UF plans test of emergency notification system Wednesday

April 15, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida will conduct a test of its emergency notification system between 11:30 a.m. and noon Wednesday.

Messages will be sent to students, faculty and staff via text messaging, mass e-mail and a posting on the UF home page. Notes also will be posted to the UF Facebook page and Twitter accounts telling users to go to the home page for a message.

Additionally, this semester’s test will include an activation of the campus VoIP mass notification system. When fully installed, the application will allow broadcast of audible messages to academic classrooms and selected outdoor locations. Currently, the system has been deployed in more than half of the classrooms on campus and several outdoor locations including Plaza of the Americas, the North Lawn at the Reitz Student Union, Turlington Plaza and Broward recreation area. A test message will be broadcast on the system between fourth and fifth periods at approximately 11:35 a.m.

To ensure that they will receive emergency text messages, students, faculty and staff should update their emergency contact information in MyUFL. Updates can be made at MyUFL by clicking on My Account and Update Emergency Contact. Everyone is encouraged to add the five-digit number “23177” to his or her cell phone contact list and name it “UFAlert.” This will assist in identifying future, authorized UF text messages on mobile devices.

Anyone who doesn’t receive a text message but has previously entered his or her information in MyUFL should text “SUBSCRIBE UFAlert” to 23177. Registered UF subscribers will receive a text message indicating their cell number is in the system.

The emergency text messaging system is used only in cases where a threat is confirmed and has the potential to affect the entire campus. In the event of an emergency or disaster affecting campus, the UF home page is the official source of UF emergency-related information.