Dear UAB Community and Friends,
Welcome back to our students, faculty and staff as we begin an exciting milestone year for our university. This year marks the 50th anniversary of UAB’s founding as an autonomous campus within the University of Alabama System, and we look forward to celebrating the UAB story — past, present and future — throughout 2019.
UAB’s history and ascent to global renown is a remarkable story of collaboration and innovation, setting and exceeding ambitious goals, and being “powered by will” to push frontiers across all disciplines and in all pillars of our mission.
At the heart of the UAB story is our longtime and productive partnership with our community. In 1971, UAB’s first president, Dr. Joseph Volker, delivered the honoree address to the Newcomen Society of Alabama, which recognized UAB a second time in 2018. Throughout Dr. Volker’s address, titled simply “The University and the City,” he discussed at length the shared destiny of UAB and Birmingham and the early progress — and great promise — of what he twice called the “extraordinary partnership.”
That extraordinary partnership — vital from the very beginnings of UAB — is stronger than ever today. Last year alone we partnered to accomplish historic strides, including our third straight year of record enrollment; being named the top young university (50 years or younger) in the United States and 10th globally in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings; record research funding with increases in every school on campus; and the largest gift ever made to UAB — $30 million to name the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB — putting us over the $1 billion goal of the largest philanthropic campaign in our history.
Beginning this month, we will celebrate and build upon our tradition of community engagement. Tomorrow we officially launch BlazerPulse, a new online platform that will enable us to better track and measure outcomes of community engagement, to provide a “front door” for our community partners and to help us to have an even greater impact in the region. Our Benevolent Fund’s "50 Acts of Service” initiative begins with the MLK Day of Service as part of UAB Community Month that will include service projects, lectures, cultural programs and dialogues that highlight the rich diversity of our campus and community. On Jan. 31, we will cut the ribbon on UAB’s flagship hotel, the Hilton Birmingham at UAB, a $20 million renovation and rebranding that showcases photos from UAB Archives in both guest rooms and public areas as well as tributes to notable UAB faculty, staff and alumni in meeting spaces.
We also look forward to joining our community this Friday to pay tribute to another outstanding accomplishment of 2018: UAB Football’s historic season, which saw our first Conference USA championship, our first bowl win and a best-ever record of 11-3. The City of Birmingham is hosting a parade for UAB Football Friday at 4 p.m. on University Boulevard, and I hope you will all come out as you are able to enjoy the festivities.
We have much to celebrate in this 50th anniversary year. UAB’s enduring spirit of daring and determination — and its strong partnership with our community — has driven incredible success over five decades and propels us toward an even bolder future.