New Lights in the Valley

New Lights in the Valley: The Emergence of UAB is a 2007 book written by Tennant McWilliams, a longtime UAB history professor and former Dean of the UAB School of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

It is a scholarly narrative of UAB from its early beginnings as an offshoot of the University of Alabama campus through the mid 1990s. The book explores UAB's similarities and connections to trans-Atlantic civic universities; the shift from steelmaking to medicine as the city's primary economic activity; the leadership of Joseph Volker and others; and the evolving effort to transform UAB's undergraduate experience from that of a commuter school into a more traditional campus.

The book was published by the University of Alabama Press.