About Birmingham:

Birmingham had been a well-kept secret until 1989 when Newsweek magazine included the city in its top 10 list of America's best places to live and work. Birmingham, along with many other Southern cities, has enjoyed stable and steady growth and development over the last decade. Originally known as a steel-making town, Birmingham now bases its economy on finance, education, research, industry and manufacturing, technology, and service businesses. UAB is the city's largest employer.

Despite a metropolitan area population that is approaching one million, Birmingham retains many Southern traditions including friendly people and great barbecue! In addition to Southern food, Birmingham boasts many excellent restaurants (some nationally known) that offer everything from Gulf Coast seafood to Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Indian, Greek, and many other cuisines.
Culturally, Birmingham offers a chamber orchestra, the State of Alabama Ballet, Birmingham Opera Theater, many civic theaters, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Civil Rights Institute, and the Red Mountain Museum and Sloss Furnace museums. Birmingham also has beautiful Botanical and Japanese gardens and the Birmingham Zoo. The Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center complex includes a coliseum and an exhibit hall that hosts sporting and other events yearly. The Alabama Shakespeare Festival held in Montgomery is internationally famous. Oak Mountain Amphitheater, located in Oak Mountain State Park, a short drive from Birmingham, hosts a variety of top name musical performers, and every summer the best in rock, blues, and folk music come to town for the City Stages festival. To find additional information about Birmingham and its surrounding areas, please visit The Birmingham Net and The Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau, or click here to view a movie about Birmingham. Please note this movie is of considerable size (90 MB) and is best viewed via a DSL/Cable connection or better.

For those who enjoy sporting events, UAB's athletic teams participate at the NCAA Division I-A level in the highly competitive Conference USA. There are also a number of club sports, which sponsor competitions locally and throughout the Southeast, including running, cycling, soccer, rugby, and many others.