As we get ready to turn the page on 2024, take a moment to look ahead at a few of the events, initiatives and openings on tap in 2025.
1. Relax, de-stress and recharge
After a successful series of retreats at UAB in fall 2024, the evidence-based Sky Campus Happiness program will be back with two three-day sessions open to students, faculty and staff. Dates are Jan. 29–31 and Jan. 31-Feb. 2. Learn more online.
2. Share your thoughts
The 2025 Campus Engagement Survey is scheduled to be sent to all employees in February, with university-wide results shared in April. Learn more about changes implemented following the last campus survey, in 2023, at uab.edu/campusengagementsurvey.
3. Rolling out the new brand
UAB’s updated primary logo was first shared with campus in summer 2024 and appeared on merchandise at the UAB Bookstore in November. In early 2025, a refreshed visual identity system will launch across the university, medicine and athletics, marking the first time that all three will share a primary logo.
4. Checking in on research expansion
Progress continues on the Research Strategic Initiative: Growth with Purpose, UAB’s road map to multiply the positive impact of our research and reach $1 billion in research expenditures, including finalizing school/college strategic plans and working group action plans and the sharing of high-level performance indicators to track growth.
5. SUCCESS initiative kicks into high gear
This ambitious project aims to build on UAB’s enrollment growth (a 12 percent increase from 2014–2024) and create a seamless experience of student support from initial interest in UAB to graduation. Following on-campus interviews with stakeholders and a campus-wide survey distributed in November 2024, the next step will be to share recommendations that have been developed with Ruffalo Noel Levitz consulting services and establish working groups in early 2025. Learn more.
New faces on campus
Several major buildings are scheduled to open on campus and nearby in 2025.
6. Altec/Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building
First up is the Altec/Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building and the Marnix E. Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation Conference Center, scheduled for completion in the first quarter of the year. The 175,000-square-foot building, located at Seventh Avenue South between 19th and 20th streets, will bring together researchers, equipment and staff for the Hugh Kaul Precision Medicine Institute, the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science, and translational scientists from many different disciplines.
7. Rehabilitation Pavilion
The UAB Rehabilitation Pavilion, located on Seventh Avenue South directly adjacent to the existing Spain Rehabilitation Center, is scheduled for completion in spring 2025. The new building will have three floors dedicated to specialty units of rehabilitation therapy, focused on neurorehabilitation for patients following stroke, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. It also will have several floors of acute care beds and an inpatient floor dedicated to seizure monitoring and epilepsy clinical, research and education services. Learn more.
8. Gorrie Hall
Frances and Miller Gorrie Hall, the second phase of the Science and Engineering Complex, will be home to the School of Engineering. The nearly 116,000-square-foot facility will feature advanced labs and research suites, including 2,000-square-foot materials testing lab. Construction is expected to be complete in June 2025.
9. New Southern Research HQ
Adjacent to UAB’s campus, key partner Southern Research is constructing a new flagship building that is expected to be complete in the third quarter of 2025.
