December 2008
Members of UAB's Panhellenic and Interfraternity Councils decorate a Christmas tree in the new University Center, December 1983. Standing around the tree are (left to right) Chuck Dinsmore, Bonita Seaborn, Mark Stephens, and Darryl Cunningham. The University Center opened in October 1983 and on May 17, 1991, would be renamed the Hill University Center in honor of Dr. S. Richardson Hill, Jr., second president of UAB.
Image ID: P7.4.1, #2555
November 2008
A class in the UAB School of Education, 1980. Attendees in a summer course listen as Dr. Kevin P. Walsh, a member of the education faculty, lectures. The School of Education was formally created in August 1971, but a Division of Education had been established in 1968 as part of the university's College of General Studies.
Image ID: P7.3.3, #0638
October 2008
Dental students in the laboratory, circa 1952. The three students here, (left to right) Randall O. Laffre, Jr., Robert J. Eustice, and Gerald R. Rowe, were members of the first class to graduate from the School of Dentistry. Fifty-two men, all veterans of World War II, matriculated on October 18, 1948, and fifty would graduate on May 31, 1952.
Image ID: P1, #0221
September 2008
Art class offered in the Division of Humanities, circa 1970. In 1968 two people were hired to teach art classes part-time. In 1969 the two became full-time instructors within the Division of Humanities. In 1972 UAB began a major in art, and in 1973 the Department of Art was formally organized within the new School of Humanities.
Image ID: P7.2.7, #1923
August 2008
University College students relax outside of class, August 1970. These students are seated outside of Tidwell Hall on South 20th Street, on the site currently occupied by the Kaul Human Genetics Building.
Image ID: P7.3.1, #1023
July 2008
UAB officials work the barbecue pit, circa 1980. Preparing the day's meal for a university office picnic are (left to right): Dr. Jerry D. Young, vice president for Finance; unknown; and Stanley L. Chesser, director of Campus Services and Grounds. The barbecue pit was located on the western edge of campus near South 11th Street, near the Special Studies and Facilities Management buildings.
Image ID: P16.1.7, #0490
June 2008
Urban Renewal area, 1958. On June 10, 1958 university officials obtained 10 ½ blocks of land adjacent to the Medical Center. The Urban Renewal Project allowed the campus to grow west from its original four blocks. This photograph of the 800 block of South 17th Street – the site currently occupied by the Learning Resources Center – clearly illustrates the substandard conditions found immediately west of the campus. University Hospital and the Veterans Administration Hospital are visible in the background.
Image ID: P7.2.7, #0571
May 2008
Kidney transplant surgery, circa 1981. The first kidney transplant in the state of Alabama was conducted at the Medical Center in Birmingham on May 8, 1968. Dr. Arnold G. Diethelm performed the surgery and headed the transplant team. In the 40 years since that first surgery, UAB has grown to be one of America's top transplant centers with patients arriving from around the globe for treatment. Currently, the university has active programs in kidney, heart, liver, lung, bone marrow, pancreas, cornea and retina transplantation.
Image ID: P7.3.3, #0310
April 2008
Construction of the optometry building, circa 1974. The steel structure of a building to house the School of Optometry rises on the UAB campus. The optometry building was dedicated on September 12, 1975 ; it would be renamed the Henry B. Peters Building in 1994 in honor the school's founding dean. In this view looking east from Volker Hall, the Statue of Hippocrates is visible in the original courtyard that was located in front of the Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences.
March 2008
The Engineering Building gets a new sign, December 1966. Pictured are (left to right) Don Bowermann, president of the Birmingham Chapter of the American Institute of Industrial Engineers, and Dr. Joseph H. Appleton, professor of Civil Engineering. The AIIE chapter provided funding for the lettering on the building. Dr. Appleton later served as director of the Engineering Division from 1967 until 1971 and as first dean of the School of Engineering from 1971 until 1978. The engineering program began in the 1940s and was the first non-health related program at UAB where students could complete all of their coursework in Birmingham.
Image ID: P7.2.7, #0305
February 2008
Lawrence Reynolds, MD, at the opening reception of the Lawrence Reynolds Library, 1958. Dr. Reynolds, an Alabama native, selected the medical school in Birmingham as home for his collection of over 6,000 books, manuscripts and artifacts. The Lawrence Reynolds Library was dedicated on February 2, 1958. Since 1974 the Reynolds Historical Library has been housed within UAB's Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences. The library collection has grown to over 13,000 items and the library is one of three units that comprise UAB Historical Collections.
Image ID: P7.2.7, #1521
January 2008
Gladys McQueen becomes the university's first "Employee of the Month," January 1978. McQueen, who had 25 years of service with the university, was a keypunch supervisor in the Central Computing Facility. In January of 1979 she would also be selected as UAB's first "Employee of the Year."
Image ID: P7.2.1, #0574