Golden State Today

To more effectively reach students with emergency information, UC Davis is incorporating student mobile phone numbers into its WarnMe notification system to support text messaging. This integration is set to be completed by the start of the fall quarter on September 25.

UC Davis employs the WarnMe system to provide timely information during emergencies and other urgent situations to students, staff, faculty, and others. The system can send messages via email and text (if mobile numbers are available) to those with a ucdavis.edu email address. Messages are also posted on the Everbridge Mobile App and UC Davis’ official X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook accounts.

Previously, students were asked to voluntarily add their personal mobile phone numbers. During the 2023-24 academic year, approximately 18,000 students—less than half of the student population—complied.

The decision to add student mobile numbers was influenced by discussions during a September tabletop exercise of the Emergency Policy Group. Pablo Reguerín, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and a member of this group, emphasized campus safety: “The safety of the campus community is our highest priority,” he said. “We are instituting this change as one of several recent enhancements to campus safety efforts.”

Benton Best, Campus Emergency Manager, highlighted the importance of quick communication in emergencies: “It’s critical to reach our campus community with what could be life-saving information,” he stated. “We have brought on board the mobile numbers of thousands more students so we can also send them messages by text, a mode of communication they use even more than email.”

Since last fall, Best and staff from Informational and Educational Technology, the Office of the University Registrar, Strategic Communications, and Student Affairs have collaborated on this project while addressing legal, technical, and communications issues.

Federal law and university policy permit using these mobile numbers for health and safety emergency purposes. Students are being notified about this change as their school year begins through orientation materials for incoming undergraduates as well as student newsletters.

UC Davis will join UC Riverside in importing phone numbers from student information systems into emergency notification systems. The phone numbers added at UC Davis will come from records in the Banner student information system; most are presumed to be mobile numbers.

Students may update their WarnMe contact information or opt out of receiving text alerts at any time via the WarnMe Information website. However, changes made in WarnMe do not update other university records; separate updates must be made for University Registrar records.

Parents, vendors without a UC Davis email address can sign up for WarnMe alerts by texting UCDALERTS to 888777. Members of the campus community may also download the Everbridge Mobile App for alerts—a crucial option for those with international phone numbers since WarnMe does not send texts internationally.

WarnMe-related webpages are being updated accordingly. Future steps include capturing graduate student mobile numbers and identifying best practices for purging records when students leave or graduate from UC Davis. Eventually, employee university-issued cell phones will also be included in WarnMe notifications.

The first scheduled test for this academic year will occur on October 17 during both Great California Shakeout Day and International ShakeOut Day at 10:17 a.m., promoting earthquake preparedness through drills organized by Earthquake Country Alliance.