University of Alabama at Birmingham - History

History

In 1936, in response to the rapid growth of the Birmingham metropolitan area and the need for the population to have easy access to a university education, the University of Alabama created a Birmingham Extension Center. The center initially operated in an old house in downtown Birmingham at 2131 6th Avenue North and enrolled 116 students. In 1945, the newly-created four-year University of Alabama School of Medicine moved from the Tuscaloosa campus to Birmingham and took over management of Jefferson and Hillman hospitals. In the post-war boom, enrollment at the extension center increased steadily; it stood at 1,856 by 1957. The medical center also grew. By 1959, research grants, training grants, and fellowships exceeded $1,000,000, and ground was broken for a new Children's Hospital.

By the 1960s, it grew readily 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 1966, the Extension Center and the School of Medicine were merged into the University of Alabama in Birmingham. An Advisory Board for UAB was created in 1967. In 1969, the legislature created the University of Alabama System and elevated UAB to the status of an autonomous institution within the system, which also included UA (in Tuscaloosa) and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) in Huntsville. Dr. Joseph Volker was named the first president of UAB.

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 much land in the Southside and began a steady expansion of the physical plant. UAB Mini Park (the predecessor to UAB Green) was dedicated in 1977. The university created an intercollegiate athletic program, joined the NCAA and began fielding teams beginning with golf in 1970 and men's basketball in 1978. The university's name was changed to the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1984.

By 1990, UAB had awarded its 50,000th degree. In 1992, U.S. News and World Report named UAB as the #1 up-and-coming university in the United States. In 1993, UAB's economic impact on the Birmingham region was estimated at more than $1.5 billion per year (the figure would be $2 billion per year by 1998). In 1994, UAB became the first Alabama university to achieve "Research University I" status in the Carnegie Foundation classification.

UAB celebrated its 40th anniversary as an independent university in 2009. When classes began, UAB had the largest enrollment in the school’s 40-year history. Freshman enrollment was up 19% and graduate student enrollment hit its largest number ever. A record 18,047 students enrolled in courses at UAB.