UAB Briefs: Art show, School of Dentistry makes Top 25, new buildings
Welcome to another installment of UAB Briefs.
In this weekly online feature, we keep track of interesting people and events on campus.
Know people, places and programs on the UAB campus that deserve a mention? Email jchambers@starnespublishing.com.
A SPECIAL ART SHOW
Alabama children with visual impairments have created art for the annual Helen Keller Art Show, which will be on display at The Edge of Chaos events venue at UAB through Monday, Aug. 31, according to a university news release.
The show includes 28 pieces of art and emphasizes the artistic abilities of children from birth to age 21 who have been identified as having a visual impairment, partially sighted, low vision or blind.
The children attend public, private and home schools, and the residential school of The Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind.
The Helen Keller Art Show was established in 1983 and is sponsored in part by the Vision Science Research Center at the UAB School of Optometry.
The event is a way to raise public awareness about what these young people can accomplish.
“Not only do parents realize what the children can and will do artistically as they are encouraged or allowed to create these pieces, but the public has the opportunity to gain a better understanding of their skills as well,” said Shirley Johnson-Wilson, the director of the art show and an assessment and clinical coordinator in the UAB School of Education.
The Edge of Chaos is located on the fourth floor of the Lister Hill Library at 1700 University Blvd.
For more about the Helen Keller Art Show, click here.
MAKING THE TOP 25
The UAB School of Dentistry has been named one of the world’s top 25 dental schools, according to a new list in the 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities from ShanghaiRanking.
The School of Dentistry is ranked at No. 23 and joins 12 other American dental schools on the list.
ShanghaiRanking bases its findings on a survey of 1,500 deans, chairs and heads of faculties and departments of the top 100 universities across a range of subjects, according to a UAB news release.
In recent years, the School of Dentistry has experienced record enrollment, been top-ranked in National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research funding and is home to the National Dental Practice Based Research Network, the release states.
VERY GRAND OPENINGS
Four new facilities — the UAB Police and Public Safety Headquarters, the Collat School of Business, the Intramural and Club Sport Field Complex, and the School of Nursing — are opening to the public in August and September.
UAB held a grand opening for the new Police Department and Public Safety Headquarters on Aug. 9. The two-story, 28,000-square-foot facility located is the 1100 block of 14th Street South, adjacent to the site of the old police headquarters building.
The facility will include — among other features — staff offices, records and evidence storage, men’s and women’s locker rooms with showers, a weight room, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week emergency call center, and a 1,500-square-foot staff training room where officers can also host public training courses.
The old police building on the site, which was half the size of the new facility, has been demolished to make room for additional parking and green space.
A grand opening for the new $37.5 million Collat School of Business, located on University Boulevard between 12th and 13th streets. is scheduled or Aug. 24 at 10 a.m.
The new building will house the Collat School of Business, the UAB Healthcare Leadership Academy, the UAB Regions Institute for Financial Education and the Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The 108,000-square-foot facility features breakout rooms, an innovation lab, classrooms designed for team-based learning, a high-tech finance lab, sales role-playing rooms, a three-story atrium, auditorium,
At a 2016 groundbreaking, Collat School Dean Eric Jack said the facility could “transform” the business school and help create an “innovative Birmingham.”
The new Intramural and Club Sport Field Complex, located at 1101 Fifth Ave. S., will open on August 29 at 5 p.m. The fields will be home to seven outdoor club sport teams, including rugby and lacrosse, and will create more space for intramural outdoor sports.
The School of Nursing will hold a grand opening for its $32 million, 72,000-plus-square-foot building expansion on September 6 at 5:30 p.m The original nursing building was constructed in 1971, with an addition in 1992. The newly renovated and expanded building will be organized around teaching, research, office support and collaboration spaces.