AUM was established in 1967 by Act 403 of the Alabama Legislature. In March 1968, Dr. H. Hanly Funderburk, Jr., was appointed vice president and chief administrator of the newly created university. AUM opened its doors in September 1969 with nearly 600 students in the old Alabama Extension Center on Bell Street, next to Maxwell AFB. Two years later, the university relocated to a 500-acre (2.0 km²) campus on the McLemore Plantation tract, 7 miles (11 km) east of downtown Montgomery. The campus' first two buildings were the Administration/Library building and Goodwyn Hall with classrooms and faculty offices.

AUM has been accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) as an operationally separate institution from Auburn University since 1978.