Paula Dennis demonstrates the largest camera on the UAB campus, the Print Plant’s new room-sized process camera. The camera used 32 x 32 inch film and a 40 x 50 inch copy board. The Print Plant was moved into a leased building on the 2100 block of 5^th Avenue South in 1976 and the university acquired several new pieces of equipment to meet the production needs of the UAB community.

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UAB was granted a license for a public radio station early in 1976, and the station went live on Sunday the fifth of December. WBHM originally broadcast seven-days a week between 6:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. and was housed in the old mathematics building at 11^th Street South; it remains in the same location today. UAB and the Birmingham community are currently celebrating the 40^th anniversary of listener-supported WBHM 90.3 FM Radio.

Image ID: P46.1

On this anniversary of the station, the UAB Archives is pleased to announce the opening of a WBHM archival collection that contains photographs, scrapbooks, publications, etc.  Click here to contact the UAB Archives for information on Record Group 46, WBHM 90.3 FM Radio.

Dr. Lamar joined the UAB faculty in 1973 and in 1978 was named as associate vice president and dean of Student Affairs, the first African American named to a senior administrative position at UAB. Dr. Lamar received the 1994 President’s Medal and remained at UAB until his retirement in 1998. UAB established a student scholarship in his name.

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Outside the department’s headquarters with a fleet of patrol cars are (left to right): patrolmen J. C. Johnson, Doug Gilmer, Les Nicholson, Jim Hicks, and Sgt. Paul Harrington. The police department was organized in 1972 and occupied a building at 910 South 15^th Street until 1992 when the department was moved to a newly acquired building on South 14^th Street. The old headquarters building was later used by several UAB departments before being demolished for the construction of the Campus Green.

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These students make good use of the new pedestrian bridge crossing University Boulevard at South 13th Street.  The bridge was completed in 1975 as UAB experienced dramatic growth in the student population. Total enrollment grew from 5,381 in 1969-70 — UAB's first year as an independent university — to 12,119 in 1975-76 the year the footbridge was completed on the western end of the UAB campus. The undergraduate enrollment grew 109% during that time period.

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Several hundred students, faculty, and community members held a protest in front of the College of General Studies Building on South 20^th Street. The protest was held in support of Kent State University following the deaths of four students who had been killed by the Ohio National Guard on May fourth.

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#may4matters

The library was formally dedicated in May 1973 as part of UAB’s new University College campus.  It was officially rededicated on October 23, 1974, as the Sterne Library in memory of a prominent local civic leader, Civil Rights activist, and UAB supporter.

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A new UAB-wide transportation system, the Blazer Express, was inaugurated in January 2014, but in earlier years the university also provided transportation options. Old school buses, shown here parked near the Ullman-Bell Complex, were used in the 1970s and 1980s to transport students from parking lots to classrooms and to various university events.

Photo ID: P7.4.2, #0015

A large hallway sign placed in University College Building Number 1 proclaimed “The School of Business Supports ‘Our’ Blazers….and the Entire Blazer Team!”  The UAB men’s and women’s teams debuted in basketball games held in 1978. Building Number 1 is the current School of Education Building

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University College Building No. 1, Building No. 2, Building No. 3, and the library – today’s Education, Chemistry, and Humanities Buildings and Sterne Library – were dedicated in a ceremony held in May of 1973. Governor George C. Wallace spoke at the ceremony one year after he survived an attempted assassination at a presidential campaign stop in Maryland. The Governor’s wheelchair is visible as he stands at the podium.

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Lt. Leo Woods operates the police department's tape machine.  The Dictaphone 4000 recorded all telephone and radio calls. A Police Department was formally organized at UAB in 1972.

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Dr. Hill became the second President of UAB on February 1, 1977, and served until his retirement in 1987. He had previously served as Vice President for Health Affairs, as Dean of the medical school, and as first director of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism. Dr. Hill came to UAB in 1954 and he remained involved on the campus until his death in 2003.

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University Hospital was the location for UAB staff and employees to receive an inoculation as part of a nation-wide swine flu vaccination effort held during the fall of 1976.

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Brown became chief librarian at the Medical Center in 1955 and in October 1971 became the first director of the newly opened Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences.  Brown retired from UAB in 1977.

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The Beta Zeta chapter of Alpha Sigma Tau was established in May of 1970 as the university’s first social sorority.

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A group supporting a moratorium against whaling brought a 100-foot hot-air balloon to UAB in order to call attention to the plight of the nautical mammals.

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UAB President Joseph F. Volker (left) and members of the Bell family attend the dedication of the Bell Building.  Part of the Ullman-Bell complex, the building was named in honor of the late Dr. George C. Bell, who had served as the first principal of the Ullman High School from 1937 until 1965.

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A major winter storm brought snow and freezing rain to the Birmingham region and all UAB activities except for essential services were cancelled.

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Hospital dietetics supervisors Ollie Griffie, Jr., (left) and Beverly Willingham (right) with some of the 700 pounds of turkey served in University Hospital on the holiday. The dietetics department also prepared over 300 pounds of sweet potatoes and 15 cases of cranberries.

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A student considers her options during UAB’s campus registration held in the Bell Building gymnasium.

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