Michelle Henry had no idea of the impact she was making in the community. Henry, an academic advisor in the School of Public Health, sees her volunteer work as an extension of the school’s mission to protect and improve the health and well-being of communities, and she encourages students to volunteer for the same reason.

So far in 2019, Henry already has recorded 456 hours of donated time in BlazerPulse to organizations such as the Crisis Center and Blazer Kitchen, making her the platform’s top volunteer as of June.

In fewer than six months, 1,343 faculty, staff and students logged more than 10,100 combined hours of community engagement in BlazerPulse, the online platform launched in January to promote, organize and measure UAB’s impact in the community.

BlazerPulse made its official debut with the MLK day of Service Jan. 21 and has continued to weave its way into the community and campus through service-learning courses, activities sponsored by student organizations and open volunteer opportunities with campus and community organizations.

“The response from the campus and community has been tremendous in this relatively short period of time,” said Emily Wykle, project director in the Office of the President. “More than 70 community partners have joined the BlazerPulse platform and are working with us to improve and expand our abilities to meet needs in the Greater Birmingham area and provide service-learning activities for our students. We only expect that number to increase.”