A new system that will provide rapid, individual notification about a campus-wide emergency has been implemented over the summer and is ready to accept student, faculty and staff personal contact information.
The University has engaged the Connect-ED service, designed to contact large numbers of students and employees quickly through multiple electronic technologies. This leading-edge technology will engage e-mail, telephone and cell phone voicemail and text messaging to inform the Notre Dame community about an emergency situation.
This system will be used only in instances in which physical well-being is in question and in which members of the community must take immediate action to be safe,said Gordon Wishon, associate vice president, associate provost and chief information officer.Given that people on a university campus are constantly on the go, we are asking that every member of the community provide the maximum amount of personal contact information so that you can be told about a problem through a number of contact points.
The University will provide the Connect-ED system with information already in its databases such as on-campus phone numbers, Notre Dame e-mail addresses and, for employees, home telephone numbers. But success of the service relies on the active participation of students, faculty and staff to garner contact points not yet in its system, such as personal cell phones or frequently used e-mail addresses not affiliated with Notre Dame information technologies.
The Office of the Registrar and the Office of Human Resources are working with students, faculty and staff to outline the enrollment process. Students can provide information to Connect-ED online through the Web Enrollment process. Most faculty and staff will provide information to the Connect-ED enrollment process through insideND (inside.nd.edu) at the My Resources tab. An alternative campus mail enrollment process has been created for employees who do not have ready access to computers.
Connect-ED is one of several strategies being put in place by a University emergency planning committee. The committee has carefully considered student, faculty and staff concerns about privacy and the limited use of this information once it is entered into the system.
The intent is to use this information solely to notify individuals of a major on-campus emergency,Wishon said.
On campus, the private contact information will be accessible only to those who have the very highest clearance for viewing student or employment databases.
Further information about Connect-ED is available at " http://oit.nd.edu/emergency ":http://oit.nd.edu/emergency .
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