For both lower and upperclassmen, UAB will be full of new sights to see in the near future. Photo by Ian KeelMark Linn - Copy Editor
copy@insideuab.com
Whether you’re a brand new student coming to UAB for the first time or simply starting a new year of classes, UAB has many upcoming changes in store for you. From outreach efforts by the UAB Alys Stephens Center to a tuition increase, changes are coming to every corner of campus.
Tuition hikes
The UA Board of Trustees approved tuition increases for UAB and the University of Alabama in June. For UAB students, there will be $170 charge per semester for Alabama residents and $444 for non-residents, representing a 3.5 percent and 4 percent increase, respectively. Jim Bakken, director of UAB Media Relations, cited flat state funding and the costs of new construction as reasons for the increase.
“State funding remains relatively flat year-to-year, not keeping pace with increases in mandatory expenses like employee health insurance,” Bakken said. “So it is vital that the institution funds projects and operations necessary to recruit and retain top faculty and staff, and deliver the world-class learning environment our students deserve.”
Bakken also pointed to recent additions to the UAB campus as another reason for the increase, such as the new Hill Student Center, Health and Wellness Center and New Freshman Residence Hall, as well as future construction projects such as the upcoming School of Business and Institute for Innovation building as well as renovations and expansion of the School of Nursing and plans for a new College of Arts and Sciences building.
Softball stadium expansion
UAB will begin renovations this summer on the softball stadium. The UA Board of Trustees expedited the approval of the nearly $1 million expansion that will include grandstand seating to accommodate over 1,000 people, as well as a newly renovated press box. The additions are expected to be completed in time for the 2017 softball season.
In addition, UAB is expected to see construction of a new hammock park and two new beach volleyball courts in the future.
New business/innovation building
The tail end of the fall semester will also mark the groundbreaking for the upcoming facility that will house the Collat School of Business and the Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
“I think traditionally when people think of about UAB, they think about the medical school,” said Kathy Nugent, Ph.D., the managing director of the Institute for Innovation. “But we're doing some pretty unbelievable things in the entrepreneurial and innovation side of things. And the school of business is driving a lot of this, but all the other schools are also involved: every school across campus is involved in innovation and entrepreneurship in some way.”
The estimated 109,000-square-foot facility will be located on the north side of University Boulevard. The building, which will be four stories in total, will feature traditional elements such as a large auditorium, classrooms and study rooms as well as more innovative features such as breakout rooms for team projects, showrooms, behavioral research labs and a state-of-the-art trading room for UAB's Green and Gold Fund, an investment portfolio where students act as portfolio managers to buy and sell stocks.
“I'm personally looking forward to having a facility that will be a world-class business school that both faculty and staff and students can be proud of,” said Eric Jack, Ph.D., dean of the Collat School of Business.
Marketplace bids for the project will open in August and come back in September. Those bids will then be submitted to the UA System Board of Trustees for approval during their November board meeting. Assuming everything goes well, groundbreaking for the facility will happen in late November or December. The estimated construction time is a year and a half, so the planned completion of the building is July 2018.
Hire-a-Blazer
Another change students will notice as they return to class in the fall is that DragonTrail Jobs, UAB’s career management and jobs/internship site, has been completely overhauled and is now called HireABlazer, located on the UAB Career and Professional Development website. The new site seeks to be easier to use than its predecessor, as well as allowing for more customizable profiles showcasing a student’s work history, academic achievements and extracurricular information, which employers can view at the user’s preference. Employers will also have their own profiles that students can view.
“So in the past they [the employers] gave us the job, we advertised it to you, you sent us the résumé and we had to make sure it was OK to get to the employer," said Melissa Whatley, interim director of Career and Professional Development. "Some of that will still happen, but you and the employers can talk directly, if you choose to."
The new platform allows students to search for employers, follow them for employment opportunities and times they might be on campus. Students can also keep track of events like on-campus workshops, employer panels and career fairs.
Whatley encouraged both undergraduate and graduate students to use the service, as it is available for use for both. Students can find HireABlazer https://www.uab.edu/careerservices/hire-a-blazer
Alys Stephens Center
The UAB Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center will be adding a new director of engagement position to its staff, with the aim of increasing outreach to the community, particularly UAB students.
“The main reason I added this position when I came […] was because I saw a gap in what we did for our own university students,” said Anna Thompson, the executive director of ASC. “We have tremendous outreach into the greater community, Jefferson, Shelby, Blount, Birmingham, but we had this hole when we came to serving our own students and we're a university presenter, that's what we're here about.”
The director of engagement will be charged with creating a student advisory group, which will help plan social events around things that are happening throughout the performance season, such as Hispanic Heritage Month in September and October and an expanded IndiaFest next April.
The Center is also gearing up for the 20th anniversary performance season, which will feature performances such as the Christmas program with the UAB gospel choir and guest Alicia Olatuja, a jazz vocalist who sang at President Obama's second inauguration.
