The University of Nevada, Reno has adopted a new notification system that enables campus officials to send urgent news to the cell phones of students, faculty and staff.

Once people have registered for the service, University Police Services can send text messages to their cell phone about emergencies and other events of critical importance. Depending on individual cell phone plans, there may be a nominal fee from carriers to receive text messages, but there is no charge from the University to use the service. Current students, faculty and staff of the University can learn more or sign up for the service on the Campus Alerts page.

The new system enables University Police to send instant alerts directly to registered subscribers’ email accounts and mobile phones via SMS text messages. Subscribers can also receive the alerts via RSS, wireless PDA, and the My Yahoo, My AOL or a personalized iGoogle home page.

“It’s a really convenient system for everyone because it reaches people whether they are on campus or off campus,” said Adam Garcia, director of University Police Services. “We can reach them with important information that may end up saving their lives.”

University Police Services officials are urging the entire campus community to register. “Although emergency alerts are an excellent system that can notify the entire campus within minutes," said Garcia, “it only works if you take a minute to register.”