UAB’s first campus lactation center, located in the Shelby Building, will officially open its doors Thursday, July 31, the first day of World Breastfeeding Week.  Employees are invited to attend the grand-opening ceremony at 9:30 a.m., to be led by UAB President Carol Garrison.

The new lactation center will be the first breastfeeding facility on campus, and it will be available to all UAB employees and students. Spaces in the Hill University Center and Sterne Library also have been committed for lactation centers and will open at a later date. In recognition of this achievement, the Alabama Breastfeeding Committee (ABC) selected UAB as the first Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace in Alabama.

The ABC designation has been a goal of the UAB Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), created to assess and improve the climate and conditions in which women at UAB work, live and study. The CSW worked to establish on-campus lactation centers in response to feedback by those who expressed a desire for a breastfeeding facility accessible to all female employees and students.

Two lactation centers in UAB Hospital are available mainly to hospital employees.

“We are pleased that the UAB administration has responded to the recommendation of the CSW, which worked with faculty, employees and students across UAB to examine issues that frequently were raised, and then proposed strategies and solutions that address these concerns,” said CSW Chair Mona Fouad, M.D. “We’re delighted that UAB has been recognized for this effort by the ABC.”