Hawk Alert
The Hawk Alert system is used to notify the campus community of an event that is currently occurring on or imminently threatening the UI campus. UI DPS initiates a Hawk Alert for any significant emergency or dangerous situation occurring on campus involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students and employees.
All Hawk Alert updates are posted directly to the UI's emergency website, which also includes a log of past Hawk Alerts, their current status, and any other relevant notes or updates.
Update your preferences
You can review and update your Hawk Alert preferences by using your HawkID to log in to the appropriate site below. Your mobile phone number will only be used for notification purposes, and will not be published. Text message is the fastest way to receive a Hawk Alert.
Students (MyUI)
Faculty/Staff (UI Self-Service site)
An integrated component of the Hawk Alert system includes desktop notifications sent via Alertus. For more information, see Alertus Desktop FAQ.
*International telecommunication standards shift often and sometimes without notice. To receive Hawk Alerts in a timely manner, we strongly recommend international students, faculty, and staff working and studying in the United States consider obtaining a United States cell phone number upon arrival. They should then should set their U.S. phone number as their primary method of communication in the Hawk Alert system.
FAQ
The Hawk Alert system notifies the campus community of threats to physical safety in emergency situations: tornado, violence, hazardous material incident, etc.
Notification is by mobile phone (including text messaging), landline phone, TTY phone (for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing), and/or e-mail, as well as via posts to the university's Twitter accounts and emergency information website at emergency.uiowa.edu. In conjunction with the Hawk Alert system, UI DPS has installed a series of notification towers equipped with sirens and voice alert systems that also will help ensure those on campus hear certain types of alerts (such as tornado warnings).
You will begin receiving Hawk Alerts nine days prior to the first day of class.
If you are living in on-campus housing and move in prior to that, you will begin receiving Hawk Alerts by noon the day after you check in to your residence hall.
Students are not automatically eligible over the winter/summer breaks (unless they are maintaining a housing contract) but can request an exception by contacting the ITS Help Desk.
Students are removed from the Hawk Alert system when they are not enrolled in and actively attending classes.
No. We ask that UI students and employees only include their own contact information for Hawk Alerts. The notifications are intended for members of the university community for emergencies on or near campus, and including other individuals has the potential to slow down the notification process.
Hawk Alert does not message or call international phone numbers.
To stop receiving Hawk Alert phone calls, you will need to ask your student to update their Hawk Alert settings and remove your home phone number from their preferences. Ask your student to visit hawkalert.uiowa.edu and log-in to My UI to update their settings.
No. Hawk Alerts are intended for students, faculty, and staff who are on campus so they can be aware of potentially dangerous incidents as they are occurring. We do not have a version of Hawk Alert for parents, but our emergency website (e.uiowa.edu) will always have the most up-to-date information during ongoing Hawk Alerts. Including other individuals has the potential to slow down the notification process.
Text message is the preferred method because it is the fastest and most reliable.
Hawk Alerts come from these numbers and addresses.
Telephone: 319-335-5911
Text (SMS): 67283 or 226787
email display name = UIowa Hawk Alert
email id = uiowa@getrave.com
The Hawk Alert system by phone typically makes notifications within 15 minutes, although there are variables that can increase the delivery time.
A Hawk Alert typically reaches 90% of the approximately 50,000 individuals and classrooms on campus. The system is unable to reach 100% of individuals on the list because in some cases recipients may not have updated their contact information when it changed, or may not answer the Hawk Alert phone call.
The UI DPS usually will initiate emergency notifications except for winter weather-related class cancellation notifications, which are initiated by the Office of Strategic Communication in consultation with the Vice President for Student Life. The Office of the President also has the authority and ability to initiate Hawk Alerts.
If you have an emergency or encounter an emergency situation on campus, you should immediately call 911.
The university's emergency information website at emergency.uiowa.edu and the UI homepage at www.uiowa.edu will have the most up-to-date information available.
Depending on the nature of the emergency situation and details available at the time, the initial Hawk Alert may or may not include instructions on how recipients should respond. It's best to think of the Hawk Alert as a kind of flare gun to alert students, faculty, and staff that a potentially dangerous situation has occurred, or is occurring, and what the nature of the emergency is.
More detailed information will be posted, as it becomes available, on the university's emergency information website at emergency.uiowa.edu. But students, faculty, and staff are also encouraged to use common sense and tune in to local media broadcasts for updated and more detailed info.
International telecommunication standards shift often and sometimes without notice. To receive Hawk Alerts in a timely manner, we strongly recommend international students, faculty, and staff working or studying in the United States consider obtaining a United States cell phone number upon arrival. They should then update their Hawk Alert preferences and add the United States phone number as their primary method of communication in the Hawk Alert system.