Memories

At UAB, we laugh. We cry. We discover. We learn. We cheer. We invent. We excel. And we do it together. That’s why including your memory in our 50th anniversary oral history project is so important. Your memory’s a part of UAB, and it belongs in our Archives. Furthermore, we want to share your tale on the web, on social media, in print, or in a podcast this fall.
Check out some memories and share yours today. After all, our story isn’t complete without you.


Ronan O'Beirne, Roger Clark & Bob Norman
"In 1981, Coach Bartow asked me to be the head coach, and that was like a dream job to me."
Linda Lucas & Jack Lemons
"They literally thought that we were a family and not this odd group of people that worked together, studied together, and interacted."
Zachary Watson, Anna Parker, Dhruv Singh, Callie Walls, & Alex Clark
"As soon as we walked out of the Hill Center, it was torrential rain. It was crazy. Mother Nature smacked us."
Steven & Shakima Wilson
"We got married on Homecoming, October 19, and we graduated on December 13 together."
Abigail Franks
"The help of my mentors here at UAB has actually impacted me a lot. I have been supported by almost like a squad of really strong women."
Tiffany Millan
"They asked me what I thought I could do to help kids get more interested in voting, and the first thing that came out of my mouth was, 'We need to do things like offer pizza parties.'"
Norman Bolus
"It was the UAB vs. Nebraska basketball game, the first basketball game ever at UAB."
Marie Sutton & Patrick Johnson
"My surgeon looked me in the eye and then hugged me because she knew that I was broken from being diagnosed."
Donita White
"I feel it is my job to do what I can to make their stay as pleasant as possible."
Pam Benoit & Lori McMahon
"It is our job to educate everyone. Everyone deserves an opportunity to be educated, and I love that mission that we have."
Meagan Butler
"They walk in an interview, and without saying anything at all, they aren't given a fair chance because of the way they are dressed."
Caroline and Nic Spears
"After choir, he offered to buy me a soda from the Hideaway Café, which was on the third floor of the Humanities Building."
Martin Heslin
"A little piece of you dies every time a patient dies. But it's one of the great gifts to get to know people during that time in their life."
Emily Delvo, Lindsey Lawrence, Micael McDaniel, & Christopher Powers
"The first thing she told us about was Gurney Derby. She said we have a winning reputation, and we need a team that can keep that going."
Lee Price
"It was probably a 14-hour process that day. I was pretty much done with school, I thought, when I finally got registered."
Wendy Walters
"I asked him what he had been praying for, and he was praying for God to watch over and to protect me."
Dr. Philip Musa
"Some of my best memories include cheering on the basketball and football teams, not only here in Birmingham but traveling with the teams."
Tyler Dill
"It was the night that UAB beat Middle Tennessee for the Conference USA Championship."
Katelyn & Nathan Bunn
"I got the ring out, got down on one knee, and the rest is history."
Khushee Modi & Viral Patel
"I could feel every moment of it but I didn't know what was going on."
Ken Jackson
"I remember voting on the school colors. I remember thinking, 'Gosh, I was a part of history.'"
Ryan Meyer
"In April 2011, there was the tornado super outbreak."
Kayla Hazelwood
"During my time in undergrad, I studied abroad for half a year in Perth, Australia."
Greg Davis & Rachel Gill
"The work in the medical examiner office goes on day by day but when a tornado comes and causes many deaths, it changes everything..."
Freda Lewis
"I started as a temp in 1986. And then I became a full time employee on March the 27th of 1988."
Tim McMinn
"We were driving on Southside . . . and I found a dog."
Cynthia Scott
"I feel like I saw UAB grow from a small institution to what it is now."
Frank Pajaron
"Many years ago I used to work a lot of crazy hours, and I just happened to notice an elderly woman in the parking deck."
Malcolm Lunceford
"I got to UAB, and my fraternity let me know that they were wanting to colonize on this campus."
Sarah Witkowski & Ryan Meyer
"The day of the snow-pocalypse - which we were working in Heritage Hall..."
Alison Kniseley & Roxanne Palmer-Jones
"I have a new lease on life."
Darrin Reaves II
"When I saw it, I wanted to bring it back to Birmingham."
Daniel Dye & Brandi McCleskey
"We were on some Polaris ATV in the middle of nowhere, July in Alabama, It was so hot, and I thought, 'This is the best moment of my life.'"
Alex Jones
"My freshman year - that was the year that UAB won the conference USA Title."
Caleb Maxey
"I wanted to leave because I wanted to experience different cultures."
Brynn Welch
"I was teaching philosophy at a small liberal arts college."
Julius Seidenfaden
"My earliest memory is of wanting to be an artist."
Tandy Petrov
"UAB for the second time gave me an option and saved my life.That's when it hit, I knew I had to come here."
Marquise Pruitt
"Seeing everyone come together as a family is what I loved most about going to UAB."
Kim Bean
"You could tell it wasn't just their job—that they really cared about us."
Akash Patel & Landon Clements
"My friends have been a big impact
in my life."
Connor Gentry & Ivy Null
"I joined the Marching Blazers when I first came and honestly didn't even notice you."
Catherine Bates & Elizabeth Bates
"Our story starts off after our very first band camp at UAB."
Lauren Smith
"We're racing down the highway—It's like two in the morning..."
Daphne Powell
"I was and still am the first-generation college graduate in my entire family."
Sarolyn & Brandon Cohill
"My husband and I met at UAB as freshmen in the fall of 2011."
Lindsey Hill & Marites Hill
"My mom is my role model, and she helped me through so much while we were in school together."
Alex Pulito
"It was the most awkward thing ever."
Kristi Smith
"UAB is not only where I went to college and where I work—it's where I met my husband and started a family."
Jessyca Wofford & Joshua Evans
“...Sterne—around midterms and finals—it turns into ‘Club Sterne.’”