[503] MTSU plans June 24 emergency test to ensure timely alerts for students, staff

MURFREESBORO — MTSU is continuing its new emergency-alert testing process for the university community Wednesday, June 24, with a special test message to ensure that students, faculty and staff properly receive urgent communications.

Beginning at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, MTSU's Critical Notification System, provided by Rave Mobile Safety, will send a test message to the university's 25,700-plus registered users via email, text and automated phone calls.

The university's website, http://www.mtsu.edu, its MTSUNews.com news site, and all digital signage around the Murfreesboro campus will display the message just as they do during an actual emergency alert, along with university social media. The university's Twitter account, @MTSUNews, will tweet the test alert with the @MTSUAlert emergency notification account.

MTSU Police Lt. Broede Stucky, who handles emergency operations for the university police department, said the process will mirror a similar test conducted Feb. 25. The university will evaluate its systems during and after the test to help pinpoint and fix any potential problems.

The Feb. 25 test showed a near-100 percent success rate with the transmissions. Digital signage in the James E. Walker Library, Student Recreation Center, College of Education Building, Keathley University Center and the new Science Building showed the test alert message within 30 seconds of its transmission.

Stucky said that MTSU’s Critical Notification System is one of several components the university uses to “enhance the overall safety and emergency preparedness of the campus community.”

This summer’s test will be followed by another set for Wednesday, Oct. 28, also at 1:15 p.m.

Subsequent years' system tests will be held once each semester — on the last Wednesday of February, June and October — at the same time of day, officials said.

The university already conducts routine monthly tests of its tornado sirens on campus and at the Miller Coliseum Complex to ensure proper operations. Those tests don’t involve other components of the Critical Notification System, however.

All current MTSU students, faculty and staff automatically receive email alerts at their MTSU addresses from Rave about weather-related emergencies, delays and cancellations. Users also can choose to receive text and/or voice alerts by adding phone numbers to their personal Rave accounts, which are accessed with their PipelineMT usernames and passwords at http://www.getrave.com/login/mtsu.

Non-MTSU students or personnel don't have access to the system. Users are automatically deleted from the system when their status with the university changes, such as by graduating or leaving school or full-time employment permanently.

You can learn more about MTSU's Critical Notification System at its FAQ page, http://www.mtsu.edu/alert4u/faqs.php. Information about the alert system is also always available on the university’s weather information page, http://www.mtsunews.com/weather.