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Sen. Shelby opens new facility on UAH campus
"I mentioned several years ago that you have the capacity here, you have the intellectual capital, you have the people (at UAH) to build an MIT of the south," Shelby said at ceremonies opening the building. "Today is a big step in that direction … but it's what comes out of the building, not the building itself, that will count in the future."
The Shelby Center has 18 new teaching labs, 15 research labs, 13 classrooms, 146 offices and two auditoriums. It also visually dominates the expanded lake and the new Sparkman Drive entrance into the UAH campus.
"It is a landmark building uniting the northern and southern parts of our campus, a dramatic statement that something important and exceptional is happening on the eastern extremity of Cummings Research Park," said Dr. Frank Franz, who retired as UAH president on July 1. He played a key role in working with Shelby to secure $50 million in federal money and with Gov. Bob Riley to secure $10 million from the state to pay for the new facility.
"The Shelby Center is one of the most complete science and technology centers I have seen anywhere," said UAH President David Williams. "The education that our students will receive in this facility and the research that will be performed here by both faculty and students will help our economy, will enhance our ability to explore the universe, and will help insure our nation's security."
"I don't doubt that there are labs around the country that are equal to this, but none any better," said Dr. Jack Fix, dean of UAH's College of Science.
The new complex will house, among other things, the mathematical sciences and biology departments, although classes and labs for students in other science disciplines will also be taught there. It will also house two research centers, the Center for Modeling, Simulation and Analysis, and the Center for Management and Economic Research.
Math and biology faculty have been told to be ready to move into the Shelby Center as soon as early November, while spring semester classes will be taught there.
The complex is named for both Sen. Shelby and his wife, Dr. Annette Shelby. A portrait of the couple that will hang in the building's expansive lobby was unveiled before the public ceremony.
"As an academic, I am excited about the potential that this facility brings to this area and to the entire state of Alabama," Dr. Shelby said at the dedication. "For southerners, place is very important, because place helps to fine who we are and who we will become. This building, this place, will help to define this university, its priorities and its role in the future of this community.
"The goal — of which this building is a visible part — is to establish a nationally-recognized center of excellence in science and technology."
Planning for the building began about five yeas ago, when Shelby rejected a university request for about $2 million to fund a different project. He encouraged them to think big and promised to provide $50 million for an applied sciences building if the university could get the city and state to commit additional support.
Although construction and cleanup work on the Shelby Center is almost complete, other projects are already underway: Construction crews have started digging the foundation for UAH's new $9 million, three-story "intermodal center," which will include a parking garage, bus terminal and headquarters for the campus police department.
Click here for photos of the Shelby Center Opening.
The University of Alabama in Huntsville 301 Sparkman Drive Huntsville, AL 35899 1.800.UAH.CALL