Dedication of the Henry B. Peters Building, 1994

At a dedication ceremony on October 19, 1994, the 19-year-old optometry building was renamed as the Henry B. Peters Building in honor of the school's founding dean.  Dr. Peters was recruited to UAB in 1969, and he established the first optometry school in the United States within an academic health center.  Dr. Peters stepped down as dean in 1986 and was named professor and dean emeritus.  He then served until 1988 as the first executive director of the UAB Research Foundation.

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Olympic flame travels through the UAB campus, 1996

Gordon Richmond, an administrative associate in the Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, carries the Olympic Torch as part of the Olympic Torch Relay.  Richmond, who was also a graduate student in the School of Public Health, was one of eight UAB community members who carried the torch as it made its way through Birmingham and on to Atlanta, Georgia.  The night-time route took the relay team through the UAB campus, south down 14th Street beside the UAB Arena to 11th Avenue and through Five Points, and north on 20th Street past the UAB Administration Building and University Hospital.  The City of Birmingham hosted soccer matches in July 1996 at Legion Field as part of the XXVI Summer Olympic Games held in Atlanta, and UAB’s West Field served as the practice field for several national soccer teams, including the US men’s team.

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Radio host Michael Feldman (right) interviews Alabama author, journalist, and storyteller Kathryn Tucker Windham as part of the weekly radio broadcast of "Whad'Ya Know?"  The syndicated National Public Radio program was broadcast live on Saturday, November 2, 1996, from the stage of the concert hall at UAB's new Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, which had just opened in September.  "Whad'Ya Know?" was a long-time staple of the broadcast schedule for UAB's WBHM 90.3 FM Public Radio Station.

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Dr. Thomas Wdowiak, an astrophysicist at UAB, worked on several NASA research and exploration teams and helped design the Mars Rover vehicles.  Once the rovers were on the planet, Wdowiak “drove” them from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and from his home in Birmingham.  His NASA colleagues named a ridge on the western rim of the Endeavour crater on Mars as Wdowiak Ridge in his honor following his death in 2013.  Wdowiak was a member of the faculty of the Department of Physics from 1976 until his retirement in 2005.

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UAB first observed Martin Luther King, Jr., Day as a university holiday in January 1993.  But the university had held or participated in various commemorative events in prior years.  In 1991 UAB students participated in a wreath-laying ceremony in front of the statue of Rev. King located in the city's Kelly Ingram Park; the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church is in the right background.  This ceremony was one of several UAB events held that year to mark King Day.

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In the September 28, 1992, issue of U.S. News & World Report, UAB was selected in the magazine's annual best colleges issue as the No. 1 Up and Coming University in the nation.  To celebrate, UAB staff placed a banner on the 13th Street pedestrian bridge over University Boulevard so that all traveling through campus would learn of this honor.

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The office of Student Affairs has long hosted an annual event each fall term to welcome new incoming students to the UAB campus.  These events provide information on the various student groups and campus organizations, offer live entertainment, and often feature free food for attendees.  Formerly held in the UAB Mini Park, more recent fall events have been held on the UAB Campus Green.  The 2022 event, Connect Fest, was held on the Green on Sunday, August 21.

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The UAB License Plate debuted in April 1991 as part of the state’s collegiate license plate program.  The program supported the UAB National Alumni Society and raised funds for student scholarships.  The new tag, which was introduced in 1996, was the second tag layout and featured UAB’s new mascot, Blaze the Dragon.  Dr. J. Claude Bennett served as the fourth president of UAB from 1993 until 1996.  Prior to being named as president, Bennett had been the chair of the university’s Department of Microbiology and chair of the Department of Medicine.

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Prior to the start of the 1998-1999 season, UAB announced that the season would be the final one for its long-running Town and Gown Theater program.  Six shows were produced as part of that final season:  The Glass Menagerie, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Red Hot & Cole, You Can’t Take it With You, and Cabaret.  The production of Cabaret closed on May 16, 1999, ending the 49-year run of Town and Gown Theater and ending the university’s use of the Clark building on Hatcher Place in Caldwell Park.  In 2000 the Metropolitan Arts Council acquired the old theater building and a renovated and newly renamed Virginia Samford Theatre was reopened in 2002.

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UAB sponsored the inaugural Into the Streets volunteer event day on Saturday, April 10, 1999.  Over 300 students participated in a wide variety of sponsored events, such as planting flowers and trees, painting houses, and picking up litter around the city and along the Cahaba River.  Dr. Virginia Gauld, Vice President for Student Affairs (far left), joined students from UAB Greek organizations as they spent time doing some urban farming.

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The former home of the Second Presbyterian Church was acquired by UAB in 1970 and soon afterward became the home of the UAB-affiliated Alabama Ballet; the building became known as the Ballet House.  In 1985 the building was renamed as the Honors House when it became home to UAB's new Honors Program.  The old church building was renovated with funding provided by William and Virginia Spencer, and the newly renamed Spencer Honors House reopened on March 18, 2002.

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At a basketball game on January 9, 1993, UAB unveiled a new mascot, the Blazer.  The mascot scared children at the basketball games, and many segments of the university community objected to the sword carrying militant Viking-like warrior.  The Blazer was withdrawn before the start of the fall football season.  It would be two years before a new mascot, Blaze the Dragon, would be unveiled.

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The first home game for the UAB Blazers as an NCAA Division III team was held at Legion Field. UAB lost to the Crusaders of Evangel College (Missouri). The Blazers recorded their first home win on November 9, defeating Hastings College by a score of 9-7.

This month, UAB returned to the football field after an absence of two seasons. The Blazers defeated the Bulldogs of Alabama A&M by the score of 38-7. A record crowd of 45,212 attended the game at Legion Field on September 2, 2017.

Go Blazers!!!

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The expanded and renovated Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences was rededicated in formal ceremonies on May 2, 1997. The original three-story building was opened in 1971 and had been named in honor of Lister Hill, Alabama's long-time member of Congress.

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