President Stuart Bell Updates Rotary on the University of Alabama

Dr. Stuart Bell with President Chuck Redden and Rotarian Sam Tortorici

This week the Rotary Club of Birmingham welcomed Dr. Stuart Bell, University of Alabama President. Dr. Bell provided an update on the Capstone’s students, faculty, campus improvements and future projections.

Dr. Bell shared UA’s trend of increasing enrollment, with nearly 93,000 students graduating last year, while maintaining a high level of academic achievement, including the highest number of National Merit Scholars in the country. He celebrated the highly credentialed faculty who are specialists in their fields and the university’s commitment to small class sizes. He also explained the ways students grow through service to the local community during their time on campus.

Dr. Bell gave an overview of the Rising Tide Capital Campaign, highlighting the Shelby Endowment to recruit additional faculty and the Shelby Institute for Policy and Leadership, in addition to expanded scholarships and facilities enhancements. Dr. Bell explored the areas research where students are actively engaged alongside tenured faculty into areas such as water, transportation and quality of life and he highlighted the success of UA’s student athletes.

Dr. Bell discussed how UA attracts the best and brightest students and faculty and how business leaders can help ensure those students stay in Alabama after graduation. He emphasized the need to create opportunities for employment and to ensure recruiting efforts focus on students already in the state.

“Our students who come to the University of Alabama find a place of community, they find a place where they can become involved in projects on our campus and they really are equipped for success as they leave our campus to go out and accomplish great things.”

About Dr. Stuart Bell
Dr. Stuart R. Bell became the 29th president of The University of Alabama on June 18, 2015. He previously served the Capstone for 16 years as a faculty member and then department head of mechanical engineering.

Under his leadership, the University developed and implemented a strategic plan, Advancing the Flagship, which promotes institutional progress with scholarship and teaching, research and creative activity, inclusion and diversity and the recruitment and retention of highly qualified faculty and staff.

Since the plan’s launch, UA has seen an increase in both student retention and graduation rates; has increased faculty headcount to support the University’s instruction, research and service goals; has witnessed the growth of sponsored program awards crucial to direct learning and experience opportunities for students; and has benefited from historic fundraising. New interdisciplinary research centers have also been established and join many other programs on campus focused on solving critical, real-world challenges.

In September 2021, Dr. Bell announced the launch of The Rising Tide, the largest capital campaign in University and state history. The transformative fundraising campaign will serve as a catalyst for heightened enrollment, advanced research and creative endeavors and expanded opportunities for students to benefit from the premier educational, leadership and research opportunities available as part of the Alabama experience.

Prior to becoming UA’s president, Dr. Bell was executive vice president and provost at Louisiana State University and served as both the chief academic officer and the chief operating officer. Before his time at LSU, Dr. Bell served the University of Kansas as dean of the School of Engineering.

With research concentrations in combustion engines, Dr. Bell has expertise in fuels for engines, innovative engine designs and modeling of engine and engine processes. He founded and directed UA’s Center for Advanced Vehicle Technologies, an interdisciplinary research center producing new generations of engineers and scientists. Dr. Bell was also inducted as an Engineering Department Fellow by UA’s department of mechanical engineering. He was awarded the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Ralph Teetor Award for Outstanding Contributions to Research and Teaching and the T. Morris Hackney Faculty Leadership Award for the College of Engineering.

Dr. Bell was also honored with the Richard S. Woodbury Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, was selected as a recipient of the Dwight Look College of Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award from Texas A&M University and was elected to the Academy of Distinguished Alumni in Mechanical Engineering at his alma mater. He is also a member of the 2021-2022 SEC Executive Committee and will serve as Committee vice-president in 2023.

An Abilene, Texas native, Dr. Bell earned a degree in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M in 1979. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from the same university in 1981 and 1986, respectively.

It was also at Texas A&M that Dr. Bell met his wife, Susan. They are the proud parents of three adult children, Stuart, Stacy and Stephen, three delightful granddaughters and a grandson. Both of Dr. Bell’s sons followed in his footsteps and are engineers. His daughter is a UA alumna.