The Blount Living Learning Center

The Blount Living Learning Center
The Blount Living Learning Center The Blount Living Learning Center The Blount Living Learning Center A dorm room in the Blount Living Learning Center

The Blount Living Learning Center, commonly called the Blount dorm, was dedicated on Sept 30, 2000 and functions as the dormitory for all freshman students in the Blount Undergraduate Initiative and also houses as many of the upperclassmen as is allowed by the number of open residences still available. The Blount Living Learning Center, with its 62,600 square feet of space, has room for a total of 180 Blount Scholars.

Tuomey Hall

Tuomey Hall
Tuomey Tuomey

College of Arts and Sciences
Erected: 1888
Reconstructed: 2002
Named for noted professor and state geologist Michael Tuomey, Tuomey Hall originally housed the University of Alabama’s chemistry laboratories and offices for the Geological Survey.  From 1926 to 1999, it housed the University’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program.  The building was rededicated as an Academic House of the Blount Undergraduate Initiative.

Oliver-Barnard Hall

Olivard-Barnard Hall
Olivard-Barnard Lounge Olivard-Barnard Foyer

College of Arts and Sciences
Erected: 1889
Reconstructed: 2000
Named for professor, scientist, and photograph F.A.P. Barnard who pioneered the study of astronomy at The University of Alabama. Rededicated in 2000 in honor of alumni and friend John T. Oliver Jr., trustee of The University of Alabama, and established as a Blount Undergraduate Initiative Academic House.

    "The Undergraduate Initiative is not just a program change--it represents an attitude change. The Initiative will not only help provide students with a solid interdisciplinary education in the arts and sciences but, at the same time, it will also create an atmosphere whereby faculty can teach in a way that most have considered impossible in a large university setting. The Initiative will bring students and faculty together in a multitude of diverse settings. Teaching and learning are not just the unidirectional transference of ideas from teacher to student. Rather, the process is complex, multidirectional, and often results more from situations outside of the classroom. People can learn as much arguing about logic during a game of chess as they can in a formal classroom session. An exchange of ideas comes from discussion--listening, thinking, talking, and writing. When a discussion is working well, both student and instructor are undergoing this experience. But to make it work well people have to come together on a regular basis. And that is exactly what the Inititive does. It creates an environment where people interested in education come together frequently, both formally and informally. By creating a place for this interaction to happen, and adding to this a carefully designed structure for how the program can operate, there is no question that the success of the Initiative will indeed be apparent."

From: Changing The Culture: Final Report of the A&S Undergraduate Initiative Committee
January 28, 1993

The "Places" of the Blount Undergraduate Initiative consist of three buildings. The Blount Living Learning Center, Oliver-Barnard Hall, and Tuomey Hall. Follow the links below to find out more.