Emergency Notification | News

Pennsylvania University Adds Live TV to Emergency Alert System

• By Tim Sohn
• 06/18/12

Misericordia University has added live broadcast televisions to its emergency campus alert system. The Dallas, PA-based institution was already using e2Campus' emergency alert system, uAlert, but it is the first school to deploy e2Campus' integration with televisions. The new functionality was displayed last week at International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators Exposition in Reno, NV.

uAlert is a cloud-based emergency and mass communications system that can send messages via SMS text, desktop pop-up, digital signs, e-mail, public address system, pager, Facebook, Twitter, and Web sites with widgets. Messages can be sent to students, faculty, staff, visitors, parents, media, first responders, or others.

Features of uAlert include:

• Schools and districts can notify parents when students are absent by phone or text alert;
• Messages can be sent from computers with Internet access, or mobile devices;
• Recipients of alerts can reply to school alerts for voting, polling and feedback;
• The opt-out manager walks administrators through adding contacts to the system;
• Schools can develop their own interface to manage users, and customize the branding of the messages;
• Notifications integrate with learning management and student information systems; and
• An RSS engine allows for more than one RSS feed for schools with different ones for different buildings, multiple devices, etc.

Now, mass messages can also be deployed live on broadcast TVs across campus through the same system. In the past, the university used a separate system for alerts on TVs.

"This kind of innovative approach to serving our university needs is why we’ve been with e2Campus for five years and Campus Televideo for nearly 15 years," said Mark Reboli, network, telecommunications, and IT security manager at Misericordia University, in a prepared statement. "Though you never hope to have a need to reach your campus in an emergency situation, this integrated system adds an important piece to the university’s emergency notification plan with a valuable, direct, and simple way to reach our students throughout the campus without safety personnel performing additional work."

Campus Televideo is e2Campus' certified endpoint provider and integrated it with uAlert following OASIS Common Alerting Protocol. It charges $1,500 to $2,000 for the connector.

Misericordia University is a Catholic liberal arts university with enrollment of 2,830.