UAB debuts new student portal

UAB has invested in the myUAB portal, designed to be your digital home for everything you need to navigate your UAB student experience, from registration and grades to financial aid and account holds.

The mobile-friendly myUAB organizes your academics in one place — your grades, schedule, registration information, account holds, financial aid, and other information.

Alerts help you better see action items such as account holds and messages. The platform also has news and events feeds so you can keep track of important university information.

University Relations and UAB IT partnered on the project and worked with stakeholders including the Undergraduate Student Government Association, Student Affairs and advisors to test and vet new functions.

“I love the myUAB portal. It's the upgrade to BlazerNET that every student's been hoping for and better than we could've imagined,” said Ritika Samant, president of the Undergraduate Student Government Association. “As a student who's constantly checking my phone, my favorite thing about the portal is that it's mobile-friendly, aesthetically pleasing, and better yet, customizable. It's a one-stop shop for everything UAB: academics, work, and fun.”

While myUAB will eventually replace BlazerNET, both platforms can be used now, and myUAB links to both Canvas and BlazerNET.

Take myUAB for a spin — when you log in at my.uab.edu, you can click the “Start Tour” button in the upper lefthand corner to learn more about the portal.

One of myUAB’s most powerful functions is its robust search bar, which returns results from your email and calendar as well as the UAB directory, campus map and web sites.

UAB has also updated the myUAB portal for employees.

“For student employees like me, the myWork tab makes it easy to keep track of work and payment,” Samant said. “On top of that, through the portal I can see all things UAB like news, event feeds, and more so that I can stay engaged on campus and never miss the fun. The myUAB portal is a big Blaze On! moment.”

UAB community gives big this holiday season

Donations from UAB students, faculty and staff, as well as community members, have made this year’s UAB Toy Drive the biggest ever.

In addition to toys dropped off in boxes around campus, donors gave through two online wish lists; at a teddy bear toss organized by UAB Athletics at the Dec. 4 UAB men’s basketball game; and in individual drives that were then donated to UAB.

“UAB IT organizes the toy drive, which is in its 29^th year, but donations come from every corner of campus,” said Jennifer Jones, HR administrator and one of the department’s UAB Staff Council members. “This year we also challenged departments to donate bicycles. Our goal was 50 bicycles and ride-on toys, and UAB came through. We collected 30 bikes from the School of Nursing alone.”

Toys collected are donated to the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots campaign, which provides toys for children in need throughout the Birmingham area.

Donations also came from Ramsey High School, the Veterans Administration and Pelham High School Band members.

“We cannot say thank you enough to the individuals, schools and organizations that donated,” said Macy Moon, UAB IT communications specialist and Staff Council member. “We are overwhelmed by the response, but we are not surprised by the generosity of the UAB community.”

RCM transition will unite technology talent, centralize IT services

UAB is preparing to unite technology talent from across the university campus into a new UAB IT.

We taking advantage of the RCM transition to create a comprehensive department focused on empowering the UAB community with world-class technology resources and customer service.  

As UAB continues to adopt the Responsibility Center Management model, IT services will be centralized, with UAB IT assuming responsibility for most technology services and some departmental IT staff coming under the UAB IT umbrella. 

“We are building the IT of the future by joining the talent of great teams,” said Curtis A. Carver Jr., Ph.D., vice president and chief information officer. “We are committed to transparency throughout this process.” 
UAB IT’s RCM transition is guided by these principles:  

• There will be minimal disruption to IT services and support for faculty and staff. 

• There will be minimal disruption to the employment of departmental IT staff. 

• We will work together to rationalize IT services and support to avoid duplication. 

The benefits of centralized IT services include reduced costs, increased data security, and enterprise-class IT services and support. 
UAB IT will hold a town hall for IT employees, both distributed and central, as well as financial officers and human resources representatives, to discuss the process and how it will affect each group. The town hall will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 7, at the Cudworth Hall auditorium, and there is also a virtual option via Zoom. 

Urgent messages might be scam

Ever get an urgent email from your boss asking you to help them out of a jam by buying gift cards?

It’s almost certainly a scam.

The messages, which have been prevalent over the last few years but have ramped up in recent weeks, often ask you to send your cell phone number so you can communicate via text message.

“They might say they are getting on a plane or don’t have access to WiFi to get you to send your cell phone number,” said Paul Walker, associate director of information security operations for UAB IT. “Sometimes, someone takes the bait and buys the gift cards. If you give them the gift card number and PIN, they have your money.”

To try to gain your trust, scammers might spoof the email address of a campus leader, but you can usually detect the ruse if you hover over the address — it might be This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. instead of using a UAB.edu address.

If you get one of these scam emails, report it as a phish by forwarding to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or using the PhishNotify button in Outlook.