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Employees and students are strongly encouraged to sign up for "UAlert."

By University Communications
February 19, 2008

Officials at The University of Arizona are pointing to the recent tragic shooting at Northern Illinois University as a reminder to all UA students and employees to sign up for UAlert, the University’s emergency text-messaging service.

To date, approximately 10,000 accounts have been activated at the UA among the combined 48,000 students, faculty and staff. Each account can list up to two text-enabled cell phone numbers and two e-mail addresses to receive the alerts.

Any UA student or employee with a cell phone enabled to receive text messages is strongly encouraged to subscribe to the free alert service at http://alerts.arizona.edu.

“Emergencies can come at any time, and take many dangerous forms,” said Carol D. Thompson, UA assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of students, in a message to all UA students who have not yet subscribed to UAlert. “Last week’s shooting at Northern Illinois University is one particularly tragic example. It is also a reminder of the need for all students to sign up for UAlert.”

Five students were killed at the DeKalb, Ill., campus on Thursday.

Earlier this month, the UA used UAlert for the first time to notify the campus that a small chemical spill had forced the early-morning evacuation of Apache-Santa Cruz Residence Hall.

The situation, which was resolved without incident, prompted UAlert subscribers to receive three alerts – one announcing the evacuation, one with an update and one announcing the end of the emergency.

“UAlert worked precisely as it was supposed to with the Apache-Santa Cruz evacuation,” said UA Police Department Cmdr. Brian A. Seastone, who also serves as the UA’s manager of emergency preparedness. “The goal of UAlert is to give the campus critical alerts to emergencies in progress, so they can respond in a more rapid, calm and well-informed manner.”

In addition to UAlert, the UA employs several other means of communicating information during times of emergency. Timely updates are also sent via e-mail to UA employees, students, parents of students, alumni and community leaders. In addition, bulletins are posted on University Web sites and shared with the news media.

This integrated approach to emergency communications is coordinated through the UA Campus Emergency Response Team, known as UA-CERT, as part of an ongoing effort to ensure the UA is prepared for and trained to handle emergencies efficiently when they occur.