Process Owner: Marketing & Communications

Description: Write, rehearse and follow a coordinated crisis communications plan and protocol for all threats and crises at the University.

Process Owner: Marketing & Communications

Description: Centralize Communications and hire a permanent SVP of communications, who aligns strategically with leadership and is a professional communicator. Align the entire department by establishing a “dotted” reporting line (i.e. a secondary manager) for all communicators to the Central Communications team for every unit at the University. These individuals will serve as a centralized unit with professionals permanently embedded within key departments throughout the University.

Status
New Senior Vice President and Chief Communications and Marketing Officer has been identified and began their role at the University of Arizona on September 5, 2023.

Process Owner: Marketing & Communications

Description: In conjunction with UAPD Communications / Public Relations, develop pre-planned responses that can be tailored with incident specifics to better manage communication during a crisis. Prior coordination will improve communications to the community in a crisis while better protecting law enforcement intelligence.

status: Templates for crisis communications have been developed, reviewed, and internal policies around their use are complete.

Process Owner: Marketing & Communications

Description: Streamline communications channels and technology by updating the UAlert system to include mandatory opt-in for all University students, faculty and employees. (University Initiative underway) Review appropriate ownership for sending UAlert communications and review policies and procedures for using the system.

status: The UAlert system, policies and procedures have been reviewed and updated. All current University students, employees, and designated campus colleagues (DCCs) are automatically subscribed to receive UAlert notifications via their University email address. Current students, employees and DCCs who list a cell number in UAccess are registered to receive UAlert notifications via text message. Instructions and FAQs for UAlert registration are provided.

Process Owner: Marketing & Communications

Description: Streamline communications channels and technology by aligning email databases for students, faculty and employees to reside in one master database for use during a crisis.

Status: Databases have been aligned into a master database for use during a crisis through the use of Trellis.

Process Owner: Marketing & Communications

Description: Establish a formal communications role to serve on TAMT.

status
To fulfill the role and act as the communications representative for TAMT, we have successfully recruited an interim public information officer.

Process Owner: Marketing & Communications

Description: Create a plan for cascading communications during moments of crisis to ensure that one message, one voice is heard throughout the entire University community.

status: A cascading communication plan for moments of crisis has been developed internally and as part of the crisis communications plan.

Process Owner: Marketing & Communications

Description:  Begin developing communications campaigns around the following topics: 

• Mental Health Support: In conjunction with CAPS and Human Resources, establish a one-page communication (for both units) which outlines the services and capabilities of CAPS and the Employee Assistance Program. This communication should include a “What to Expect” section should services be sought by the community. The communication should be shared with all unit or department leads (i.e. Deans, Directors, VPs, etc.) and then circulated internally within each department. We recommend formalizing, creating, and executing on-going assessments for resources needed for counseling and mental health support
• Campus Safety: Create a community-wide safety campaign to prioritize safety at the University
• UAlert: In conjunction with UAPD, develop a campaign to sensitize the community to the fact that the UAlert or any future crisis communication system cannot give specific direction for all situations or all locations. Training and resources (such as notifications of upcoming public webinars around safety and security; books; etc.) around Situational Awareness, Personal Safety, and Crisis Response should be available to the community to plan for future incidents.
• TAMT Familiarization: Develop a campaign to educate the University community on the role and capabilities of TAMT, including how to report concerns and what can generally be expected throughout the process.

status: The communication campaign “Wildcats Take Care” has been developed to promote mental health awareness and services, familiarity with Threat Assessment and Management Team, UAlert and campus safety. The campaign will launch mid-October 2023.

Process Owner: Marketing & Communications

Description: Establish a communications campaign around the importance of maintaining streamlined, centralized communications across campus. It should be emphasized that centralization of communications is not the silencing of voices or opinions but, instead, it allows the community to align on messaging in moments of threat and crisis.

status: The Crisis Communications Advisory Committee meets monthly to discuss and evolve best practices for centralized crisis communications. A communications campaign has been successfully launched to emphasize the significance of maintaining streamlined, centralized communications across campus.