Bevill Center

Originally constructed in 1988, the Bevill Center held the training headquarters of the Army Corps of Engineer, Division of Continuing Education, and hotel and restaurant facilities ran by the Marriott Corporation. The building hosted conferences and conventions. In 2020, the building was converted into a dormitory.

Workers broke ground in 1986 on what was then known as the Tom Bevill Center for Professional Development and Continuing Education. Built to house not only the University of Alabama in Huntsville's Division of Continuing Education but also the national training headquarters of the Army Corps of Engineers. It was intended to bring the two communities and their functions closer together. Huntsville, being a military city, and UAH, providing research support for defense contracts, saw the need to integrate the two communities better, and the Bevill Center was one step towards that goal. The construction of this facility brought UAH and Huntsville into a new era, as Dr. Michael Oliver, then director of the Division of Continuing Education put it:

Huntsville is a city with a unique opportunity for extensive interaction between the technical, business and academic communities. The Bevill Center provides a convenient and comfortable setting for such interaction. The complete resources of a forward-looking University are at hand.

Open in 1988, the building was impressively large, at 93,000 square feet, housing "100 hotel rooms, a dining area, executive classrooms, administrative facilities and an attractive lobby/atrium area."^[2] The hotel and restaurant facilities of the building were run by the Marriott corporation under a University contract.

The building was named after Tom Bevill, a United States Congressman from Alabama's 4th congressional district at the time, because "his leadership and diligent work positively influenced the Army's decision to locate the headquarters building for all training activities in Huntsville on the UAH campus."^[1]

The Bevill Center hosted many conferences, including Red Star 2000 which brought prominent Soviet scientists to Huntsville to talk about their space technology advances and open up cooperation between the two nations' scientists.

In summer of 2020, the Bevill Center was converted to a dormitory facility, now maintained by UAH Housing, that contains 100 studio apartments for upperclassmen (sophomores, juniors, and seniors), as well as a first floor laundry room, kitchen, and the GardenView Cafe.

Carswell, Bill. "Center's first conference a success." Exponent (Huntsville) February 3rd 1988. 1-16.

Glasgow, Kim. "Tom Bevill Center officially opens." Exponent (Huntsville) January 27th 1988. 1.

^[1] Quick, Virginia. "Groundbreaking Ceremonies Held For Tom Bevill Center." Postscripts (Huntsville) March 20th 1986. 5 ed, 9 sec, 1-2.

^{[2] [3]} Thornton, Melissa Ford. "Bevill Center Progress." Postscripts (Huntsville) March 6th 1987. 6 ed, 5 sec.3.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville. "Tom Bevill Center Holds Grand Opening." Postscripts (Huntsville) January 26th 1988. 7 ed, 1 sec, 1-2.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville. Bevill Center, UAH Housing & Residence Life. Accessed June 9th 2022. https://www.uah.edu/housing/prospective-residents/residence-halls/bevill-center.