There’s still one more week to qualify to win a free iPhone like James Bekendy, second year medical student, and Amanda Dixon, administrative assistant at the School for Science and Math, did on Friday March 14. By registering for Vanderbilt University’s new emergency notification system, AlertVU, they were automatically qualified for a chance to win the phones.

Two more phones will be given away after the initial AlertVU sign-up period ends on March 21. You can register at www.vanderbilt.edu/alertvu.

While AlertVU is a free, voluntary, opt-in service, we strongly encourage you to register so that you are kept informed and protected when AlertVU is activated during situations that pose an immediate threat to the health and safety of the Vanderbilt community, such as a tornado headed for campus or an active shooter on campus.

Unlike MobileVU, which relied on text messages only (which were never intended to be sent out en masse in a short time frame), AlertVU will send messages via text messaging, e-mail, cell phones, land lines and pagers. Each AlertVU participant can indicate how he or she wants to be contacted on the sign-up form.

This ability to use multiple modes and methods of communications should greatly increase the effectiveness of our emergency communications. Redundant, overlapping and consistent communication is an important component of any emergency plan.

AlertVU will not be used for general crime alerts or other situations on campus that do not pose an imminent threat.  It will also not be used for non-emergency communications such as campus event announcements, class reminders, athletics information, news or advertisements.

AlertVU is an addition to Vanderbilt’s emergency notification tools, which include campus crime alerts, mass e-mails, tornado sirens and more. Those tools will continue to be used for the situations that warrant their use.

For more information, please visit the AlertVU Web site at www.vanderbilt.edu/alertvu.

Contact: Missy Pankake, (615) 322-NEWS
missy.pankake@vanderbilt.edu