By Kaitlyn Brady / Full360 Reporter

On the week of March 20th, Delaware Valley University participated in emergency Awareness week, and new additions to the university’s current emergency awareness protocols were announced and implemented.

The largest change currently happening at this time is the uploading of all available numbers into Aggie Alert. Aggie Alert, formerly known as Omni Alert, is an opt-in text emergency alert messaging system that can send an alert message to all faculty and students that have opted in to receive messages. The name was changed to make the system more personal to the DelVal Community, as well as make it easier if there was ever a need for a change of vendor.

“We believe that it is in the best interests of the entire community for everyone to have access to the emergency alert system without having to create an account,” said Kathy Howell, Vice President, Marketing and Communications. “The more people who are immediately notified of any emergency situation, the better we can all respond to take steps to protect ourselves and others around us.”

The Aggie Alert system is used very sparingly, mainly to notify those on campus of power outages, extreme weather conditions, and other major safety concerns on campus. Anyone, whether that be student or faculty, can choose to opt-out of Aggie Alert notifications at any time.

Another test of the system is going to be sent out within the coming weeks to encourage those who have not opted-in to sign up.

“We highly recommend, however, that individuals choose to remain in the system so that they are aware of happenings on campus,” says Howell. Those who have not signed up for Aggie Alert and wish to can do so by emailing prepare@delval.edu, along with any questions or concerns they may have.

Alongside the changes to Aggie Alert, brand new informative posters about what to do in specific emergency situations have been posted in every classroom and building. The new posters contained updated information and terminology that aligns with what would be sent out in an Aggie Alert message. The terminology is also the same as the kind that would be used by first responders in an emergency.

Over the summer, there are plans to replace the old informative posters in the dorm rooms with new ones. New information has also been added to the ‘Public Safety” portion of the university’s website, as well as an informative video titled “Shots Fired” that goes over what to do in specific emergency situations on a college campus.

“We scheduled the Emergency Awareness Week just to call attention to the fact that every member of the DelVal community should take the time to read the information we have made available on the website so that they are as prepared as they can be in the event of an emergency,” says Howell.

Howell said: “Leadership regularly reviews our safety protocols to ensure that we are doing everything we can to help our DelVal community stay safe. With the addition to the DelVal team of David Cell, Director of Emergency Preparedness and Campus Safety, last fall, we have made some updates to bring our protocols to current and best practices.”

From here on out, Emergency awareness week will be held once a semester. The next one, scheduled to take place in August after the fall semester begins, will provide additional information on the learning opportunities being offered and about any upcoming changes to campus safety.