The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s College of Arts and Sciences will soon expand with the addition of a new building. The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees approved stage three of planning for the building in early February. The 160,000 square-foot facility will be located on the corner of 10th Avenue South and 14th Street South, will have two wings and include a 300-seat auditorium.

“We proposed this new building as a result of the rapid growth of the undergraduate and graduate programs in the college,” said Robert Palazzo, Ph.D., dean of the UAB College of Arts and Sciences. “The new building will provide modern teaching facilities and technologies, larger classrooms, and it will be a safe and secure space for students to learn and for faculty to conduct their scholarship and research.”

The UAB College of Arts and Sciences serves more than 50 percent of UAB students through one of its 29 majors and 19 departments. All freshmen, regardless of their majors, are taught by arts and sciences faculty for their core classes. The college also offers more than 30 baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral degrees.

The new facility will replace the UAB Humanities Building and will be home to the departments of anthropology, computer and information sciences, English, foreign languages and literatures, mathematics, philosophy and social work. The building will also include performance space, administrative support offices, and a storm shelter.

The Montgomery, Alabama based firm Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, Inc., will serve as architects for the $39.5 million project. Phase four of the project will be discussed during the board of trustees April meeting. Construction is expected to begin in 2018.