• UAB’s total annual impact on the Alabama economy is $4.6 billion. UAB supports 61,025 jobs in the area and generates $302.2 million in tax revenue to state and local governments, including sales, property, and business tax payments. Further, $1 in every $25 in the state’s budget is generated by UAB, and every $1 invested by the state in UAB generates $16.23 in the total state economy.

• UAB made Southern Business and Development magazine’s top 10 list of universities in the South that drive economic development.

• UAB Hospital has eleven specialty programs listed among the nation’s top 50 “America’s Best” in the most recent U.S. News & World Report ranking. Six medical specialties ranked in the top 25: rheumatology, kidney disorders, gynecology, geriatrics, pulmonary, and urology. Other specialties ranked in the top 50 include heart and heart surgery; neurology and neurosurgery; cancer; ear, nose and throat; and gastroenterology. The hospital was one of only 152 hospitals, and the only hospital in Alabama or Mississippi, to make the magazine’s national list.

• UAB ranks No. 3 in the nation for student diversity in The Princeton Review’s 2010 edition of its annual book, The Best 371 Colleges. UAB is the only university in Alabama to score in this category. UAB also ranked No. 11 for having the “Happiest Students” and No. 14 in the “Best Athletic Facilities” category. Students commented on how “integrated culture, education, and ‘real world’ experience…” is encouraged and that “no matter what you want to do…nothing is too big or off-limits; you can do it all here.”

 • For two years in a row, UAB has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition for civic engagement and service learning.

• UAB is among a handful of universities classified by the Carnegie Foundation for both “high research activity” and “community engagement,” which suggests how effectively the university harnesses that research to benefit the community—in terms of the economy, education, better health, and quality of life.

• The UAB Honors Academy provides unique educational opportunities in intimate groups for an exceptional educational experience. Each marquee program, including the interdisciplinary University Honors Program, the Science and Technology Honors Program, the Global and Community Leadership Honors Program, and Experiential Learning Scholars Program, and the Early Medical Professional Schools Acceptance Program, conducts a competitive application and interview process each year for a select number of open slots for incoming freshmen. The Academy provides training for our leaders of tomorrow, and graduates have won prestigious awards such as the Rhodes, Marshall, Trumann, Goldwater, and Fulbright scholarships as well as National Science Foundation fellowships.

• UAB is home to both public radio station 90.3 WBHM-FM and the Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center (ASC), providing the community with diverse programming and outlets for the arts including ArtPlay, the ASC’s new arts education and outreach initiative. In addition, the ASC is home to the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.

• UAB has doubled reseach funding every decade since 1969. Today, UAB receives over $480 million annually in external research funding and ranks 27th nationally for NIH funding. UAB is responsible for 77 percent of all NIH funding to Alabama institutions. In such an environment, undergraduate students can pursue a wide array of research opportunities and gain valuable experience.

• The 168 members of the UAB School of Medicine's class of 2011 will undergo their residency training at hospitals from New England to California, with more than 74 percent remaining in the Southeast. Forty percent will remain in Alabama, and nearly 43 percent will conduct their residency training in one of the primary care fields. 

 • UAB has the only schools of dentistry, optometry, and public health in the state, one of only two medical schools (producing 71 percent of the M.D.s awarded in Alabama last year), and other programs unique to the state and region, including:

• the only undergraduate biomedical engineering degree and the only nursing Ph.D. in the state;
• the only industrial distribution degree in the Southeast;
• one of only four forensic accounting and information technology degrees in the nation;
• a master’s degree in biotechnology that is the first in the Southeast and one of a few in the nation; and
• a music department designated as an All-Steinway School, the first in Alabama and one of only 72 in the world.

• UAB Hospital was selected as one of America’s most customer-friendly hospitals by the American Alliance of Healthcare Providers. UAB earned the Hospital of Choice Award from the Alliance for its unparalleled commitment to good citizenship and community service.