BOONE— Appalachian State University will test its emergency notification system during the afternoon of Thursday, April 24.

APPSTATE-ALERT is the university’s cell phone and text messaging, telephone and e-mail emergency notification system.

Approximately 3,800 faculty, staff and students have signed up to receive emergency messages via their cell phone, and another 500 campus office and residence hall telephones have been added to the system.

University officials will send the following message via e-mail, cell phones and main office and residence hall telephones during the test:

This is a test of the APPSTATE-ALERT Emergency Notification System. This is only a test. If this had been an actual emergency you would have been directed to go to the Emergency Preparedness Web Page at www.emergency.appstate.edu. This is only a test.

“We want to test the system we have in place to determine cell tower, telephone and e-mail capacity,” said Appalachian’s Police Chief Gunther Doerr. “This test will help us determine the best ways to notify campus in the event of an actual emergency.”

Members of the university community can register to receive emergency alerts through their cell phone by registering at http://www.emergency.appstate.edu/.

When you receive an emergency message from the Appalachian’s APPSTATE-ALERT system,
the return e-mail address will be displayed as emergency@appstate.edu and the Caller ID will be displayed as 262-8000.

Except for tests of the system, which will be conducted each semester, the university will only use APPSTATE-ALERT to send messages in the event of an emergency.

For more information about APPSTATE-ALERT, visit www.emergency.appstate.edu.

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