We write to provide a progress report on the College Emergency Planning project that we described in an all-campus communication last February. Since that time, you have received communications from Dr. Mark Peluso in March about assumptions and progress with respect to pandemic planning; the Office of the President following the Virginia Tech tragedy about our emergency protocols; Ed Sullivan with an updated list of members of the community with First Aid and CPR training; and Tom Corbin with information about our new lightning detection and warning system.
With the leadership of Carrie Rampp and Peggy Fischel from LIS, the College has reached an agreement with a company called MessageOne to provide us with a state-of-the-art instantaneous messaging system for use in emergencies. We expect that the system will be implemented during the fall, and this will require that we gather additional information relating to personal communications (cell phone numbers, for example). The Emergency Planning Steering Committee recently participated in a demonstration of AlertFind, and we were impressed with its capabilities (e.g., voice-to-text and text-to-voice translation) and flexibility. Once implemented, the system would create the ability to communicate information or instructions rapidly to the entire campus, or to selected groups, using all available technologies (e-mail, landlines, cell phones, text messaging, pagers, and faxes) sequentially or simultaneously.
The Steering Committee has recently completed a survey of 24 departments that we believe would have key roles in the immediate reaction to a crisis, emergency, or disruption, and/or in the longer-term response to and recovery from such events. These departments have identified their most critical functions, the individuals most directly responsible for those functions, the other departments on whom their work depends most critically, and the services they provide that are most critical to operations of other departments. The Emergency Planning Steering Committee is now making use of this information in framing a comprehensive emergency plan for Middlebury.
Clearly, communications and technology will have critically important roles in handling any emergency, just as they are important in our day-to-day work. Ron McKinnon of the LIS staff and a member of the Steering Committee is leading an effort called Project Phoenix to develop a mission continuity plan for Middlebury’s technology services. We have asked him to work with ten departments that depend most heavily on technology to assemble needed information. Project Phoenix will also develop plans aimed at ensuring that our technology systems are as reliable as possible, and that, in the event of a serious disruption, the College has procedures that will limit the duration and extent of the interruption of needed services.
Feel free to contact us or any member of the committee with any questions or suggestions you may have; we will continue to keep you apprised of our progress.
From: Alison Byerly, Vice President for Academic Affairs
John Emerson, Secretary of the College and Dean of Planning