Elson S. Floyd, Ph.D. - 03/19/08
In Case of Emergency
The tragic events at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois
universities have focused the attention of everyone in
higher education on the subject of security and timely
notification in case of emergencies.
Since this subject is much on our minds, I wanted to
provide an update on what our university has been
doing.
People on the Pullman campus have become accustomed to
the monthly tests of the outdoor alert and siren system
we installed over the summer.
As most of you know, last fall WSU signed a contract with
3n, a firm that met our criteria for a flexible, reliable
and thorough emergency messaging system. That system can
be activated by administrators on each of our campuses to
issue targeted e-mail, phone and text messages.
Since we contracted for the system, we have been working
closely with the company to make sure the system meets
our university’s needs. The system received an
impromptu test during this winter’s snow emergency,
when it was activated to alert students, faculty and
staff of the closure of our Pullman campus. We learned
valuable information from that and have worked to refine
the system further.
However, any such system is only as good as the
information that it has to work with. I urge all of you
– students, faculty and staff – to go to
http://my.WSU.edu, type in your
user ID and password and register for emergency
notification. This information will be used solely for
that purpose.
It needs to be current. It does none of us any good to
have messages sent to outdated cell phone numbers or
e-mail addresses.
The page has recently been updated. Those who have
registered before should return to the site, review their
information and take advantage of the additional
emergency contact options that are now available.
I also encourage you to bookmark the WSU Alert page:
http://alert.wsu.edu. There
we will post updated information on any emergency
situation. Fortunately, the word about WSU Alert is
spreading. During the two-day snow emergency, the page
received about 117,000 hits.
Experts agree that effective emergency communications requires not just one or two tactics, but an entire toolbox of strategies. We are putting those strategies in place. If we work together, we can be well-prepared for a situation that we all hope never occurs.
