in the years to come.”
The Rising Tide 2.0: An unstoppable surge
Barefield’s gift commitment was integral in pushing The Rising Tide 2.0 Capital Campaign past its $1.8 billion goal with over a year remaining in the original campaign timeline. The Rising Tide 2.0 will continue raising funds to support its four campaign pillars through September 2026, when the 10-year campaign draws to a close.
Under Bell’s leadership, The Rising Tide 2.0 became the most successful capital campaign ever for higher education in the state of Alabama. UA reached its original campaign goal of $1.5 billion in February 2024 and, two weeks later, announced The Rising Tide 2.0 with an enhanced goal of $1.8 billion.
To date, gifts from more than 182,000 donors, including just over 105,000 first-time donors, to the campaign have:
- Generated more than 1,160 new endowed scholarships,
- Produced almost 70 new endowed faculty support funds, and
- Supported the construction of more than 500,000 square feet of campus facilities.
The campaign’s impact continues to enhance the campus footprint and elevate the UA experience, particularly at the Peter Bryce Campus, where 118,000 square feet of renovation at Bryce Main have resulted in the Catherine and Pettus Randall Welcome Center, which opened in January 2024, and the Smith Family Center for the Performing Arts, currently under construction and set to open in early 2027.
About J. Frank Barefield Jr.
Barefield holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from UA, an MBA from The University of Alabama at Birmingham, and is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst. He is an owner and president of Abbey Residential, LLC. His partner in Abbey Residential is Dr. Marnix E. Heersink, for whom the UAB Heersink School of Medicine is named.
“I am very appreciative of the education I received from The University of Alabama, as it has been the foundation of whatever success I have achieved,” Barefield said. “My goal with this gift is to assist the University in its ability to attract and retain the top educators and students from around the world. I am humbled and honored that the College of Arts and Sciences will forever bear my name.”
Upon earning his degree at UA in 1968, Barefield was commissioned in the United States Air Force, serving four years before he was honorably discharged at the rank of captain. Barefield was also the silver medalist in the 1974 IPF Men’s World Powerlifting Championships.
Barefield then transitioned to banking and finance in the Birmingham area, serving as vice president and senior investment officer at Southern National Bank and manager at Arthur Young & Company, an international public accounting firm. Currently, Barefield co-owns and manages a property portfolio through Abbey Residential, LLC in excess of $2.5 billion in assets.
Barefield and his wife, Barbi Breimann, reside in Vestavia Hills.
In addition to his support of UA, Barefield serves as board chair of Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama and has supported other law enforcement initiatives in the area, including a gift to name the Hoover Police Department’s training facility. He also made a sizable gift commitment of $10 million to UA’s sister institution, UAB, to name its department of criminal justice and its entrepreneurship program.
Barefield said he’s proud to extend his philanthropy to his alma mater and “can’t wait to see its impact on one of the top educational institutions in the world.”
“It’s a difficult thing to wrap your head around, that a school the size of The University of Alabama, and my name would somehow be associated with it,” he said.
About the J. Frank Barefield Jr. College of Arts and Sciences
Each year, the Barefield College of Arts and Sciences provides almost half of all credit hours for UA’s students. As artists, scientists, political leaders, scholars and performers, Arts and Sciences students excel in many ways, including:
- 54% of pre-health graduates are accepted to med school — 18% higher than the U.S. average,
- 85% of pre-law students are accepted to law school, many attending top 14 schools,
- Kate Herndon, a May 2025 graduate, was among 32 students in the nation to receive the Rhodes Scholarship, and
- John Richardson, a May 2024 graduate, was the first UA graduate to be named an Eisenhower Global Scholar.
The College has equally talented faculty members across its 22 departments. In 2024, Barefield College of Arts and Sciences’ faculty generated $41.5 million in research grants, which funded everything from community aid and national investigations to international restoration projects and answers to outer space’s deepest questions. In the past five years (2020-24), research funding increased by 42% over the prior five-year period (2015-19).
The College has more than 55,000 alumni throughout 64 countries and all 50 states.