UC Davis is scheduled to conduct a test of its WarnMe emergency alerting service — for providing timely information and instructions in major emergencies — next Thursday, Nov. 4.

Between now and then, emergency officials urge faculty, staff and students to check that their contact information is registered with WarnMe and up to date, and that their computers' junk mail filters are configured properly to accept WarnMe messages.

The test is scheduled to begin shortly before noon, and will include the Davis and Sacramento campuses and other facilities.

About 66,000 people are registered with WarnMe. Campus emergency officials plan to send test messages to more than 87,000 work and personal e-mail addresses, some 26,500 SMS text devices and about 1,000 pagers. The test will not send voice messages to telephones.

The "from" line of the e-mail message will indicate that is is from "warnme@ucdavis.edu." Delivery of the message to all e-mail addresses is expected to be complete within 10 minutes and to SMS text devices, within six minutes.

Valerie Lucus-McEwen, emergency and business continuity manager for the Davis campus, said the annual test is being used to check the performance of the service, including delivery times, and raise awareness about the service.

Make sure you get the message

To make sure you get the message, you should add or update your contact information in the WarnMe database, accessible by clicking here.

The test messages will indicate that they are just that — test messages. E-mail messages will request a response and provide instructions. They will also invite recipients to complete a seven-question survey by clicking on a web address in the message.

In a real emergency, the messages would tell recipients the nature of the emergency, provide instructions and refer the recipients to a source for more information.

WarnMe uses employees' work contact information from the university's online directory, students' e-mail addresses, and personal contact information that students and employees provide voluntarily.

Although campus e-mail servers are set up so that WarnMe messages will not be tagged as spam and blocked, the e-mail software on individual computers may still label the messages as spam. If that happens, your WarnMe message may be deleted or sent to a junk mail folder. To prevent this, computer users should adjust the junk mail filter in their e-mail software so their inbox accepts WarnMe messages.

Need help configuring your computer’s spam filters? Contact your departmental tech support or click here for instructions specific to your e-mail software. Also, the IT Express Computing Services Help Desk is available to provide assistance at (530) 754-HELP (4357).

More about WarnMe

WarnMe, introduced in February 2008, is part of the university's comprehensive emergency management program and is among the ways the university can alert students and employees to an emergency and provide important information.

More information about WarnMe and the test is available online, or by e-mailing warnme@ucdavis.edu.

Click here to download a brochure about emergency communications at UC Davis.