University of Alabama at Birmingham
| The University of Alabama at Birmingham | |
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| Seal of The University of Alabama at Birmingham | |
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| Established: | 1969 [1] |
| Type: | Public |
| Endowment: | US$400.7 million [2] |
| President: | Dr. Carol Z. Garrison |
| Faculty: | 2,049 [3] |
| Students: | 16,246 [3] |
| Undergraduates: | 10,796 [3] |
| Postgraduates: | 5,450 [3] |
| Location: | Birmingham, Alabama, USA   33°30′00″N 86°48′27″W / 33.500000°N 86.807500°W / 33.500000; -86.807500 |
| Campus: | Urban |
| Former names: | University of Alabama in Birmingham |
| Sports: | 17 intercollegiate sports (NCAA Division I FBS) |
| Colors: | Green, White and Gold |
| Nickname: | Blazers |
| Mascot: | Blaze the Dragon |
| Affiliations: | SACS, Great Cities' Universities, NCAA, Conference USA |
| Website: | http://www.uab.edu/ |
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The University of Alabama at Birmingham (also nationally known as UAB) is a public, coeducational university covering 83 blocks in the heart of Alabama's largest city Birmingham, Alabama, USA. The university is the newest and largest in terms of faculty, staff, and budget of Alabama's major universities. UAB ranks 26th nationally in federal research and development funding and 1st in the state of Alabama, receiving more funding than all Alabama universities combined. UAB is Alabama’s largest employer, with more than 18,000 faculty and staff at the university and in the health system, and is responsible for 52,900 full-time equivalent jobs within the university and the community. Eight percent of jobs in the Birmingham area are related to UAB.
UAB offers over 140 nationally and regionally accredited programs of study leading to bachelor's, master's, doctoral and professional degrees in various fields, including social and behavioral sciences, liberal arts, business, education, engineering, health-related fields (such as medicine, dentistry, optometry and nursing) and public health. The school is highly renowned for its medical research and natural sciences programs. UAB received over $416 million in external grants and contracts in fiscal 2007-2008.[4] This places the school as one of the larger research institutions in the Southeast. In fact, as of 2005, UAB is 4th in the Southeast for NIH research funding behind only Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Vanderbilt University.[5] UAB Hospital also sponsors residency programs in various medical specialties, including internal medicine, neurology, surgery, radiology, and anesthesiology. UAB Hospital is the only Level I trauma center in Alabama, as rated by the American College of Surgeons Trauma Program.[6]
As of 2009, the University of Alabama at Birmingham is the third largest university in Alabama with an enrollment of approximately 16,300 students from over 70 countries. The school's president is Dr. Carol Z. Garrison.
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History
UAB began in 1936 as the Birmingham Extension Center of the University of Alabama. Because of the rapid growth of the Birmingham area, it was decided that an extension program for students in the Birmingham area was needed. In 1945, the University of Alabama School of Medicine moved from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham, and took over management of Jefferson and Hillman Hospitals in Birmingham. In 1966, the Extension Center and the School of Medicine were merged into the University of Alabama in Birmingham. In 1969, UAB became one of three autonomous institutions of the University of Alabama System, which includes the University of Alabama (UA) in Tuscaloosa and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAHuntsville). The university's name was changed to the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1984.[1].
UAB is a component of the University of Alabama System and is governed by the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama. The President of UAB is appointed by the Chancellor of the University of Alabama System with approval of the Board of Trustees. The President reports directly to the Chancellor, and is responsible for hiring and promotion of faculty and staff on the UAB campus.
List of Presidents
- Dr. Joseph F. Volker, 1969-1976
- Dr. S. Richardson Hill Jr., 1977-1987
- Dr. Charles A. McCallum, 1987-1993
- Dr. J. Claude Bennett, 1993-1996
- Mr. Paul Hardin, 1997 (Interim)
- Dr. W. Ann Reynolds, 1997-2002
- Dr. Malcom Portera, 2002 (Interim)
- Dr. Carol Z. Garrison, 2002-Present
(source: UAB Archives[1])
Campus
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is located on approximately 83 blocks on the Southside of Birmingham, Alabama. The medical center which is located on the east and north sides of campus closest to downtown contains buildings mostly dedicated to healthcare, research, and support of those enterprises. Also located in the medical center district are non-UAB hospitals, such as the VA Medical Center Birmingham, Children's Hospital of Alabama, and Cooper Green Mercy Hospital. The west campus area near Interstate 65 and the Glen Iris and Southside communities is mostly dedicated to the non-health related schools, student housing, and athletic facilities.
