UW initiates new UW Alert text messaging notification system
To be used in the event of an emergency
March 28, 2008
The University of Wyoming (UW) has initiated a new text messaging notification system designed to keep students, faculty and staff informed during emergencies. UW Alert is a new text messaging notification system designed to keep the students, faculty, and staff at the University of Wyoming informed during emergencies. The system sends alerts to both registered cell phones and e-mail addresses.
UW created the text message alert system after the 2007 campus shootings at Virginia Tech University that left 33 students and faculty dead. The incident resulted in heightened awareness in colleges across the nation about implementing campus-wide emergency notification networks.
The University only plans to send notifications via the UW Alert system for events that impact the majority of the campus, such as school closures or emergencies. At least once a semester, the University will send a test notification to verify the functionality of the system.
Students who provided a cell phone number during class registration had that information fed to the UW Alert system. When an account is created, an email with the username and password is sent to the registrant’s university email address. Others can sign up for the service on the UW website.
UW Alert cannot send to text messages to all cell phones. There are two limitations to the service that prevent text messages from being able to be sent to all cell phones. First, the cell phone and cell service being used must have the ability to receive text messages. Second, the vendor who provides the UW Alert service, Rave Wireless, does not support the ability to send text messages to all cell carriers. The system does support Union Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, to name a few. See the UW website for the complete list of supported carriers. Service providers that do not provide free text messaging may charge for text messages, depending on the specific plan a user has for their cell phone coverage.
For more information, contact the UW Information Technology at 307-766-HELP (Option 1) or userhelp@uwyo.edu.
Related Links
UW Alert - University of Wyoming
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