The Alertus Desktop pop-up will always include the date, and time of the alert, the University of Iowa logo, and specify it is a UI Hawk Alert. See image below as an example:
Only situations that rise to the level of a Hawk Alert will use the pop-up method of communication to those who install the desktop client. For more information on Hawk Alert, review this page on the Department of Public Safety website.
Alertus Desktop is installed on university supported computers located in classrooms, lecture halls, and ITC computer labs.
Faculty, staff, and students have the option to download the desktop notification client on their computers.
Keep in mind installation beyond information technology centers, computer labs, classrooms, and lecture halls is voluntary at this time.
When the computer user receives an actual emergency alert (Hawk Alert) on the Alertus Notification, the user should follow the action steps that are provided in the message related to the emergency. These could include “seek shelter,” “evacuate,” “avoid the area,” etc.
To close the message and return to your desktop, you simply click the green “acknowledge” button.
The university is committed to notifying faculty, staff, and students of emergency events that are currently occurring on, or imminently threatening the UI campus.
This service will help maximize the safety and protection of our campus community to ensure a wider dissemination for the UI Hawk Alert system by providing an additional layer of coverage in areas of campus where cell signal is degraded and in situations where faculty, staff, and students may not have immediate access to their cell phones. This service will also improve the accessibility of emergency communications for campus.
No. The client’s only function is to listen to its server for an alert and then process that alert into a “pop-up” message.
The emergency messaging desktop client, a part of the UI Hawk Alert service, will be managed collaboratively by the UI Department of Public Safety (UI DPS) and UI Information Technology Services (ITS).