University of Alabama celebrates opening of new Julia Tutwiler Hall

The University of Alabama on Wednesday officially celebrated the opening of the brand-new Julia Tutwiler Hall.

UA faculty, staff and alumni gathered at the new Tutwiler Hall to cut the ribbon on the five-story, 383,015-square-foot building. The residence hall is now home to 1,247 incoming freshmen women, 35 resident assistants and three community directors.

Students have been living at the new Tutwiler Hall since classes began in August. On the Fourth of July, UA demolished the old Tutwiler Hall. The new Tutwiler is at the northeast corner of 10th Avenue and 12th Street, just southwest of where the old Tutwiler once stood.

UA President Stuart R. Bell opened Wednesday's ceremony by pointing out that the historic residence hall has made a great impact on the lives of many UA leaders, students and alumni, and that great impact will continue at the new Tutwiler.

"Tutwiler Hall serves as a hub of so many new traditions that our students will learn and lifelong friendships that are formed, that I know so many of you who lived in this hall before think about. The impact that it had on you and the friendships that you still enjoy even today," he said.

"Tutwiler Hall offers a vibrant community, fosters the engagement where it's a place where our students spend some of the best times of their life, but they're also spending time studying and learning and preparing for their careers," Bell said.

Many alumni who lived in the old Tutwiler attended Wednesday's ceremony, including Karen Brooks , vice president and treasurer of Phifer Inc. and a UA System board of trustees member.

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Brooks, a Tuscaloosa native, belonged to one of the first freshmen classes to occupy the old Tutwiler Hall in 1968.

"You leave your home and you're looking for a home away from home. And that's what you find in a dorm," said Brooks, who gave an emotional speech about her experience living in the old Tutwiler building.

Over its more than 50 years, the old Julia Tutwiler Hall served as the first University of Alabama residence for more than 40,000 young women.

Brook gave special recognition to Julia Tutwiler's great-great-grandniece, Netta Tutwiler Holley, who also attended Wednesday's ceremony.

Brooks closed her speech by praising Julia Tutwiler and her legacy.

"She was such a trailblazer and really put Alabama on the map as far as education, particularly for women. We're proud to have her name on this campus," Brooks said.

According to the Encyclopedia of Alabama, Julia Strudwick Tutwiler was an educator, prison reformer and writer who served as an outspoken proponent of education for women.

She was closely involved with the founding of institutions that became the University of West Alabama and the University of Montevallo. She was also involved with innovations in education for women and Blacks during the Jim Crow era. The women's prison in Wetumpka bears her name, as do several other public buildings Alabama.

In 1931, her poem "Alabama," which was set to music by a Birmingham organist, was named as the official state song.

Tutwiler was born in Tuscaloosa in 1841 and died in 1916.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: University of Alabama celebrates opening of new Julia Tutwiler Hall