Mizzou Campus Test of MU Alert Notification System Successful

Nov. 11, 2008

Story Contact:  Christian Basi, (573) 882-4430, BasiC@missouri.edu

COLUMBIA, Mo. — On Monday, Nov. 10, University of Missouri officials completed a campus-wide test of the MU Alert Notification System. Emergency personnel sent approximately 17,000 text messages within 15 minutes to MU students, faculty and staff who had registered their information with the notification system. Officials also sent approximately 47,000 email messages to MU students, faculty and staff during the test.

“We were very pleased with the results as we were able to send several thousand messages within a few minutes,” said Chad Pfister, project specialist at MU. “We plan on conducting these tests on a regular basis every year. This will give us one more tool that we can use should the university experience an emergency that requires us to communicate with large numbers of people.”

During the test, faculty, staff and students received a text and/or e-mail message that said, “This is a test of the MU Alert Notification System on November 10, 2008. This is only a test.”

While the numbers of faculty, staff and students registered on the system have increased in recent months, officials are still encouraging individuals to register, Pfister said. For information on how to register, visit mualert.missouri.edu. Currently, 68 percent of students have registered their cell phone number, and 44 percent of students had registered their text message information; 34 percent of MU faculty and staff have registered their cell phones while 17 percent of faculty and staff have registered their text message information.

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