New “RMU Alert” system allows students, faculty and staff to receive instant text or voice messages during weather-related, other emergencies
NEW YORK, NY --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- August 14, 2007. Send Word Now, a provider of on-demand alerting and response services, today announced that it is partnering with Robert Morris University (RMU) to enhance the University’s emergency preparedness and campus security through the introduction of its SWN Alert Service beginning in the 2007-08 academic year. The multi-modal alert and response service, known as RMU Alert, will allow the University’s 6,000 students, faculty and staff to receive rapid communications during situations such as power outages, weather emergencies, or other time-sensitive situations, as well as to respond to alerts if required.
“Robert Morris University is pleased to partner with Send Word Now in offering the RMU Alert service, which will support multiple modes of communication with our campus community,” said Ellen Wieckowski, chief information officer for Robert Morris University. “After this spring’s incident at Virginia Tech, institutions nationwide recognized the importance of being able to reach individual students, faculty and staff instantaneously; we believe that Send Word Now’s ability to contact people through various modes - high-priority texting, as well as voice and email – will allow RMU to accomplish just that, if and when needed. Because the service allows each subscriber to specify up to six contact points, the University feels confident that at least one of our communications will reach individuals, regardless of whether they are on or off campus at the time.”
Many colleges and universities are putting a new focus on leveraging the new technology to reach students promptly– with the communication devices and modes that are most familiar to them. The SWN Alert Service uses multiple modes of communication - including text messaging, telephones, mobile phones, email, pagers, Blackberries, Treos and other PDAs – to deliver alerts within minutes of a message being sent. Campus police, security personnel or administrators can initiate an alert from the web, phone, email or internal information system application. The two-way alert and response service that Send Word Now is providing to RMU is also designed to enable real-time response to voice and text alerts, allowing message senders to verify and track whether a response was made.
About Robert Morris University
Robert Morris University, founded in 1921, is a private, four year institution with an enrollment of approximately 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The University offers 30 undergraduate programs and 19 masters and doctoral degree programs. An estimated 22,000 alumni live and work in western Pennsylvania.
Robert Morris University and Send Word Now Partner to Offer Emergency Notification Service for Campus Community
