Despite immense challenges, 2021 brought exciting national recognition for UAB and the Heersink School of Medicine. In February, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) was named America’s No. 1 Best Large Employer by Forbes. UAB beat out household names across a variety of industries for the top spot on the list, including Mayo Clinic (No. 3), Costco Wholesale (No. 4), NASA (No. 12), and Microsoft (No. 15), as well as universities like Yale University (No. 5), the University of Maryland, Baltimore (No. 13), and Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (No. 14).
To create the 2021 list, market research company Statista anonymously surveyed 38,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees. According to Forbes, respondents were asked to rate on a scale of zero to 10 how likely they would be to recommend their employer to friends and family, and then encouraged participants to nominate other organizations they do and do not recommend.
Just a few months later, Forbes again recognized UAB by ranking it America’s No. 4 Best Employer for Diversity. “Being named a Best Employer for Diversity is particularly rewarding because it shows that our focused efforts are noticed and appreciated, but the significance reaches far off-campus,” said UAB President Ray Watts, M.D. “As the largest single employer in Alabama, with more than 23,000 employees, our richly diverse workforce makes Birmingham and our region a better place to live, work and play.”
Forbes’ Best Employers for Diversity were chosen based on an independent survey of more than 50,000 employees working for companies employing at least 1,000 people in their U.S. operations. Respondents were asked questions regarding the topics of age, gender equality, ethnicity, disability, LGBTQA+, and general diversity concerning their own employer.
Then in May, the Birmingham Organizing Committee for The World Games 2022 announced that UAB will host several competitions across its campus and will partner with the global event on multiple initiatives.
The World Games 2022 (TWG2022), an international multi-sport event organized with the support of the International Olympic Committee, will hold its 11th edition in Birmingham from July 7-17, 2022. An anticipated 3,600 athletes will participate in more than 30 different sports throughout The Games.
In addition to hosting competitions, UAB will also serve as the Foundation Sponsor for The World Games 2022 (TWG 2022) Legacy Memorial and the Presenting Sponsor of UAB Athlete Village, which will offer housing in UAB residence halls for athletes, coaches, and officials. UAB Medicine will be the Presenting Sponsor for athletics and spectator medical services at TWG 2022 venues.
“This is an enormous partnership for The World Games 2022,” said The World Games 2022 CEO Nick Sellers. “Not only is UAB opening up their world-class campus as host for competitions and Athlete’s Village for many of our athletes and coaches, but their partnership extends to several other areas including leadership and support for our entire medical committee. Having this academic, athletic, and medical cornerstone of Birmingham as a major partner of The World Games 2022 represents a strong commitment from our community to this historic moment.”
Lastly, in October, U.S. News & World Report ranked UAB in the top 10 percent of higher-education institutions globally, based on global and regional reputation alongside academic research performance.
UAB ranked as the top institution in Alabama and No. 147 out of 1,750 institutions ranked from more than 90 countries. UAB placed No. 56 for schools in the U.S. Half of the overall ranking is based on citations, a further quarter uses research reputation split into global and regional, and the remaining quarter is generated from international collaborations, publications, books, and conferences.
U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities listing also used a separate methodology to rank the top global universities in 43 subject areas. These subject-specific rankings included 17 UAB programs based on academic research performance. The subjects ranked include Surgery; Clinical Medicine; Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems; Endocrinology and Metabolism; Public, Environmental, and Occupational Health; Microbiology; Molecular Biology and Genetics; Biology and Biochemistry; and Social Sciences and Public Health. – Hannah Echols, Savannah Koplon, Alicia Rohan