2008 Woodie Awards
Miami tests e-mail alert system
Dave Matthews
Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: Campus
In a post-Virginia Tech world, Miami University officials are taking steps to improve communication should an emergency situation ever arise on campus.
The March 11 e-mail test was part of the e2Campus emergency alert system. In previous months, text messages were sent through the system to relay information to the Miami community. Such as school closings due to weather.
According to Claire Wagner, assistant director of University Communications, two separate e-mails were sent 15 minutes apart to each Miami uniqueID, including students, faculty and staff on all Miami branch campuses-even Luxembourg-March 11.
Of the approximate 26,000 people who were sent the e-mail, 93 percent got the first message within 10 minutes of the mass e-mail, and nearly 95 percent of the recipients got the second message within 10 minutes.
Ultimately, 97 percent of those mailed received the e-mail, the same response level as those who got the test text message alert Jan. 25.
Twelve percent of those e-mailed completed the survey. This compares to the text message alert, which garnered a 72 percent turnout.
Wagner stressed the importance of reaching students both through e-mail and text messages.
"We got this (e-mail system) and text messaging, ideally, so you get it on your cell phone no matter where you are," she said.
Wagner said that in cases of "imminent danger" or campus closures Miami will send both e-mail and text message alerts. Wagner admitted that "imminent danger" is a broad term because it is self-defining. Thus, the decision to send messages would be on a case-by-case basis.
Along with Wagner and Dean of Students Susan Mosley-Howard, MUPD Chief of Police John McCandless serves on the Institutional Response Team (IRT), which helped implement the emergency messaging system.
According to McCandless, Miami President David Hodge charged the group to implement a more effective messaging system in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings. With consultation from IT services, a vendor called e2Campus was chosen to distribute the mass text messages.
The March 11 e-mail test was part of the e2Campus emergency alert system. In previous months, text messages were sent through the system to relay information to the Miami community. Such as school closings due to weather.
According to Claire Wagner, assistant director of University Communications, two separate e-mails were sent 15 minutes apart to each Miami uniqueID, including students, faculty and staff on all Miami branch campuses-even Luxembourg-March 11.
Of the approximate 26,000 people who were sent the e-mail, 93 percent got the first message within 10 minutes of the mass e-mail, and nearly 95 percent of the recipients got the second message within 10 minutes.
Ultimately, 97 percent of those mailed received the e-mail, the same response level as those who got the test text message alert Jan. 25.
Twelve percent of those e-mailed completed the survey. This compares to the text message alert, which garnered a 72 percent turnout.
Wagner stressed the importance of reaching students both through e-mail and text messages.
"We got this (e-mail system) and text messaging, ideally, so you get it on your cell phone no matter where you are," she said.
Wagner said that in cases of "imminent danger" or campus closures Miami will send both e-mail and text message alerts. Wagner admitted that "imminent danger" is a broad term because it is self-defining. Thus, the decision to send messages would be on a case-by-case basis.
Along with Wagner and Dean of Students Susan Mosley-Howard, MUPD Chief of Police John McCandless serves on the Institutional Response Team (IRT), which helped implement the emergency messaging system.
According to McCandless, Miami President David Hodge charged the group to implement a more effective messaging system in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings. With consultation from IT services, a vendor called e2Campus was chosen to distribute the mass text messages.
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