University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)
About
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established in 1936, the institution became a four-year campus in 1966 and a fully autonomous university in the University of Alabama System in 1969.
UAB offers 140 programs of study in 12 academic divisions leading to bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and professional degrees in the social and behavioral sciences, the liberal arts, business, education, engineering, and health-related fields such as medicine, dentistry, optometry, nursing, and public health.[5] In the fall of 2019, 22,080 students from more than 110 countries were enrolled.[6]
The UAB Health System, one of the largest academic medical centers in the United States, is affiliated with the university. UAB Hospital sponsors residency programs in medical specialties, including internal medicine, neurology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, surgery, radiology, and anesthesiology.
UAB is the state’s largest single employer, with more than 23,000 faculty and staff and over 53,000 jobs at the university and in the health system. An estimated 10 percent of the jobs in the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area and 1 in 31 jobs in the state of Alabama are directly or indirectly related to UAB. The university’s overall annual economic impact was estimated to be $7.15 billion in 2017.
In 1936, in response to the rapid growth of the Birmingham metropolitan area and the need for the population to have access to a university education, the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa established the Birmingham Extension Center.[9] The center operated in an old house in downtown Birmingham at 2131 6th Avenue North and enrolled 116 students. In 1945, UA’s newly established four-year School of Medicine moved from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham and took over management of Jefferson and Hillman hospitals. In 1957 enrollment at the extension center stood at 1,856. By 1959, research grants, training grants, and fellowships exceeded $1 million, and ground was broken for a new Children’s Hospital.
By the 1960s, it grew apparent that the extension center was becoming a university in its own right. An engineering building was built close to the medical center in 1962. In September 1966, the Extension Center was renamed the College of General Studies and elevated to a full four-year program. That November, the College of General Studies and the School of Medicine were merged into the University of Alabama in Birmingham, with Dr. Joseph Volker as “Vice President for Birmingham Affairs”–reflecting that it was still treated as an offsite department of the main campus in Tuscaloosa. An Advisory Board for UAB was created in 1967. In 1969, the legislature created the University of Alabama System. UAB became one of three four-year institutions within the new system, which also included UA and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) in Huntsville. Volker became UAB’s first president.[9]
In the 1970s, the university began a period of rapid growth. Enrollment at the beginning of the decade stood at 6,629, including 2,724 women. To accommodate the growing student population, UAB acquired land in the Southside. UAB Mini Park (the predecessor to The UAB Green) was dedicated in 1977.
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Courses Offered
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Admission
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Fees and Tuition
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Online Application
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Application Deadline
Contact details
Address: 1720 University Blvd, Birmingham, AL 35294, United States
Phone: +1 205-934-4011