General information
Location: Birmingham, Ala.
Founded: 1969
Enrollment: 17,545
Nickname: Blazers
President: Dr. Ray L. Watts
Athletics Director: Brian Mackin
Football Facility: Legion Field (72,000)
Basketball Facility: Bartow Arena (8,500)
Media Market: No. 39 Birmingham (738,790 TV households)
Sponsored Sports: 18
Men (6) — baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer, tennis
Women (11) — basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, rifle, soccer, sand volleyball, softball, tennis, indoor & outdoor track & field, volleyball
On the Web
University: uab.edu
Athletics: UABSports.com
Facebook: UAB.Blazers
Twitter: @UABAthletics
Prominent facts
· UAB is Alabama’s largest single employer with more than 23,000 employees and an annual economic impact exceeding $5 billion.
· The university has seen record overall enrollment for three consecutive years. In Fall 2011, UAB welcomed 17,575 students and its largest freshman class of more than 1,600, with two-thirds of those living on campus.
· Forbes lists UAB among the top 20 percent of all U.S. institutions and The Princeton Review has ranked the university among the Top 10 nationally for three consecutive years.
· UAB is ranked 31st nationally for funding research and development funding, attracting more than $460 million in 2010.
· The men’s basketball program has attained a large amount of success in a relatively short time frame. In just its 35th season, the Blazers have earned 14 NCAA berths and participated in 11 National Invitational Tournaments. UAB is ranked 26th among NCAA Division I all-time winningest team in terms of winning percentage.
· The Blazers also have enjoyed an abundance of success with their Olympic sports, including a Conference USA Championship and 2012 NCAA Tournament berth in baseball, six NCAA Championships for men’s soccer in the past 14 years and seven NCAA Regional and/or National Championship appearances for men’s golf in the past 14 years. The softball program made its first NCAA appearance in 2010 and it has returned to the national tournament every year since that time.
· Two-time Conference USA Player of the Year Graeme McDowell won the 2010 U.S. Open.
· Fifteen of the athletics department's 16 sports earned APR scores of 950 or better for the 2010-11 year with women’s golf just below that mark at 946. Six teams finished with perfect APR scores of 1,000 for the 2010-11 academic year.
Notable alumni
· Dr. Regina M. Benjamin — First African-American woman and first person younger than 40 to be elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees
· Larry J. DeLucas — Director of UAB’s Center for Biophysical Sciences & Engineering who was a payload specialist on a 1992 voyage of the Space Shuttle Columbia
· Vonetta Flowers — First African-American to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics (bobsled)
· Allen Franklin — CEO, Georgia Power
· Graeme McDowell — Professional Golfers Association TOUR player who won the 2010 U.S. Open
· Sandra L. Melnick — Chief of the analytic epidemiology research branch of the National Cancer Institute
· Charles A. Nooney — Instrumental in the launching of the Toon Disney television network
· Michael E. Stephens — Executive director of the internationally-renowned Lakeshore Rehabilitation Hospital in Birmingham, Ala.
· Roddy White — National Football League All-Pro wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons and 2005 first-round draft pick