Akron seems has super big undergraduate programs and most of graduate programs awards MS rather thn doctor degrees. It's recruting lots of part-time faculties.
UAB's college (undergraduate studies, namely, School of Arts and Science) is not particularly big but graduate school is pretty big and strong. UAB is one of the 88 Category I Research Universities in the US.
It seems that Akron is more of a college focuses on undergraduate students and UAB is more of research university focuses on graduate students. They are different types.