In between running the one of the state’s leading research universities, Dr. Ray Watts still makes time to see patients.

It’s what keeps him “grounded,” said Watts, a neurologist who is now the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s longest-serving president.

“I’m gonna always be a physician,” he said in a recent interview with AL.com. “It keeps me grounded, and it also keeps me on the front lines of health care, and that’s important to me as well.”

Health care may be Watts’ lifelong passion, but he’s pushed hard against the idea that UAB is a school just for medical students.

As he marks his tenth year on the job, Watts says the program has worked hard to recruit students from all kinds of backgrounds and expand the school’s offerings. Art students can volunteer with patients, business students map out community health plans, and others are taking advantage of new biotechnology and cybersecurity courses.

Read more Ed Lab: Which Alabama college bachelor’s degrees pay the most money?

Read more Ed Lab: These 38 Alabama schools were recognized for achievement. How did they do it?

In the past decade, research funding has also almost doubled, the school’s economic impact has more than doubled, and the student population has become one of the most diverse of any tier one research university in the country, according to a 10-year institutional report released this month.

“We don’t want to be the Princeton or the anything else of the Southeast. We want to be UAB,” Watts said. “We have a unique character. We’re very mission focused… We want to educate our young people to be leaders of the future.”

Tough first years in office

Watts, a Birmingham native, came back to Alabama in 2003 to serve as head of UAB’s neurology department. He was tapped as dean and senior vice president of the medical school in 2010 and became president of the university in 2013.

At that time, the university was still reeling from the 2008 recession, and Watts had to make some tough financial decisions.

“That was a difficult time, and that’s why I knew we had to plan carefully,” he said.

He famously – and infamously – decided that the school’s football program had to go, as well as the school’s bowling and rifle teams. Athletics programs were losing money, Watts said, and he wanted to make sure the institution could focus on academics.

“The number one contributor to all of our athletics was us,” Watts said. “Every year we were putting more and more into athletics, and it wasn’t sustainable at the time.”

Some believed the UA Board of Trustees played a role in Watts’ decision, and petitioned to separate the school from its governing board. Fans chanted “Fire Ray Watts” at games.

UAB reinstated the football team in 2017 with support from community donors, who pledged millions of dollars to get the program back on track.

Since 2015, the university says its athletic department has received more than $71 million in community and philanthropic support, which has led to the building and renovation of 25 facilities. Athlete graduation rates have also gone up since then – from 75% to 94%, according to the report. And UAB has set about building respected football, basketball, softball and other NCAA programs.

Looking back, Watts said he wouldn’t change a thing.

“I did that because I thought it was the right thing, the best thing for the campus and at that time, I took most of that burden on myself,” he said. “And the thing I learned from that and going through that process was to let everybody else bear the burden with me. And we all made sure we were all in the boat together.”

A decade of growth

During Watts’ tenure, enrollment at UAB has grown from about 18,000 students to 21,639.

Once considered a commuter school, now, most students live on campus. About 45% of students come from minority racial or ethnic backgrounds, up from 37% a decade ago, according to federal data. An increasing number of students, according to the report, are from the Birmingham area, are the first in their family to go to college or are international students.

Every year since 2018, Insight into Diversity also has recognized UAB for developing successful strategies and programs to improve diversity on campus.

Watts said that’s something to celebrate.

“We think it’s really important for [students of different backgrounds] to learn from each other,” he said. “It makes it a much richer environment.”

The campus itself is also much larger than it used to be – more than 15 city blocks, to be precise.

Along with that growth has come greater opportunities for research.

Research funding, in particular, has grown from $379 million in 2012 to $715 million in 2022, which puts the institution in the top 5% of public colleges for federal research expenditures.

So far, that’s supported 900 inventions, 238 patents and 33 new startups.

A recent impact study found that UAB was the most significant single contributor to the state’s economy, and a leading generator of jobs. According to the study, UAB contributed an estimated $12.1 billion to Alabama’s economy in 2022 – up from $4.6 billion in 2008.

“That’s a big footprint, that’s a big impact,” Watts said. “The more economic impact we have, the more discoveries we make, and the more we improve the lives of those who depend on us.”

And when the pandemic hit in 2020, the university, in many ways, helped drive the state’s response.

UAB administered more than 200,000 doses of the vaccine across Alabama. The school raised $1.2 million for COVID-19 research, as well as thousands of dollars in emergency funds. Its faculty served as leading experts on ways to stop the spread.

But like at most campuses, COVID took a toll on UAB students and staff, Watts said.

“It was a very physically and emotionally mentally draining time,” he said. “Everybody, we’re still recovering from COVID. We haven’t fully recovered. And it put a tremendous burden on our workforce, and nurses that work in our hospitals and health system.

“But we rose to the occasion, and we were resilient and we got through it. And now we’re in a new era, but there’s still an emotional drain from what everybody went through.”

What’s next?

Watts, for one, is planning on sticking around.

“We’ve still got a lot of big things to do,” he said. “I’m more excited about the future than ever. So no, I’m not going anywhere.”

Moving forward, Watts says he wants to see the university tackle more societal problems.

A current effort, called Live HealthSmart, aims to improve health metrics of Alabamians over a period of 10 years by training laypeople to connect community members to appropriate care.

More building projects are underway. More than $666 million will fund 12 major buildings and renovations in the coming years, including a student assembly building, a science and engineering complex and a larger childcare facility.

Leaders also plan to transform its South Side affiliate, Southern Research, into an urban research park that could bring an additional 150 jobs to the area.

All of this projected expansion comes as universities across the country adjust to life after the pandemic, struggle to offset inflation and brace for a possible recession.

But Watts is confident that the school can weather the financial stress.

“We have to, because everybody depends on us,” he said. “We cannot fail and we will not fail. Now, we’re gonna have to tighten our belts and do some things differently, and we’ve been through that over the years. But we’re not going to be unsuccessful.”