Searching For A Professional Home?

WHAT THE UNIVERSITY OFFERS

Job Satisfaction

Perhaps the most important benefit The University of West Alabama has to offer its faculty is the opportunity to work with a congenially integrated and interestingly diverse student body.  The University prides itself on providing a warm and nurturing environment for its students, some 40% of whom are African-American, and a faculty member can expect a high level of interaction with students.

The University is proud of the accomplishments of many of its African-American alumni, including former students like Trudie Edwards Darden, who enrolled in the pre-med program at The University of West Alabama at age fourteen and at age eighteen was choosing between medical school and a movie career.  She chose medicine and was the youngest student ever admitted to the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine.  Deberenia Allen, Brenda Larkin, and Versie Lee Slay also chose medicine as a career.  Dr. Allen and Dr. Slay practice in Atlanta, and Dr. Larkin serves with the US Navy.

A primary part of the UWA mission is teacher training, and many of its African-American graduates have successful careers in education, such as Charles Woods, an environmental sciences professor at Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama; Rennae Elliott, a communications professor at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama; and Bridgett Pendergrass, a special education teacher at Jackson Middle School in Jackson, Alabama.  Myriad other professions are represented by successful UWA African-American alumni:  Sylvester Morgan works for Hewlett Packard, Bobby Warren is in pharmaceutical sales, and Juandrago L. Turner is in management consulting.  There are also alumni like Ken Hutcherson, who left West Alabama's gridiron to join the Dallas Cowboys, and Charles Martin, another talented athlete, who played with the Houston Oilers.

There is a real need for African-American professors to provide role models for UWA students, and a sense of professional esteem and warm relationships with both students and faculty await the minority faculty member who is prepared to contribute to the academic, cultural, and social life of the University.

Special Benefits

UWA also offers an excellent package of fringe benefits of the financial sort, including medical, dental, and disability insurance, as well as professional liability coverage and term life insurance, all of which are paid for the employee by the University.  The State of Alabama has one of the most outstanding teacher retirement systems in the country, paying full benefits after twenty-five years or at age sixty on the basis of a highly favorable formula.  UWA also provides for remission of tuition for faculty and staff and their families (full or partial remissions, depending upon the length of service at the University).

In support of the academic and professional development of the faculty, the University provides computer facilities, a faculty development fund and faculty research fund, and excellent library services.

In the athletic and recreational areas, faculty also have free access to the gymnasium, the sauna and weight rooms, the swimming pool, the facilities at Lake LU (for fishing and picnicking), and several jogging and nature trails around the campus.

WHAT THE AREA OFFERS

In addition to such benefits from the University itself, the city of Livingston and the West Central Alabama region in which it is located have much to offer.

Livingston is a small town of about 3,500 people.  Those who like being "far from the maddening crowd" find it idyllic; those with more urban tastes enjoy the small-town attractions while still experiencing cosmopolitan life by traveling via the interstate to such nearby metropolitan area as Birmingham (one and a half hours away), Tuscaloosa (an hour's drive to the home of the University of Alabama), Jackson, Mississippi (two hours away) and New Orleans (about a four-hour drive).

With the proximity of these and other cities, the variety of entertainment/activity is unlimited: in Birmingham one can shop at the Riverchase Galleria, one of the largest shopping complexes in the United States, listen to the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, or consult a specialist at the renowned University of Alabama Medical Center; in Tuscaloosa, one can watch first-rate football at the Bryant-Denny Stadium; in Montgomery, one can observe state government at work or attend a performance by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival; in Demopolis, one can see Christmas on the River; in Philadelphia, Mississippi, one can visit the Silver Star Casino; and in New Orleans, one can walk down Bourbon Street and parade in Mardi Gras.

Many of the current faculty have their origins in other regions of the country and the world, from Connecticut to California and from Malawi to Russia.  They now call Livingston their home and have established warm rapport with the local residents and with the UWA student body, which includes both foreign students and US minorities.

Indeed, minority students and faculty members are welcome to UWA and the West Central Alabama area, which has been a nurturing environment and home to such notable minority figures as Dr. Richard Arrington (Livingston), Mayor of Birmingham; Eugene Sawyer (Greensboro), millionaire business entrepreneur extraordinaire; and Ralph Abernathy (Linden), disciple of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Although high tech and industry, including two giant paper mills, are such in evidence, the area has lost little of the charm associated with the peaceful, almost pastoral rural South.  It is, quite simply, a sportsman's paradise.  Hundreds of hunting clubs in Sumter and surrounding counties attest to the popularity of hunting here.  In addition to private clubs, the Army Corps of Engineers leases 1,800 acres of land in nearby Marengo County for public hunting.

Lake LU, on the campus, has excellent fishing, including championship bass fishing, and is available to faculty without charge.  Lake Demopolis, only twenty-five miles away, has a surface area of 10,000 acres filled with all kinds of bass and catfish.  Ranked as the third best fishing lake in Alabama, it is home to twenty-five tournaments a year.  Recreational facilities for camping, picnicking, hiking, swimming, boating, and skiing are readily available.  Fisherman and boaters alike enjoy a trip down the Black Warrior or Tombigbee.

The Sumter County Fine Arts Council provides cultural enrichment for the University community and surrounding area through a variety of programs, which have included recently the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Dance Alive!, the Birmingham Children's Theatre, and the bluegrass and folk group Three on a String. Interested UWA faculty also find enjoyment through involvement in the UWA Theatre and little theatre groups in Livingston and nearby cities and in local choral groups.

Several churches serve the spiritual needs of the University community.  These include Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Church of Christi and Church of God. Health needs are well served by several doctors and dentists, a hospital in York, just nine miles away, and outstanding medical centers thirty miles away in Meridian and sixty miles away in Tuscaloosa, in addition to the UAB Medical Center in Birmingham.  A variety of housing is available, including apartments and homes, at very affordable prices.

The newcomer can share in the sense of history and tradition prevalent in the region.  This is seen in Livingston with its "bored well" in the courthouse square and covered bridge on the UWA campus.  It is seen in nearby Linden in the preservation of two old buildings with links to the past:  an L&N Depot renovated into a restaurant, and the courthouse/jail where Rube Burrow, the notorious outlaw, was gunned down.  It manifests itself in scores of old homes such as Gaineswood and Bluff Hall in Demopolis, Magnolia Grove in Greensboro, and Kirkwood in Eutaw.  It is seen dramatically in such venture as an archaeological dig at nearby Fort Tombecbe and plans for the eventual reconstruction of this early French fort.  And it is evident in a very active County Historical and Preservation Society, where citizens of all races come together to preserve the region's heritage. 

In conclusion, although The University of West Alabama and the West Central Alabama area have a rich heritage, they live in the present and look forward to the future.  Because of its sincere commitment to attract minority faculty members, UWA is working conscientiously to help create an even more appealing professional home for potential African-American candidates.

The University of West Alabama does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability or sexual orientation in employment, or the provision of services.  
AA/EOE.  
Minority applications encouraged.

Visit us at www.uwa.edu.
For information on UWA faculty/staff benefits:
The Faculty/Staff Benefits Brochure