Quote:
Originally Posted by Packer16
The Board of Trustees was formed by a legislative act in Montgomery and UAB and UAH trancended from Extension Centers to Autonomous Universities in 1969. Then, all Presidents (Mathews at UA, Volker at UAB, and Graves at UAH) were hired. Mathews had nothing to do with a transfer of the medical school. The medical school transferred from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham in 1945. The reason for the transfer was that fast-growing Birmingham had become the population center of the state and a larger teaching hospital could be built. It's a lot like LSU choosing New Orleans as the location for their medical school, the University of Mississppi choosing Jackson, MS, and the University of Tennessee choosing Memphis. The University of Alabama School of Medicine still has a presence on the Tuscaloosa campus. And, that presence is growing.
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Of course the medical school moved in the 1940s. But the management location of the med school did change in 1969 and Matthews did have something to do with it. UAB was not autonomous till 1969. He and other UA leaders created a compromise where a newly independent UAB would stay in the system, and manage the medical school, thus keeping the medical school in the system. AI argues it was the best deal UA could get given the push among Birmingham's business elites to create a University of Birmingham that would forever sever ties with UA.
If Alabama grows to the point that there is a physician shortage, then maybe state leaders will be willing to create a new medical school in Tuscaloosa. UGA is about to open its medical school in Athens.
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