Students listen as Kevin Walsh, Ph.D., faculty member in the School of Education, lectures on early childhood education during a 1980 summer course.
UAB began providing education training in the 1940s while it was still the Birmingham Extension Center of the University of Alabama, later creating an education division in UAB’s College of General Studies in 1966. In 1971, UAB formally created its School of Education in 1971. Fewer than 50 years later, it is a leader in this state and across the nation. Alumni include six of the past nine Alabama Teacher of the Year winners, and this past month, alumna Heather Simpson was selected for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the nation’s highest honors for teachers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Now, a new era has begun with the arrival of Autumn Tooms Cyprès, Ed.D., an expert in politics in the professoriate and educational organizations, organizational reform and leadership preparation, as its new dean July 1.
“As a former school principal and health educator, I see incredible opportunities to extend the bridges we have built with the Alabama community focused on the intersections of education, health, and wellness,” Tooms Cyprès said. “I look forward to serving our students, faculty and staff in ways which foster the creation and translation of knowledge that changes the world.”