Emergency RazALERT Messages Can Be Received by Campus Community via Email, Phone, Text

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – RazALERT (pronounced “raise-alert”) is a communication system for sending emergency messages to University of Arkansas students, faculty and staff. The same integrated notification tool that sends emergency messages can also be used to notify the campus of inclement weather closures or to send outreach messages to the community.

RazALERT enables the University of Arkansas Police Department and authorized administrators to send immediate emergency messages to all members of the campus community through email, cell phone, text message, home phone and TTY/TTD teletype phones.

A message may come in one of three levels of urgency:

• A RazALERT Emergency message is sent to the campus when there is an imminent threat to the welfare or safety of campus members.

• An Inclement Weather message is sent to let the campus community know when classes on campus are canceled, postponed or otherwise affected by severe weather, and when offices are closed or opening on a delayed schedule.

• The third level is notification of significant campus news. These outreach messages only go to UARK email accounts.

Students, faculty and staff are automatically enrolled in RazALERT through their campus accounts — students in ISIS and faculty and staff in BASIS — and they will automatically receive messages via their email accounts.

The beginning of the fall semester is a particularly good opportunity to update or add contact information for phones or text options, although changes can be made any time of the year.

To change your settings:

• Students can have a voice message sent to as many as six phone numbers through their account if, for example, they want other family members to receive the emergency message. One phone number can also receive a text message. Students can change settings by logging into ISIS and choosing “Campus Alert Systems” from the drop-down menu under the “Personal Information” section.

• Faculty and staff can specify up to three phone numbers for emergency alerts and decide whether they want voice mail or text for each. Faculty and staff can find the settings in the “My Personal Data” portion of their BASIS account. Click on “Addresses, etc.” for the RazALERT options.

For anyone who wants to add a family member, such as a parent or spouse who is not on campus, please make sure the family member knows that he or she will receive an emergency alert via this system at the same time as the university campus.

RazALERT was designed for the university and installed in 2008 as part of the Connect-ED communication service from Blackboard Connect Inc. Since its installation, it has primarily been used during severe weather events, usually to notify the campus when classes were canceled or postponed due to snow and ice, and to issue tornado warnings.

More information about the emergency notification system is available at the RazALERT website. The university provides additional emergency information at the emergency preparedness website. The emergency preparedness site posts all RazALERT Emergency messages and is the prime source for updated information about any emergency situation. The site also includes contact information for all campus and local emergency services, a review of the university’s emergency procedures, useful tips on “what to do” in a wide assortment of emergency situations, and complete information about the RazALERT system.