As Homecoming Week approaches, mark your calendars for noon Oct. 18 to catch our favorite dragon showing his UAB spirit alongside the original Blazer, UAB’s vintage 1969 Chevy K5 Blazer.
Campus has been home to an ROTC program since 1980. Nearly 40 years later, the corps has a new $3 million training facility with classrooms, office space, a cadre lounge and more. The facility’s formal grand opening is scheduled 1:30 p.m. Sept. 25.
Members of the UAB School of Optometry’s first class were recruited by founding dean Henry B. Peters and began their studies in September 1969, exactly five decades ago.
The west side of UAB’s campus, formed in 1958 during an urban renewal project, looks a bit different these days with the opening of the College of Arts and Sciences’ new University Hall.
In 1971, members of the first social sorority manned a table during recruitment. Today, there are dozens of ways for students to learn about UAB clubs, organizations departments and interest groups.
There’s a key element of summertime fun missing from this vintage photo of medical students relaxing on a sunny rooftop in 1949.
While enrollment increased from 4,600 students in 1966 to more than 21,000 in 2018, campus was growing in other ways — setting itself apart as the top young university in the country, a champion for diversity and the best college for LGBTQ students in the state.
In 1968, UAB hired two instructors to teach art-classes part-time. That fledgling art program is now the thriving Department of Art and Art History, whose faculty are busy this summer season pursuing their passions and honing their crafts.
In the 1970s and ’80s, UAB used school buses — shown here in 1975 — to transport students from parking lots to academic buildings and university events. In May, a new vendor began operating the Blazer Express buses, with big plans for the future fleet.
Terrance Ingraham graduated from the School of Optometry in June 1978, becoming the school’s first black graduate. This past Friday,, a new group of UAB graduates will receive doctor of optometry degrees.
