On Tuesday, The University of Alabama’s College of Community Health Sciences will host a symposium highlighting the changes in medicine over the years. The event will be part of the University’s “Through The Doors” series, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door to honor the desegregation of the University in June 1963.

The symposium will take place at the University Church of Christ, 1200 Julia Tutwiler Drive from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. While the event is free and open to the public, an RSVP is needed at [email protected].

Pamela Payne Foster, associate professor for the College of Community Health Sciences, said the program is different from other events and seminars because of the mentoring component that will be included at the end of the symposium. This aspect is intended to help students get motivated about going into medicine and having the confidence to try.

“The program intentionally networks and mentors high school students,” Foster said. “As health professionals, it is very important to help increase diversity in the profession.”

The daylong program will include lunch with two panels highlighting the history of the Stand in the School House Door and diversity in the College of Community Health Sciences. A keynote address detailing the future of medicine will follow.

In the evening, a Trailblazers recognition ceremony and dinner will take place. The night will conclude with a mentoring option for high school students.

Richard Streiffer, dean of the College of Community Health Sciences, hopes attendees will enjoy looking from the past to the future of medicine and the role medicine played and continues to play in the fight for civil rights.

“The symposium is part of the yearlong commemoration of the 1963 events with regards to civil rights across the state and in Tuscaloosa. This was an extremely important step in our state and country’s development,” Streiffer said. “This is our contribution by taking some time to look at the impact of medicine on the civil rights movement by looking at where we came from and where we still need to go.”