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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No Exit, the first student production, 1970

The first all-student theatre production at UAB was Jean Paul Sartre's No Exit in the fall of 1970.  The show was mounted as a theater-in-the-round production on the stage of the university's Clark Memorial Theatre off Highland Avenue.  It was directed by faculty member Ward Haarbauer and featured UAB students Jim Hethcox, Rosa Melton, Pat Purcell, and Julie Templin.  No Exit predates the establishment of a formal academic department, which was first created in 1973 as the Department of Performing Arts.  It became the Department of Theatre and Dance in 1980 and was renamed as the Department of Theatre in 1995.  Dr. Haarbauer was the inaugural departmental chair, serving from 1973 until 1981.

UAB Archives announces the opening of a major archival collection from the UAB Department of Theatre.  Record Group 50 contains over 1,600 photographs, hundreds of playbills and event programs, and administrative files from the department dated 1970 until the present.  Contact the UAB Archives for additional information.

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Groundbreaking ceremony for an addition to University Hospital, August 1, 1974.

University officials use a backhoe to break ground -- and the concrete of a parking lot and sidewalk -- for a nine-story addition to the hospital complex, the Monday Morning Quarterback Club Tower.  UAB's new facility would be named in honor of the local civic organization, the Monday Morning Quarterback Club, which supports children's medical needs through charitable activities and contributions.  The club provided funding for the building.  "Quarterback Tower" would be opened in July 1977.

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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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New campus facility opens, 1954

The Birmingham Extension Center opened June 6, 1954, as the first facility the University of Alabama had constructed anywhere in the state for one of its extension programs.  The building was located on 20th Street South at the corner of 7th Avenue and was connected to the university's basic sciences building [today's dental school].  At the time the building was completed, 20th Street also served as Highway 31 and Highway 280 through Birmingham's Southside neighborhood.  The new facility housed classrooms, laboratories, administrative offices, the university bookstore, and the university's non-health sciences library.  The building would be renamed two years later as Tidwell Hall in honor of extension dean Robert E. Tidwell, and in later decades would serve as the home of the UAB School of Public Health.  Tidwell Hall was demolished in 1998 to construct the Kaul Human Genetics Building.

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Anti-war campus protest in 1969.

Just after UAB began the fall term of 1969 as a new and independent university, there was an anti-war protest held on campus.  UAB students and employees, along with members of the local community, protested US involvement in Vietnam.  The Kaleidoscope newspaper reported a couple hundred people attended the protest.  Two weeks afterward, a debate on the Vietnam War was held in the auditorium of the Engineering Building [Cudworth Hall] on the evening before a city-wide anti-war rally was held in Birmingham's Kelly Ingram Park.

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Racing chariots during Greek Week in April 1989.

UAB hosted a Greek Week celebration in 1984.  Sponsored by the Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils, the event was held April 23-29 and included an off-campus party that raised funds for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Birmingham, a Greek jersey day for the UAB and Auburn baseball game, a study night at the University Center, and a day trip to Gulf Shores.  During the celebration of Greek Week in 1989, sororities and fraternities participated in a Greek Games, with competitive events such as tug-of-war and a chariot race.

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Cranes across campus illustrate continued UAB expansion in 2002.

A crane on 20th Street (left center) marks the construction of the medical school's Faculty Office Tower, which was built on top of the existing parking deck located between 5th and 6th Avenues.  The building was completed in 2003 and in 2023 was renamed as the Lyons Harrison Faculty Office Tower.  Two other cranes (right background) mark the construction of the North Pavilion addition to the University Hospital complex.  The 11-story North Pavilion was completed in 2004 as the largest building ever constructed at UAB.  The multi-story white building (lower center) was the Parliament House Hotel, a landmark on Birmingham's Southside neighborhood for decades.  The Parliament House was opened in 1963 and was demolished by UAB in 2008 for continued campus expansion.

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Lining up for UAB's first homecoming parade in 1989.

Homecoming was originally celebrated at UAB as part of the basketball season and was first held in January 1979.  Ten years later, on February 4, 1989, the university sponsored the first homecoming parade, which traveled across campus and ended at the new UAB Arena.  Homecoming 1989 had the theme of "Catch the Spirit."  The women's basketball team defeated Virginia Commonwealth after a pep rally and bonfire held on Thursday.  The men's basketball team defeated Old Dominion following the inaugural parade on Saturday afternoon; Blazer sophomore guard Andy Kennedy led the team with 20 points scored.

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AEIVA opened at UAB in 2014.

The Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts (AEIVA) was formally dedicated on January 15, 2014.  The striking new facility was the new home for the university’s art galleries, administrative and faculty offices, and the Department of Art and Art History.  AEIVA was named in honor of UAB benefactors Marvin and Ruth Engel and Hal and Judy Abroms.

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