Since 1969, UAB has undergone extensive growth and is sometimes jokingly referred to as "The University that Ate Birmingham"[7], and construction projects are common across campus. Current projects that are in planning, recently completed, or under construction include:[8]
- Shelby Biomedical Research Building
- Southern Bio-Safety Lab Alabama Birmingham
- Heritage Hall
- Alumni Affairs House
- Campus Green Project
- Women's and Infants Center [9]
- Hazelrig-Salter Radiation Oncology Facility [10]
Campus Green
UAB recently constructed a new park called the Campus Green which was completed in 2007. Planning for the Campus Green began in late 2000. The park is divided into the North and South Greens. The North Green is 340' long and 240' wide. The South Green is 320-foot square of green space and major sidewalks with pedestrian lighting, decorative architectural landscape elements, and multiple trees. There is also a formal garden and a corner plaza. The Green is bordered by Blazer Hall, the Commons on the Green (the campus dining faculty), the Campus Recreation Center, and the new 95,000-square-foot (8,800 m2) Heritage Hall academic building. Blazer Hall opened in Fall 2006 and is a new 753-bed freshman Residence Hall located adjacent to the Commons on the Green. Other aspects of the Campus Green that would make it distinctly representative of UAB are being discussed such as a bell tower and fountains area.
Recreation Center
Opened in 2006, the UAB Recreation Center serves the students, faculty, and alumni of UAB as well as the surrounding Birmingham community. The 150,000 square feet covers three floors: housing four basketball/volleyball courts, five racquetball courts (one of which can be converted to squash and four for wallyball), four aerobics studios, 18,000 square feet of weight and cardio-fitness areas, game room, KidsZone, aquatics center with both lap and leisure components, CenterCourt gym used for indoor soccer, floor hockey and badminton, juice bar, indoor track, and a climbing wall. The center includes free weights, court sports, swimming pools, group fitness classes, nutrition education, fitness areas, and a climbing wall.
Housing
UAB has five dormitories on campus:
- Blazer Hall (Freshmen only)
- Blount Hall (Sophomores and higher)
- Camp Hall (Sophomores and higher)
- Denman Hall (Juniors and higher and married couples)
- Rast Hall (Sophomores and higher)
Students
Of the approximately 16,300 (10,300 undergraduate) students enrolled at the school, 42 percent are male and 58 percent female. Students come from all 50 states and 70 countries.
Demographics
Fall 2008
- Faculty: 1,776 (91.3% hold an academic or professional doctorate)
- Student-faculty ratio: 18:1
- Average Class Size: 31
- Average ACT score: 24.4
- White: 60.3%
- Black: 27.1%
- Asian: 4.4%
- Hispanic: 1.7%
- Non-resident alien: 2.3%
- Native American: 0.1%
- Other: 3.8%
- Average Age of Entering Freshmen: 18.9
- Student Organizations: 130+
Academic Profile
Academic Programs
The university offers 51 baccalaureate (bachelors, undergraduate) programs, 46 master's degree programs, and 36 doctoral (Ph.D.) programs.
- School of Arts and Humanities
- School of Business
- School of Dentistry
- School of Education
- School of Engineering
- School of Health Professions
- School of Medicine
- School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
- School of Nursing
- School of Optometry
- School of Public Health
- School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
- Division of General Studies
- Graduate School
Academic Rankings and Accolades
General
- In the 2009 Princeton Review College Rankings, UAB is listed as one of the Top 15% universities in the nation as well designated as one of the "Best Southeastern Colleges". In addition, out of the 368 Best College Rankings, UAB was ranked #4 in diverse student population, #8 in race/class interaction, and #7 in most conservative students on campus.
- Since 2000, UAB has produced 7 Fulbright Scholars, 6 Phi Kappa Phi Fellows, 8 Goldwater Scholars, 3 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellows, 2 Truman Scholars, 1 Marshall Scholar, 1 Rhodes Scholar
- In 2008, the average ACT score of entering freshman at UAB was 24.4. In 2007, the freshman class had an ACT average of 24, meeting the University's Strategic Plan 2010 goal 3 years early.
- Seven faculty members are members of the National Academy of the United States National Academies.
- The UAB Model Arab League team is among the best government model teams in the nation with over five years of expansion and award winning achievement including multiple "outstanding delegation" awards.
- The UAB Mock Trial team is consistently among the nation's best as a perennial Top 25 program. The program enjoyed its greatest success in 2006, when the team won the national title in the Silver Division defeating the defending national champions of Harvard University.
Nursing and Medicine
- The schools of Nursing and Medicine at UAB are among the nation’s best, according to the 2008-2009 U.S. News & World Report ranking of graduate schools. The School of Nursing is ranked 1st. The School of Medicine is ranked 23rd. Five medical specialties at UAB are ranked in the top 20 nationally by the magazine: AIDS, 4th; women’s health, 8th; internal medicine 18th; geriatrics, 19th; and pediatrics, 19th. The school’s primary care program was ranked 34th.
