U-Maine Presque Isle implements emergency notification system

    PRESQUE ISLE – With universities across the country tightening their security procedures, officials at the University of Maine at Presque Isle announced this week the implementation of a new emergency notification system for the campus community.     The University will use the system – known as e2campus – to notify students, faculty and staff about various kinds of emergencies and important notifications, from weather emergencies to school cancellations to incidents of violence on campus, according to Chris Corsello, the University’s dean of students.
    “Given the tragedies that have happened at universities across the country, we wanted to make sure that we implemented a system that provided us with a number of ways to notify the campus community,” Corsello said.
    E2campus is a universal notification system that delivers time-sensitive messages – within seconds – to the mobile phones, PDAs, e-mail inboxes and pagers of its subscribers, no matter where they are geographically. The University is encouraging all of its students, faculty and staff to subscribe to the new system.
    According to Corsello, senior administrators have the ability to access the system by Web, wireless PDA or mobile phone and send alerts. The system can then deliver those alerts – potentially to thousands of people – anywhere, any time, on any digital communication device, all at one time. Right now, about 400 colleges and universities in the country use this alert system.
    Emergency notifications sent to the system also will be broadcast on new electronic bulletin boards, which the University will install at high-traffic locations on campus in the next few weeks.
    While officials are putting all these emergency systems and procedures in place, they are hoping that they won’t have to utilize them for more than weather-related emergencies.
    “The hope is that the only time we’ll have to use this is to let people know we’re closing down for bad weather or a power outage, or potential bad weather, nothing more than that,” Corsello said.
    But even in a worst-case scenario, the new system will allow the University to instantly keep the campus community out of harm’s way.
    “It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s instantaneous, and it provides an important level of additional notification in the event of an emergency for our campus community,” Corsello said.
    Campus community members need to self-register for participation in this system. To register, visit www.umpi.maine.edu and click on the ‘Help Us Keep You Safer’ link at the top of the page.