Aaron L. Lamar Jr., Ed.D. (center), who joined UAB’s faculty in 1973 and in 1978 was named associate vice president and dean of Student Affairs, was the first Black man named to a senior administrative position at UAB. Shown here in 1978 welcoming two new UAB Ambassadors, Lamar received the UAB President’s Medal in 1994 and remained at UAB until his retirement in 1998. UAB Student Affairs also established the Aaron L. Lamar Jr. Student Leadership Scholarship in his honor.
In the following decades, UAB consistently has proven its commitment to diversity, culminating this year in being named America’s No. 4 Best Employer for Diversity by Forbes; its Best Employers for Diversity were chosen based on an independent survey of more than 50,000 employees working for companies employing at least 1,000 people in their U.S. operations. Respondents were asked questions regarding the topics of age, gender equality, ethnicity, disability, LGBTQA+ and general diversity concerning their own employer.
This announcement comes on the heels of UAB’s being named America’s No. 1 Best Large Employer by Forbes in February.