In the courtyard by Volker Hall, School of Optometry, and Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences, UAB hosted a picnic to celebrate reaching $100 million in active research grants and contracts. Twenty years after reaching this major milestone, UAB currently has over $473 million in active extramural funding.

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Kracke (seated third from left) graduated in 1924 from the two-year medical school in Tuscaloosa. In 1944 he was named dean of the Medical College of Alabama, the university's newly established four-year school in Birmingham. The medical school had originally been founded in Mobile in 1859 as a proprietary institution. It was first affiliated with the University of Alabama in 1897 and officially became an academic unit of the university in 1907.

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Dr. David P. Lewis, chair of the UAB Department of Economics, spoke to area business executives during an "Economic Outlook '79" seminar hosted by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, the UAB School of Business, and the UAB Division of Special Studies. Lewis and other speakers predicted the country would experience a "mild recession" by middle of the year.

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The hospital photographed at the time of the establishment of the University of Alabama's Birmingham Medical Center. The tall building (center) is Jefferson Hospital. The building at the right is the newest wing of the Hillman Hospital. This facility had been dedicated January 15, 1929, as a major addition to the hospital. In 1979 the two buildings were officially designated as the New Hillman Building and as Jefferson Tower.

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Standing around the tree are (left to right) Chuck Dinsmore, Bonita Seaborn, Mark Stephens, and Darryl Cunningham. The University Center opened in October 1983 and on May 17, 1991, would be renamed the Hill University Center in honor of Dr. S. Richardson Hill, Jr., second president of UAB.

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Attendees in a summer course listen as Dr. Kevin P. Walsh, a member of the education faculty, lectures. The School of Education was formally created in August 1971, but a Division of Education had been established in 1968 as part of the university's College of General Studies.

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The three students here, (left to right) Randall O. Laffre, Jr., Robert J. Eustice, and Gerald R. Rowe, were members of the first class to graduate from the School of Dentistry. Fifty-two men, all veterans of World War II, matriculated on October 18, 1948, and fifty would graduate on May 31, 1952.

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In 1968 two people were hired to teach art classes part-time. In 1969 the two became full-time instructors within the Division of Humanities. In 1972 UAB began a major in art, and in 1973 the Department of Art was formally organized within the new School of Humanities.

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These students are seated outside of Tidwell Hall on South 20th Street, on the site currently occupied by the Kaul Human Genetics Building.

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Preparing the day's meal for a university office picnic are (left to right): Dr. Jerry D. Young, vice president for Finance; Ray Boothe, head of UAB facilities; and Stanley L. Chesser, director of Campus Services and Grounds. The barbecue pit was located on the western edge of campus near South 11th Street and adjacent to the Special Studies and Facilities Management buildings.

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On June 10, 1958 university officials obtained 10 ½ blocks of land adjacent to the Medical Center. The Urban Renewal Project allowed the campus to grow west from its original four blocks. This photograph of the 800 block of South 17th Street – the site currently occupied by the Learning Resources Center – clearly illustrates the substandard conditions found immediately west of the campus. University Hospital and the Veterans Administration Hospital are visible in the background.

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The first kidney transplant in the state of Alabama was conducted at the Medical Center in Birmingham on May 8, 1968. Dr. Arnold G. Diethelm performed the surgery and headed the transplant team. In the 40 years since that first surgery, UAB has grown to be one of America's top transplant centers with patients arriving from around the globe for treatment. Currently, the university has active programs in kidney, heart, liver, lung, bone marrow, pancreas, cornea and retina transplantation.

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The steel structure of a building to house the School of Optometry rises on the UAB campus. The optometry building was dedicated on September 12, 1975 ; it would be renamed the Henry B. Peters Building in 1994 in honor the school's founding dean. In this view looking east from Volker Hall, the Statue of Hippocrates is visible in the original courtyard that was located in front of the Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences.

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Pictured are (left to right) Don Bowermann, president of the Birmingham Chapter of the American Institute of Industrial Engineers, and Dr. Joseph H. Appleton, professor of Civil Engineering. The AIIE chapter provided funding for the lettering on the building. Dr. Appleton later served as director of the Engineering Division from 1967 until 1971 and as first dean of the School of Engineering from 1971 until 1978. The engineering program began in the 1940s and was the first non-health related program at UAB where students could complete all of their coursework in Birmingham.

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Dr. Reynolds, an Alabama native, selected the medical school in Birmingham as home for his collection of over 6,000 books, manuscripts and artifacts. The Lawrence Reynolds Library was dedicated on February 2, 1958. Since 1974 the Reynolds Historical Library has been housed within UAB's Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences. The library collection has grown to over 13,000 items and the library is one of three units that comprise UAB Historical Collections.

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McQueen, who had 25 years of service with the university, was a keypunch supervisor in the Central Computing Facility. In January of 1979 she would also be selected as UAB's first "Employee of the Year."

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Smiles all around as Santa Claus stops to chat with medical students in the cafeteria of University Hospital, 1967.

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Formally established in November of 1992 by President Charles A. McCallum, Jr., the UAB Archives is a campus-wide repository charged with maintaining UAB's records of historical value and with collecting the history of the health sciences. Previous attempts to collect historical material by the Department of Medicine and by the Jefferson County Medical Society helped in the development of the new campus repository. The archives was initially housed in the ETS area (pictured here) of the Mervyn H. Sterne Library. In 1998 the UAB Archives became a unit of the Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences.

