Tech, CTC introduce new alert system

By John A. Bolt

MONTGOMERY — WVU Tech Alert, a state-of-the-art text messaging system, became operational Monday, enabling instant text or e-mail alerts to be sent to students, faculty and other members of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology and the Community & Technical College at WVU Tech communities.

The system is powered by e2Campus, a system in use on more than 300 campuses, and is endorsed by the campus watchdog group Security on Campus.

“This Web-based system will allow emergency communication to be quickly and easily sent to all students who sign up for it,” WVU Tech Provost Charles Bayless said. “With just a few keystrokes, students can be warned of dangerous situations on or near campus, whether they involve criminal activity or other safety factors, a spill in a lab for example.

“We’ll also use the system to announce, for example, if we have to cancel classes or close the campus due to weather.

“This is an exciting opportunity to be right on the cusp of technology,” Bayless added. “We are only the second campus in the state to adopt this technology.”

“This is a tremendous asset to our commuter students as well as for our residential students, faculty and staff,” said Dr. Jo Harris, president of the CTC@WVU Tech. “Alerts can be received instantaneously, enabling us to improve communication and response time during emergency situations. Now, wherever they have cell phone or e-mail service, they’ll be alerted to situations.”

WVU Tech Alert is an example of how the Montgomery school benefits from becoming a full division of West Virginia University, Bayless stressed. The main campus introduced the system Oct. 12, and WVU Tech is the first branch campus to make it available. The system will be installed at Potomac State in Keyser next semester.

Students can volunteer to register up to two cell phones and two e-mail addresses to receive the alerts, allowing them to include parents in the notifications if they so wish.

“This is just part of an overall, improving plan for campus security,” Bayless said. “Cameras are in place in several key areas and we’re adding more. We’ve also installed a siren system that alerts the campus and community.”

There are three types of alerts to be sent. The highest level is when the administration and/or law enforcement determines that there is imminent danger to the campus; the second level, a potential, but not imminent, danger; the third level, a weather emergency.

Users will receive a very brief message, and be directed to a new Web site, http://emergency.wvu.edu/alert/tech, for further information.

“It’s a real simple process,” Campus Police Chief Donald Pomeroy said Monday. “If (a situation arises in the Montgomery and Smithers area in which) we feel our students will be in imminent danger, or in the case of a weather emergency (resulting in school closure or delay), we’ll send out an alert.

“We’ll send a short message with as many details as possible.”

Accounts can be customized so that alerts can be received via e-mail on Blackberries or PDAs; Google, Yahoo or AOL home pages; or through a RSS news aggregator. Depending on the person’s personal cell phone carrier, there may be a minimal fee from the carrier to receive text messages, but there will be no charge by the school.

- - -

e2Campus is a service by Omnilert, LLC, according to the Web site www.e2campus.com. Headquartered in northern Virginia, Omnilert develops and markets the leading selective mass notification system for sending time-sensitive information to large groups.

The system was conceived in late 2003 when the company founders read a story about a female student who was raped and murdered in her dormitory in 1987. The article revealed that one key factor in the incident was that the tragedy could have been prevented if the student had been informed about the presence of the criminal on campus.

In the fall of 2004, Anne Arundel Community College launched e2Campus and became the first campus in North America to use a text mass notification system.

For more, visit www.e2campus.com or www.omnilert.com.

(Bolt is a senior writer for Progressity Inc., www.progressity.com. Steve Keenan contributed to this story.)

Text Only