Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Perkinston, Mississippi
Useful Every Day
EACH DEPARTMENT AT THE MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE USES REGROUP INCLUDING STUDENT SERVICES AND ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT, INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE, AND OTHERS.
Just a sample of the mass notifications those departments have sent:
- Suicide prevention awareness
- Campus fire and safety survey results
- Hurricane and tornado warnings
- Mental health awareness
- Billing reminders
- Financial aid information
Regroup’s platform is also used as a community builder, letting students know about charity events, card drives for local nursing homes and children’s hospitals, and blood drives.
THE COLLEGE FINDS THAT THE REGROUP PLATFORM IS EASY TO USE, AND EASY TO TRAIN OTHERS TO USE.
“The primary mission of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College is to promote a safe learning and working environment,” says Ashley Landry, the college’s Coordinator of Administration and Safety Management.
“Regroup is fundamental in maintaining this mission and is included in our Emergency Action Plans. One of the key functions of this institutional mission is the successful and timely dissemination of emergency notifications and college-wide drills to students, faculty, staff, and administrators.”
Functional Targeting
ONE OF THE KEY FEATURES REGROUP OFFERS IS DIRECT COMMUNICATION TO TARGETED GROUPS. REGROUP ALLOWS UNLIMITED GROUPS, AND UNLIMITED ADMINISTRATORS. WITH THAT HIGH LEVEL SUPPORT, THE MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE CAMPUSES AND ITS OTHER CENTERS ARE ABLE TO TARGET SPECIFIC AUDIENCES THROUGH SMS/TEXT, EMAILS AND VOICE MESSAGING.
Getting the right message to the right groups in a timely manner is critical in emergencies, including weather alerts such as hurricane warnings and other incidents. On a day-to-day basis, making sure the messages get to specific audiences helps recipients avoid message fatigue, which happens when too many notifications land in the wrong hands.
“We are able to target specific audiences and campuses to ensure that emergency preparedness is implemented on all levels,” Landry says.
“The feature is used throughout the year during severe weather events, including hurricanes and tornado warnings, and allows us to send these warnings to specific audiences at different locations. This is vitally important because our college is spread across four counties in South Mississippi.”
Ways Our University Clients Use Regroup
Critical Alerts
- Notify staff, students, parents, and authorities of emergencies
- Issue severe weather alerts and closures
- Broadcast public health warnings
- Enable staff and students to report their status
- Alert staff of critical outages (IT, phone lines, etc.)
Day-to-Day Communications
- Schedule changes and closures
- Policy changes and updates
- School events and newsletters
- Faculty notices and updates
- Tuition or lunch balance reminders
- Attendance and grade reporting