- The Master of Science in Health Administration program has been ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News since the early 1990s and is currently ranked 7th in the nation.
- The Master's in Physical Therapy program is ranked 25th.
- The Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies program is ranked among the top 30 nationally and is one of only 2 programs in the nation that has a surgical focus.
- The School of Health Professions is #1 in the nation in research funding from the National Institutes of Health and holds the record for 26 consecutive years in either first or second place.
Business and Engineering
- The UAB School of Business was ranked 7th in metropolitan state business schools by US News and World Report in 2004 and is accredited by AACSB International.
- The UAB MBA program is recognized by The Princeton Review in its 2009 edition of "Best 296 Business Schools" as one of the best in the nation.
- UAB accounting graduates first-time pass rates on the CPA exam that are 30% higher than the national average.
- During the past six years, a UAB graduate has achieved the highest score in Alabama on the CPA Exam 5 times. (Comparatively, no other university/college in the state has had more than 2 graduates achieve the highest score in the last six years.)
- UAB School of Business finance graduates pass the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam at a rate 20% higher than the national average.
- UAB's School of Business has 4 tenured Black faculty in the Department of Management and Organization but UAB as a whole has a very small percentage of tenured Black faculty.
- The Industrial Distribution Program is the only fully integrated business-engineering ID program in the U.S.
- A UAB School of Engineering student has been named by the ASPE (Alabama Society of Professional Engineers) as the state of Alabama’s Outstanding Undergraduate Student of the Year from 2001-2007 and 9 of the past 12 years.
- The biomedical engineering program is ranked 40th in the nation by US News and is the only biomedical engineering program in the state.
Honors Programs
University Honors Program
The University Honors Program (UHP) is UAB’s core liberal arts honors program. This program provides students with a variety of interdisciplinary courses that are designed to be more challenging, innovative, and personal than normal courses. The program only accepts a maximum of 50 students per year that represent a diverse range of majors and disciplines in order to create a unique and cultivating learning environment.
This program does not have any minimum requirements for admission. Applicants are considered if they demonstrate particular academic or creative talent and after having a personal interview.
Science and Technology Honors Program
The Science and Technology Honors Program, otherwise known as Sci-Tech Honors or S&T Honors, is UAB’s research based honors program. This program prepares students for research careers and graduate school by connecting them with labs and mentors in their undergraduate years. The first two years of the program focus primarily on teaching the methodologies and techniques used in scientific research, while the last two years are spent on developing the student’s Honors Thesis, consisting of an individual research project and report that will be submitted for publication.
The program also encourages collaboration amongst students and boasts its tight-knit learning community, which is facilitated by numerous program meetings, activities, and summer retreats. In order to promote these ideas, the program only accepts a maximum of 50 students each year.
The minimum requirements for application are a 3.5 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) and an ACT or SAT score at or above the 90th percentile in math and science. However, all applications are individually reviewed and there is no definite cut-off based on ACT or SAT scores.
Global and Community Leadership Honors Program
The Global Community and Leadership Honors Program (GCL Honors) is composed of students interested in community and global issues. Students in this program are commonly study foreign languages, culture, and international studies. The program is designed to facilitate student interest in being leaders in their community and in the world and to help them explore the issues facing the world today and apply them to their own goals. This program provides specialized curriculum and incorporates Study Away/Study Abroad programs into its required courses
The Early Medical School Acceptance School Program
The Early Medical School Acceptance School Program (EMSAP) is the most competitive honors program available at UAB. EMSAP serves as a magnet for academically superior high-school seniors, attracting them to UAB’s undergraduate programs by offering guaranteed acceptance into the School of Medicine, Dentistry, or Optometry, after completion of their undergraduate degree at UAB.
EMSAP is a combination of three separate programs: the Early Medical School Acceptance Program (EMSAP), the Early Dental School Acceptance Program (EDSAP), and the Early Optometry School Acceptance Program (EOSAP). Currently, EMSAP accepts only 10 students per year into its program while EDSAP and EOSAP, both of which are new programs starting Fall 2008, are anticipated to accept only 1-2 students each per year.
The minimum requirements for application are a 3.5 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) and at least a 30 ACT or 1320 SAT (out of 1600). However, the average ACT score of those accepted ranges from 32 to 36. The minimum academic requirements for remaining in good standing are a 3.5 GPA in natural science and math courses and a 3.6 GPA overall. Should a student’s GPA drop below these minimums, the student is placed on probation and has one year to bring their GPA back up to the minimum, else be expelled from the program. In addition, EMSAP students must make a 28 MCAT before the matriculation into the School of Medicine, while EDSAP and EOSAP students must make at least average scores on the DAT and OAT.
