Gordon in the News: last updated 08/07/2013
WENHAM, MA—In 2007 Gordon College purchased the emergency communications software technology Connect-ED®—an emergency notification service that provides college administrators the ability to send and track personalized voice and text messages to students, faculty and staff in the case of a campus emergency. Connect-ED, a service of The NTI Group, Inc. (NTI) in Sherman, CA, has the ability to send the same message to up to six different telephone numbers per person; send text messages, and the service also offers text-to-speech and voice-to-text recognition. New this year is the ability to link alerts to the College twitter page serving as one more additional resource for quick communications during an emergency.
"As we've seen in recent history across the nation, schools, public events and college campuses are not immune to violence and the security of our students, employees and guest visitors on campus is a chief concern to the administration of Gordon College," said Cyndi McMahon, director of marketing communications. "Although Gordon College continues to standout nationally in the area of student safety, it is a priority to be vigilant and prepared by providing a greater level of security on campus and our Connect-Ed software helps us do that."
Twice a year the College distributes various advertising materials on the product to the entire Gordon community asking that all students, faculty and staff update their emergency contact information online on the College's intranet site. Full scale testing drills of the software happen regularly.
"As Executive Vice President for Advancement, Communication and Technology at Gordon and as a father, emergency messaging software aids in the fundamental need of reaching students if an emergency arises with a quick and consistent message," says Dan Tymann. "With Connect-ED, the College is able to contact students, faculty and staff on multiple communication channels through one central platform, allowing messages to reach, cell phones, office phones, home phones and e-mail addresses faster than individual entries to these areas."
In addition to emergency alerts, Connect-Ed has other communication capabilities utilized by the College including announcing school closings, parking bans, weather alerts, and communications to employees and students by class year, building location, etc.
For information, contact the Office of College Communications at 978.867.4235 or email [email protected].
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