Last modified: Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Indiana University to host emergency notification symposium at IUPUI
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 5, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS -- Learning from the dramatic incidents experienced by several universities and colleges over the past several years, campuses across the U.S. have been working to greatly enhance emergency notification capabilities. While institutions vary in size and in populations, many issues and challenges are the same in this area.
An upcoming symposium hosted by Indiana University, "This is Not a Test: Event Notifications & Your Campus Community," on Aug. 11 and 12, will enable the higher education community to come together in an informal setting to share best practices for advancing and enhancing critical communications at their institutions.
The program is hosted by IU and co-sponsored by Blackboard Connect. The workshops, panel presentations, and forum discussions will take place at the Informatics and Communications Technology Complex at IUPUI, 535 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, Indiana.
"We compete in athletics and we compete for the best and brightest students and faculty, but there should be no competition when it comes to safety," said Mark Bruhn, IU's associate vice president for information and infrastructure assurance. "We will gladly share what we know and do, and we will happily borrow from others, if it will help us all maintain the safest possible environments."
Steven J. Healy, managing partner of Margolis, Healy and Associates (MH&A), a leader in campus safety assessments, emergency preparedness, crisis response training, and campus public safety management studies, will deliver the keynote address at 9:15 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 11. The title of his keynote is: "When Crisis Comes to Campus: Moving from Hope to Trust."
Prior to becoming managing partner at MH&A, Healy was the director of public safety and chief of police at Princeton University and is a past president of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA).
"Never before in history has the spotlight been so brightly shining on the issue of student safety," Healy said. "Throughout the U.S. and across the globe, K-12 schools and institutions of higher education are taking important steps to enhance safety including improving their response plans and implementing multi-modal and multi-layered emergency communications. These are critical lessons we've learned as a result of tragedies in our communities."
The symposium will include panel discussions and presentations on a variety of topics, including legislation, telecommunications, and time-sensitive mass communications. The event is free and geared toward the needs of the higher education community. Registration is required.
For more information or to register, visit: https://www.indiana.edu/~uits/eventnotifications/index.html.
About Blackboard Connect
The Blackboard Connect™ platform enables school leaders to schedule, send and track personalized voice messages at up to multiple phone numbers and e-mail addresses per student and staff member. To ensure that important messages reach residents, students and parents quickly, regardless of their location or preferred method of communication, the Blackboard Connect platform sends voice and text-based messages. For more information about Blackboard Connect solutions, please visit: https://www.blackboard.com/Alert-Notification/Connect-Platform.aspx.
