UNT rolls out Eagle Alert to notify campus with immediate emergency information
Freshman political science major wins Dell laptop
Jillianne Olivia Allen is the student winner of a laptop computer in a random drawing of UNT students who updated Eagle Alert information between Nov. 5 and March 15.
Students should update their phone numbers in my.unt.edu.
In an effort to quickly provide your student with critical information in an emergency, UNT kicked off a new messaging system Nov. 5 called Eagle Alert.
Eagle Alert allows UNT administrators to quickly contact the campus community by phone about emergency situations affecting the safety and well being of people on and around the UNT campus. The system sends voice messages to the phones, including cell phones, of all students who have provided current contact information. The system can also send text or SMS (Short Message Service) messages to cell phones if the cell phone user has granted the system permission to do so.
"Whenever an incident occurs that affects the immediate safety and well being of the UNT community, the appropriate messages will be sent by the system, informing the community of what actions to take to insure their continued safety," says Joe Adamo, director of Communications Services. "UNT administrators are very concerned for the well being of our campus community and we are implementing this system to add to the current notification capabilities that we have on campus."
What's an emergency?
Eagle Alert will only be used for critical situations including:
•severe weather alerts such as tornado warnings affecting campus
•campus closings due to inclement weather
•public safety emergencies like chemical spills, fires or violence
Messages will not only notify your son or daughter about the situation, but also let him or her know what kind of action they need to take.
Who decides what you will hear?
The decision whether to activate the Eagle Alert system for a message will be made by either the university's president or chief of police.
How do you make sure it works?
Students should update their contact information via their my.unt.edu account. They can update two numbers – a local number, such as a home phone, and a cell phone – as well as indicate which number is their primary number. They also will be able to indicate whether they would like text messages sent to the number they indicate as a cell phone.
In case of an emergency, a message will be sent to both of your students' phone numbers.
What can you as a parent do?
"To insure the safety of their students, parents should encourage their students to review and update their contact information during enrollment for each semester," Adamo says.
Like other emergency alert systems, Eagle Alert will be tested once each semester by sending test messages to the university community.
Eagle Alert is operated by Connect-ED, a service that NTI Group provides to other universities and schools including Texas Tech, Baylor, University of Dallas and the Richardson Independent School District.