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Initially UAB celebrated homecoming during the basketball season. The first homecoming was celebrated at UAB in January 1979. After the establishment of an NCAA Division I-AA football team in 1993, the festivities were moved to the fall to be part of football season. The first homecoming celebrated during the fall was held October 1994.

The former home was located at 2131 6th Avenue North and was acquired as part of a mortgage foreclosure. On September 14, 1936 the University of Alabama's Birmingham Extension Center opened in the renovated building. For the first term, 116 students were enrolled. The center remained at this location until 1954 when a new facility opened adjacent to the Medical Center. The old house was later demolished for a parking lot.

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In August of 1967 the nursing school was moved from its original home on the campus in Tuscaloosa to Birmingham to become part of the growing Medical Center. The nursing residence hall (later renamed Hixson Hall) offered living and entertainment areas for the students moving to Birmingham.

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Nurse Vivian Brown instructs hospital orderlies in the use of the Tank Respirator (iron lung) as part of University Hospital's in-service education program.

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Visiting actors Kitty Carlisle Hart (center) and Birmingham native Wayne Rogers (left) view artifacts in the Town and Gown Theatre, May 1978. James F. Hatcher (right) founded the theatre in 1950 and directed it until his retirement from UAB in 1991. Hatcher eventually created a museum in the Clark Theater Building with his collection of letters, photographs, scripts and props; some of the items from that museum are now contained in the Hatcher Collection at the UAB Archives.

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Ground was broken for a major renovation and expansion of UAB's health sciences library in September 1994. The new addition was completed in 1996, the renovation was finished in 1997, and the "new" Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences was dedicated in ceremonies on May 2, 1997.

The respiratory therapy program was developed at University Hospital and in 1970 was moved to the university's newest academic school, the School of Community and Allied Health Resources. Today, the respiratory therapy program is housed within the Department of Critical Care in the UAB School of Health Professions.

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The medical center's youngest academic school, the UAB School of Public Health, was approved by the University of Alabama Board of Trustees in May 1981. Until its move to the Ryals Building in 1996, the school was located in Tidwell Hall on South 20th Street (on the site currently occupied by the Kaul Human Genetics Building). At the time of this photo, the building's facade carried the university's official name, the "University of Alabama in Birmingham." In November 1984 the name was changed to the current "University of Alabama at Birmingham.

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UAB Athletic Director and Head Basketball Coach Gene Bartow (right) and Ferd Weil (left) of the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce hang green and gold welcome banners along UAB streets. The UAB Blazer Men's Team won the conference championship, gaining the school's first Sun Belt title. Bartow was named conference Coach of the Year and UAB player Oliver Robinson was named conference Player of the Year.

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The dental school was founded in 1948 and the first class graduated in 1952. The clinic facility pictured was completed in 1951 as a portion of the Medical and Dental Basic Science Building (renamed the School of Dentistry Building in 1976).

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University Hospital and a special Christmas visitor send holiday greetings to hospital patients, visitors and staff, circa 1967.

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On November 24, 1978 the men's basketball team played its first NCAA-level game in front of more than 14,000 fans at the BJCC. The Blazers lost the game to Nebraska. Four days later, the Lady Blazers lost their first game against North Alabama. "Beauregard T. Rooster," the second mascot of UAB, debuted in 1979 and remained the University’s mascot throughout the 1980s.

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Homer W. Allgood, Jr., and Virginia D. Hamilton examine a diploma from the medical school's first commencement in Birmingham. Allgood was the first person to receive a diploma at the ceremony and Hamilton was the first female in the history of the medical school to receive the MD degree.

At a press conference in Montgomery, Governor Brewer announced that the "University of Alabama in Birmingham" and the "University of Alabama in Huntsville" would become independent campuses and join the University of Alabama in a new three-campus administrative system. Meeting with the media are (left to right) Daniel T. McCall, Jr., member of the University of Alabama Board of Trustees; Dr. Joseph F. Volker, newly named president of UAB; Juanita Volker; Governor Brewer; Mary Mathews; Dr. F. David Mathews, president of the University of Alabama; and J. Rufus Bealle, Board secretary. Following a search process, Dr. Benjamin B. Graves would be named the first president of UAH in 1970.

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University College registration, September 1972. Registration for University College was held in the gymnasium of UAB's Bell Building. A total of 7,564 students enrolled in credit and non-credit courses during the two-day registration on September 21-22. Before the days of personal computers and online registration, UAB students would queue for their classes at tables placed around the gym.

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Hillman Hospital, circa 1928. The Hillman Hospital was dedicated on July 15, 1903, but the history of the hospital itself reaches back to 1888 when a charity hospital was established in the young city of Birmingham. Ground was broken at the corner of South 20th Street and 6th Avenue South for the "new" Hillman Hospital in May of 1902. The Hillman Hospital building remains as part of the UAB Hospital complex.

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Optometry student Terrence N. Ingraham examines a patient, May 1978. Ingraham received his O.D. degree from the UAB School of Optometry in June 1978, becoming the first African American graduate of the school.

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Jo Ann Hyatt, assistant instructor of nursing, examines the rare books housed in the Reynolds Historical Library at the University of Alabama Medical Center, Birmingham, 1958.

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