EMSAP web site: http://main.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=27435e
Health System
The UAB Health System is a partnership between UAB and the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation (UAHSF). The UAHSF is a private, not-for-profit medical practice made up of the faculty of the UAB School of Medicine.The UAB Health System is governed by a board of directors which has representatives of the UAHSF, the University of Alabama Board of Trustees, and UAB administrators. The UAB President is the ex officio chairperson of the UAB Health System. The CEO of the UAB Health System reports directly to the UAB Health System board and is appointed by the chairman of the board. Organizational units of the UAB Health System include:
- UAB Hospital
- UAB Highlands (formerly HealthSouth Medical Center)
- The Kirklin Clinic
- UAB Health Centers
- Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital
- Viva Health (HMO)
Managed by the UAB Health System through management agreements are Medical West in Bessemer, and Baptist Health of Montgomery. UAB also has affiliations with the Birmingham VA Medical Center, Children's Hospital of Alabama, and Huntsville Hospital in Huntsville.
Athletics
The UAB Blazers are the forest green and old gold-swathed athletic teams at UAB. The school is one of the twelve member institutions of Conference USA and participates in Division I of the NCAA. The UAB football team, which competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision is led by Neil Callaway and plays its home games at 71,594-seat Legion Field. The school's men's basketball team, coached by Mike Davis, plays in 8,508-seat Bartow Arena.
The basketball program's first coach was Gene Bartow, who was John Wooden's successor at UCLA. Bartow left UCLA after several exceptional seasons (52-9 over three seasons, including a berth in the Final Four in 1976) to head up the founding of the first UAB men's basketball team. He served as the school's first head basketball coach and athletic director for 18 years. Bartow led UAB to the NIT in the program's second year of existence, and followed that with seven straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including trips to the Sweet 16 in 1981 and the Elite Eight in 1982. Bartow retired from coaching in 1996, and in 1997, UAB renamed its basketball venue from UAB Arena to Bartow Arena in his honor. Bartow continues to support the university as an influential booster and currently lives in Memphis, Tennessee where he serves on the staff of the Memphis Grizzlies as a Special Advisor. In 29 years UAB has made 13 NCAA appearances, 3 Sweet Sixteen appearances, 1 Elite Eight appearance, has had 26 winning seasons, of which 18 of those were 20+ wins seasons.
In addition to football and basketball, UAB also has programs in men's sports for baseball, golf, soccer, and tennis. Women's sports programs include softball, basketball, golf, soccer, synchronized swimming, tennis, track and field(indoor and outdoor), cross country, rifle and volleyball.
Fight Song
The Fight Song for UAB is the "UAB Fight Song". It sometimes is also known as the "Blazer Fight Song". The lyrics for the song are:
At UAB in Birmingham
All Hail our players bold
They are the mighty Blazers
Who wear the Green and Gold
Tonight let's fire their Golden Blaze
The Flame of victory
Go Blazers! Go Blazers!
Win for UAB!
WIN FOR UAB!
Student Life
Greek Life
Panhellenic Council (NPC)
- Alpha Gamma Delta
- Alpha Omicron Pi
- Delta Gamma
- Alpha Xi Delta
- Alpha Sigma Tau (closed)
- Sigma Kappa (closed)
National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC)
- Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. 1975
- Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. 1974
- Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. 1972
- Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. 1990
- Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. 1980 Kappa Kappa Chapter[1]
- Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. 1996 Xi Mu Chapter
- Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
- Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
Interfraternity Council (IFC)
- Pi Kappa Phi ΠKΦ [2]
- Delta Sigma Phi ΔΣΦ
- Lambda Chi Alpha ΛΧΑ
- Tau Kappa Epsilon TKE [3]
- Theta Chi ΘΧ (closed)
- Alpha Tau Omega ATΩ (closed)
- Kappa Sigma ΚΣ (closed)
- Pi Kappa Alpha ΠΚΑ (closed)
Intramurals
The school also has an intramural program that runs year-round. Students and staff compete for league trophies in sports such as basketball, bowling, flag football, golf, soccer, softball, ultimate frisbee, and volleyball, or play to win special tournaments in billiards, racquetball, tennis, and other sports.
Notable Alumni and Faculty
As of 2009, there are over 100,000 graduates of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The UAB National Alumni Society includes 59 chapters across the United States.
External links
References
- ^ a b c UAB Archives
- ^ UAB Financial Report, 2007
- ^ a b c d UA System Fast Facts
- ^ UAB Facts and Figures 2007-2008
- ^ NIH Awards to All Institutions by Rank
- ^ American College of Surgeons Verified Trauma Centers
- ^ NCAAbbs.com thread, 31 Mar 2005
- ^ UAB Facilities Project Status Report
- ^ UAB Synopsis, Vol. 25, No. 27
- ^ UAB Department of Radiation Oncology - About Us
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