WIU launches emergency alert system; runs test alert

More than 17,500 telephone and nearly 24,000 e-mail emergency alert messages were sent Jan. 30 to members of the WIU- Macomb and Quad Cities campuses as part of a test of the University's new WIU Emergency Alert System (WEAS).

WIU Emergency Alert System

According to Dana Biernbaum ‘99, assistant vice president of administrative services and WEAS co-coordinator, messages were sent to 14,689 contacts. The entire process took just 33 minutes and the telephone call delivery had a 72 percent success rate, she added.

“We encourage students, faculty and staff to check their contact information to ensure their phone numbers and e-mail addresses are listed correctly in the system database,” she said.

The system is designed to notify WIU students, faculty and staff at both the Macomb and Quad Cities campuses of emergency situations (severe weather, serious threats to safety, etc.) via voice, text and e-mail messages. The system was used twice prior to the test—Dec. 11 and Jan. 29—to alert WIU-QC faculty, staff and students of the closure of the Quad Cities campus due to severe winter weather. In both instances, the system reached nearly 92 percent of WIU-QC contacts by phone.

“We have received feedback that some of the messages sent to a WIU e-mail address were being directly forwarded to junk mail folders. The issue has been resolved within our e-mail system, and future emergency alert e-mails will be routed to the appropriate inbox or folder,” added Craig DeMoss ‘93 MS ‘98, assistant manager of administrative computing and WEAS co-coordinator.

The system's database currently holds phone numbers and WIU e-mail addresses from existing personnel and student files.

“We're pleased with the reports we've received thus far from both the actual use of the system for the recent WIU-QC weather emergencies and for the Jan. 30 campus-wide test; however, we will continue to work with the vendor and administrative computing staff to further enhance and improve the system,” said Jackie Thompson ‘85 MS ‘94, vice president for administrative services. “Our goal is to reach as many members of our campus communities as possible when a situation arises that merits the use of the emergency alert system. In order to do this, we must have accurate contact information; keeping the system current is the key to successful message deliveries.”

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