2008 Woodie Awards
Miami utilizes popular technology to provide student, campus safety
Stephanie Wrobel
Issue date: 8/24/07 Section: Front Page
In light of April's shooting incident at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Miami University has recently committed to a contract with e2Campus to offer emergency notification to students, faculty and staff via text message and/or e-mail.
The new program, Miami Emergency Text Messaging System, will be available to the Oxford, Hamilton, and Middletown campuses.
Claire Wagner, director of news and public information, explained the process that led to the implementation of this plan.
"An institutional response team made up of the police, crisis counselors, and other members of the Miami community talked to Information Technology (IT) Services, who did some research on varying forms of technology," Wagner said. "Once they decided e2Campus was the most effective plan, they received permission from President (David) Hodge and applied the system."
E2Campus is an online mass notification system that allows a school to send instant alerts to all students, staff and faculty members' cell phones, e-mail accounts, pagers and Web pages simultaneously.
According to the e2Campus Web site, nearly 100 schools across the country are currently signed up for the service, including Harvard University, Pennsylvania State University, Texas A&M University, and University of Virginia.
Wagner said the primary responsibility of ensuring the success of this operation falls on the Miami University Police Department (MUPD) and Susan Mosley-Howard, dean of students. The chief of MUPD, John McCandless, and Mosley-Howard would also be the administrators who would make decision to send out messages, Wagner said.
While other notifications, such as the Campus Crime Alert e-mails, have been used in the past, Wagner stated that she felt this new system would be the most valuable tool for the university.
"Whereas the crime alert e-mails could take 20-30 minutes to get out, text messaging offers immediacy and the potential to reach people in all areas," Wagner said. "Texts take less bandwidth and there is less risk of overloading complications when sending mass messages."
The new program, Miami Emergency Text Messaging System, will be available to the Oxford, Hamilton, and Middletown campuses.
Claire Wagner, director of news and public information, explained the process that led to the implementation of this plan.
"An institutional response team made up of the police, crisis counselors, and other members of the Miami community talked to Information Technology (IT) Services, who did some research on varying forms of technology," Wagner said. "Once they decided e2Campus was the most effective plan, they received permission from President (David) Hodge and applied the system."
E2Campus is an online mass notification system that allows a school to send instant alerts to all students, staff and faculty members' cell phones, e-mail accounts, pagers and Web pages simultaneously.
According to the e2Campus Web site, nearly 100 schools across the country are currently signed up for the service, including Harvard University, Pennsylvania State University, Texas A&M University, and University of Virginia.
Wagner said the primary responsibility of ensuring the success of this operation falls on the Miami University Police Department (MUPD) and Susan Mosley-Howard, dean of students. The chief of MUPD, John McCandless, and Mosley-Howard would also be the administrators who would make decision to send out messages, Wagner said.
While other notifications, such as the Campus Crime Alert e-mails, have been used in the past, Wagner stated that she felt this new system would be the most valuable tool for the university.
"Whereas the crime alert e-mails could take 20-30 minutes to get out, text messaging offers immediacy and the potential to reach people in all areas," Wagner said. "Texts take less bandwidth and there is less risk of overloading complications when sending mass messages."
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